The Utah Jazz may have lost Game 1 of their second round series against the Houston Rockets, but the series is far from over.
Heading into this second round playoff series, these two teams knew what they were about. The Utah Jazz rely on their defense, and the Houston Rockets rely on their offense.
The Utah Jazz also knew they were going to be without Ricky Rubio, their starting point guard. The Rockets knew that they have two. After Game 1, it showed.
When Rubio went down early in Game 6, it certainly affected the flow of Utah’s offense; but the Jazz responded to the loss of one of their leaders, and were able to close out the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game. Unfortunately for the Jazz, the Rockets aren’t the Thunder, and are going to face an uphill battle the rest of the way.
In the first half alone, James Harden was already up to 20 points. The Rockets had built a 25-point lead, and it was build on plays like these from this year’s likely MVP:
The first two plays in this mini-highlight reel are mirror images of each other — Harden explodes to the basket and floats it high off the glass for two, twice. Now, in the remainder of the reel, it didn’t matter who was guarding him, because if Harden gets just enough separation, that step-back 3 is going down. It’s his patented move, and a staple of Houston’s offense. Harden would finish with 41 points on the night, and a Game 1 victory.
Another staple of Houston’s offense is the 3-ball — they led the league in attempts (42.3 a game) and makes (15.3 a game). In Game 1, they didn’t attempt quite that many 3s (32), but exceeded their makes on average (17).
The Rockets also had four of their starters in double figures and who shoot at, were just shy of (Harden), or better than 50 percent from the field. The Jazz starters only had two.
Speaking of Jazz starters….