The Utah Jazz gave the Houston Rockets everything they had on Saturday night. They had a defensive gameplan to keep James Harden from going off, and for the most part, it worked. Harden had his worst night of this young postseason, needing 20 shots to get his 22 points, but the Rockets still walked out of Utah with the win.
Instead of an offensive barrage like we saw in the first two games, the Rockets got things done on the defensive end of the floor while they worked through things on the offensive end of the floor. Donovan Mitchell scored 34, but needed 27 shots to get there; no one else scored more than 13.
The Rockets won the rebounding battle, the turnover battle and saw a more balanced offensive attack than Utah. They were more scrappy down the stretch, made all of the big plays and ended the night with a three-point win.
After the game, Austin Rivers looked back on the game and was pleased that the Rockets were able to pull out a win on the road with Utah giving them everything they had.
“We’re a really good team,” said Rivers. “For us to be up 2-0 with all this momentum, we get their best shot, we still handled business — for us to get this win just says a lot about our team and our growth.”
Houston won Games 1 and 2 by an average of 26 points, so for them to win a grind-it-out game on the road shows that they’re ready for whatever anyone throws at them.
Game 4 is in Utah on Monday night at 8:30 p.m. local time.
