The Houston Rockets knocked off the Utah Jazz, 118-98, Wednesday night, led by another scintillating performance by the team’s MVP candidate.
James Harden was at it again, dropping 32 points, 13 rebounds, and 10 assists to lead the Rockets to the win. At one point in the first half, Harden crossed up Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio so badly he went flying. And then Harden shimmied before firing up a three-pointer.
He missed it. But if it had gone in, the shot would have concluded the most disrespectful play in NBA playoff history.
Along with Harden’s efforts, Chris Paul scored 17 points and P.J. Tucker and Eric Gordon added 16 points apiece. Clint Capela had another solid game, with seven points and 10 rebounds.
Houston’s defense has also been at a high level through the first two games of this series. The Rockets have held the Jazz to 90 points in Game 1 and 98 points in Game 2. They’ve been absolutely solid on that end of the floor, limiting the Jazz to 39.8 percent shooting from the floor overall and 8-of-38 shooting from deep in Game 2.
The Rockets now take this effort out the road to the Vivint Smart Home Arena on Saturday for a 9:30 p.m. CST tip.
