Houston Rockets: 3 takeaways from Game 3 vs. Jazz

3. The Rockets’ defense comes up big once again

After producing arguably their worst defensive outing of the season at home in Game 2, the Rockets’ defense managed to perform at the level it did throughout the regular season, causing havoc and applying multiple defenders onto Utah’s Joe Ingles and Donovan Mitchell in Game 3.

Throughout the game, players such as Trevor Ariza, P.J. Tucker, Luc Mbah a Moute and James Harden each took on the challenge of individually guarding Mitchell out on the perimeter. Houston also sought to send several different bodies onto Ingles, forcing the 3-point specialist to put the ball on the deck on multiple occasions that led to turnovers and points out in transition early on.

Utah — whose starting five attempted 15 out of their 25 free throws in Game 2 — was held off the charity stripe by Clutch City’s defense in Game 3, and committed 16 turnovers after failing to find any quality offensive opportunities within the half-court. The Rockets used their length to force bad shots and dictate the entire pace of the ball game.

"“Game 2 was a learning experience for us,” Rockets guard James Harden said in his postgame press conference following Game 3 out in Salt Lake City. “We came out so slow, and we gave them confidence…from the beginning of the game, we made a conscious effort to get stops and offensively push the pace to get shots and we did that.”"

https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/992595938718842880

Although most will likely pay attention to the success the Rockets generated on offense, it was the team’s play at the other end of the floor that made the difference in the ball game.

For 48 minutes, Houston displayed exactly why it is one of the most dangerous teams in the league, making solid rotations, collapsing onto multiple assignments and protecting the rim at all costs — trends that must continue should it desire to take home the Larry O’Brien Trophy this coming June.