Utah Jazz: 3 takeaways from Game 2 vs. Rockets

The Utah Jazz fell to the Houston Rockets in Game 2 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals on Wednesday. Here are three takeaways from the loss.

The road the Western Conference Semifinals got a bit tougher for the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.

The fifth-seeded Jazz fell to the No. 4 Houston Rockets 118-98 in Game 2 of the 2019 NBA Playoffs quarterfinal round at Toyota Center in Houston.

With the loss, Utah falls behind Houston 2-0 in the series, with the Rockets looking like a serious contender to win the NBA Finals early on in postseason play.

James Harden led the way for Houston with yet another triple-double performance in front of the home crowd, finishing with 32 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. Royce O’Neale emerged as the leader for Utah off the bench in the game, tallying a team-best 17 points and four assists in nearly 27 minutes.

The Rockets once again displayed its ability to hurt any team from beyond the arc, finishing with 17 threes and extending their streak of recording at least 15 3-pointers to eight straight games, which, is the longest such streak in NBA history.

A mix of that and Utah struggling on its side of things since the opening tip made for a game that appeared over before it really even began.

With the series at 2-0, the two teams will shift gears and head to Utah for Game 3 in the best-of-seven showdown. Game 3 will be at 10:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday in Salt Lake City, airing on ESPN.

Let’s take a look back at three takeaways from Utah’s Game 2 loss in Houston and look ahead to the rest of the series as the Jazz head back home.