Despite Harden’s Catastrophic Shooting Houston Routs Utah, 104-101

James Harden and Houston Rockets are awfully close to sweeping the Utah Jazz in the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Last night the fans at Vivint Home Smart Arena had the opportunity to see one of the worst performances the reigning MVP had in his life. And yet they still went home disappointed because their team couldn’t win.

The Beard opened this game with 15 straight misses, which was something he never experienced before. For three and a half quarters, the Jazz managed to restrain the most lethal scorer in the NBA. Like many times before he entered history books, only now, it was negatively, because his shooting draught last night hadn’t been seen before. According to various sources, it was the stretch with the most missed opening shots in the postseason history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTghXNnSjPY&t=1s

Harden credited Utah’s defense, saying that they did a good job defending him.

“I was aggressive,” Harden said. “They were doing a job of contesting my shots, and those are shots I shoot every single day.”

He finished the game with 22 points and 10 assists, making just 3 field goals in 20 attempts. What was good for him were the free throws, 14 of 16.

However, the Jazz didn’t use that, and instead of creating some lead they were sticking around. Home team’s productivity was also very bad, and that was one the key reason why Utah eventually lost. Like Harden, Donovan Mitchell couldn’t be consistent.

The sophomore and Utah’s leader ended the night with 34 points, shooting 9 of 27 from the field, and 12 of 17 from the free throw line.

“I just started missing shots,” Mitchell said. “I can’t miss 16 shots (after the first quarter). That’s my role, and I can’t miss makeable shots.”

After an 8-0 start, Jazz lost the swing, and the guests came back. The first quarter finished 30-28 for Utah, and the halftime 55-50, which was the maximum for Quin Snyder’s crew last night.

The final period came, and Harden shifted into a higher gear, scoring 14 points, 10 of them from the free throw line. He forgot what happened in the previous 36 minutes and became even more aggressive, which eventually saved the game for the Rockets. With 1:11 before the end he made a three, lifting the guests to 99-95, and on the next possession scored two free throws for 101-97.

“The best thing you can do with him is just try to make it hard on him. Even when you do that, there’s times where he’s going to make plays,” Utah coach commented at the press conference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxDhQcVnbTA&feature=youtu.be

After that PJ Tucker sealed the game with a couple of crucial rebounds and three points from the line in four attempts.

The Jazzers also have to blame themselves for the loss not only Harden, as they had an excellent opportunity to decrease the gap in the series.

Bad three-point shooting could be tolerable (12/41), but only 65.3% from the free throw line is unacceptable, especially for one playoff game. Utah missed 13 of 38 tries, and you can’t beat Houston like that. Guests had similar productivity in that category, 23 of 34, which makes this failure even more painful.

Besides Mitchel who was struggling, the home team didn’t have any other player to step up and take the lead in the moments when Houston couldn’t keep up the pace. Derrick Favors had 13 points off the bench, and the only two starters, Rubio and Gobert, with double-digit figures had 10 buckets each. That is utterly bad for a playoff team.

Meanwhile, Houston’s attack was more diversified, and several players jumped in from time to time. Chris Paul had 18 points, Eric Gordon and PJ Tucker 12 each, with the note that Tucker also had a huge contribution in the air with 10 boards. Capela also ended with a double-double 11 points and 14 boards.

So all in all, this was a team victory for the guests, who are now pretty relaxed and are waiting Monday to try to sweep the division rivals and have a few days more to rest before the next round starts.