James Harden is one of the NBA’s must-see players, but an incident in Utah on Monday has him anxious about protecting his own eyes.
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Just because Stockton and Malone were gone or the Jerry Sloan and Deron Williams days had sent them into a rebuilding phase fans remained tied and true to their Jazz. With the loss, Utah falls to 15-19 on the season overall and 5-11 on the road where they’ve lost six straight.
Harden also overcame a weird incident during the comeback, pointing out a fan who was shining a laser at him while he tried to take a free throw. He’s not a big leaper but the seven-footer can use his length and good positioning to disrupt things defensively and has had at least two blocks and a steal in each of his last six games.
Head to head, the Jazz are 1-4 ATS in the last five meetings in Houston and the home team is 4-0 ATS in the last four meetings.
Despite having a load of stars in the line-up such as James Harden, Dwight Howard and Ty Lawson, there is clearly something missing for the Rockets and they are trying to make things up as they go along.
Hood, who became a father on Sunday, led the Jazz with 23 points and hit five 3-pointers for the second consecutive game.
And yet, no foul was called, leaving Jazz fans – and players – pretty stunned.
I went through the process, acting as the “pool reporter”, about two plays that occurred: the aforementioned Withey non-call, and the foul call on Hood at the end of the game. “We went to the hospital and I was so scared.”…
“I was pretty surprised”, Withey said after the game, according to Falk of the Tribune. The referees are notified about the request, and can choose to either accept or decline the interview request. We knocked on the door, and the referees told us that they would not be answering questions about the plays, and that was that.
The Rockets coming into Monday’s game with the Jazz were extremely short-handed. Harden absolutely pushed Withey from behind, I think intentionally. I don’t think one free throw was the game.
Everyone should be excited because the New Year has finally begun and there is much to get ready for because the best is yet to come. Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff compared the Jazz’s offense to the Warriors, Spurs and Hawks “because you have to guard for 24 seconds”.
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“It’s a great opportunity for us to take care of home-court advantage”, Harden said.
