Including his 30 points in Monday’s 93-91 win in Salt Lake City, Harden has scored at least 30 in three of his last four games.
Advertisement
After being held to 40 percent shooting in the first half, the Rockets erupted for 33 points in the third quarter on 62 percent shooting and carried that into the final 12 minutes hitting on 71 percent from the field in a 31-point quarter. Howard may not play, but that won’t be a problem for this game as the Jazz are going through injury problems as well.
Clint Capela, starting in place of Howard, scored just seven points, but he snagged 10 boards, something the Rockets miss with Howard out of the game.
Playing with just nine players, and without star center Dwight Howard out with a sore back, the Rockets grinded out a needed 103-94 victory over the Utah Jazz at the Toyota Center.
Gobert has appeared in just 14 of Utah’s 34 games this season, dealing with ankle and tailbone injuries in addition to the Grade II MCL sprain. “Rodney going down, losing another key guy, and we’re still battling and still in the game at the end”.
He entered Thursday’s game averaging 9.6 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks, all up from 2014-15, when he led Utah’s defense to a strong showing in the second half of the season. Houston produced 12 fast-break points following the intermission, 10 in the third quarter, to set the pace to its liking.
Rudy Gobert said that his knee felt “great” after Thursday’s game vs. the Rockets, and he said he expects to play double the minutes on Saturday vs. the Heat. Despite his absence, the Rockets had a 48-42 advantage in points in the paint.
Jahlil Okafor had 21 points to lead Philadelphia, while Ish Smith had 12 points and seven assists.
“It’s a style that we’ve played before”, he said.
Advertisement
Atlanta had lost back-to-back games to the New York Knicks but returned to winning ways thanks to Kent Bazemore’s 22 points. Rockets G Ty Lawson was suspended three games by the National Basketball Association for driving under the influence of alcohol, a violation of state law in California. Derrick Favors (back spasms) missed his eighth straight game, while Alec Burks (fractured left fibula) missed his seventh straight.
