The Houston Rockets picked up where they left off in the first round, handily beating the Utah Jazz, 110-96. Here are three takeaways from Game 1.
The Houston Rockets got a little bit over three days of rest heading into their second round matchup against the Utah Jazz. The rest seemed to do them well as they attacked Utah vigorously from the opening tip. In similar fashion to their Game 1 against the Timberwolves, Houston got another dominant performance from their MVP candidate, James Harden.
Harden finished with 41 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the night, but unlike two weeks ago, he received more help Sunday. Clint Capela continued his fabulous playoff stretch with another double-double (16 points, 12 rebounds).
Chris Paul had 17 points and six assists to go with four steals, while P.J. Tucker supplied 15 points of his own. The Jazz didn’t perform poorly, they just simply couldn’t keep up. Defensively, Utah didn’t have many answers for Houston’s 3-point shooting (17-for-32) and couldn’t supply much on their own (7-for-22).
The Jazz are also still figuring out how to survive without their orchestrator Ricky Rubio. Utah hadn’t been on the end of many lopsided losses over the past few months, so Sunday was a surprise, but Houston had the best regular season record in the NBA for a reason. If Game 1 was any indication, they may be on the cusp of flexing their biggest victory yet. Here are three takeaways from Game 1.