We take a look back at an exciting victory in Game 2 for the Utah Jazz, with the series shifting and heading back to Utah tied 1-1.
Not even James Harden‘s Oscar-worthy performance could take away the spotlight from this Utah Jazz team in Game 2 of their second round playoff series. The Jazz would start off the first quarter with some hot shooting, and it would carry over into the second quarter, as they were shooting 55.8 percent overall, including 50 percent from 3-point land.
Despite the Rockets only shooting 40.4 percent overall (and 26.7 percent from deep), Utah would only hold a nine-point lead heading into halftime, so Quin Snyder and co. knew they were in for a close finish.
In the second half, the narrative was switched, as Houston came out of the break, shooting lights out, garnering multiple steals in the process and tying the game. The Jazz would cling to a one-point lead heading into the final frame of action. While it wasn’t out of the ordinary to see Houston play like it did, it was certainly disappointing for a Jazz team that had all the momentum.
Joe Ingles looked much more comfortable this game, as he would finish with seven made 3s on nine attempts to go with an even more efficient 10-for-13 shooting night. He took his own stake in Clutch City with a team-high 27 points.
The Jazz also got continued support from their bench, as they would finish with 41 points. Jae Crowder chipped in 15 points and 10 boards, while postseason rotation addition Alec Burks was already up to 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting at halftime. He would finish the game shooting 7-of-11 overall, with 17 points to boot. Even Dante Exum got in on the action:
https://twitter.com/BleacherReport/status/991870170430824448
For the Rockets, Harden was his normal MVP self with 21 points at halftime, and a 32-11-6 stat line for the game. He was already up to 11 free throw attempts at the break, only having one miss from the charity stripe despite not shooting the 3-ball well. It was this dunk over Derrick Favors that was the highlight of the night:
Chris Paul actually had a pretty poor night overall (for a player of his caliber, at least), but it was masked by Harden’s brilliance and Clint Capela shouldering the offensive load. For the Jazz, their big man was, well, big.