Utah Jazz: 3 takeaways from Game 2 vs. Rockets

No. 2: Offensive struggles continue for Jazz

One of the strengths when looking at the Jazz squad is the fact that they have been able to be a solid and top-five defensive team in the NBA throughout the past few seasons, and such has been the case once again in the 2018-19 NBA campaign.

But one of the areas that Utah has experienced struggles and inconsistencies has been on the offensive end of the floor, which has been very apparent so far in this quarterfinals series against Houston.

When it comes to trying to top the Rockets, especially when they are playing on their home court, you have to be able to stick with and match the potency of their offensive outbursts, while being able to manage Houston on both ends of the floor.

Through two games in this best-of-seven series, Utah has struggled mightily on offense, which ends up making things very lopsided in favor of Houston.

The offensive struggles for the Jazz were apparent once again in the game 2 defeat just as they were in the game 1 loss, allowing the Rockets to basically handle the game from the opening quarter.

In the opening half of the game, Utah fell behind early to trail 70-44 at the break. The Jazz shot just 34.6 percent from the field and allowed the Rockets to go 52.4 percent from the field during the same span.

Utah ended up out-shooting Houston in the game, but finished shooting 39-of-98 (39.8 percent) from the field and went just 8-for-38 (21.1 percent) from behind the arc. The Rockets ended the game 38-for-80 (47.5 percent) from the field and shot an impressive 17-of-42 (40.5 percent) from three.

It’s one thing to allow Houston to do what it does offensively while sticking with its potent offense and matching what it’s able to do on offense throughout the course of the game. But when you are struggling on your own offensive end while allowing the Rockets to go off as the Jazz did in game 2, Houston is going to run away with the win more often than not.