The Houston Rockets (3-1) will look to advance to the Western Conference Finals when they clash with the Utah Jazz (1-3) at Toyota Center in game five of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Advertisement
The Houston Rockets are closing in on a Western Conference Finals appearance after taking a commanding 3-1 lead over the Utah Jazz in their second-round series.
“It’s tough losing two games here, but they still have to win one more game”, said Neto. Bet the Houston Rockets -12.0 over the Utah Jazz in game 5. “He doesn’t get a lot of credit for it”, Harden said.
After putting up 116 points in Game 2, the Jazz have averaged just 89.5 points in the next two games.
“I don’t know. James was fouling, they was cheating”, Paul said, referencing the 2015 playoffs when Harden’s Rockets beat Paul’s LA Clippers in seven games.
“It showed a lot of grit for us to come in here and win two games”, Paul said. Still, Chris Paul’s traditional three-point play off a high-arcing midrange jumper restored the lead to double digits, 58-48, at the break. And after Game 3 against the Utah Jazz on Friday, James Harden and Chris Paul sat by each other and were asked about the fact the Rockets uncharacteristically took 28 from midrange. “He said [to security], ‘I didn’t see him say nothing, but I know it was him'”. “We’re going to fight until the end and we’re going to keep getting better”. Jae Crowder, who got the start in place of Derrick Favors, was also bad as he went just 1-of-11. They ended the regular season 29-6, embarrassed the Oklahoma City Thunder in a first-round series, and then shocked the Houston Rockets in Game 2 of their second-round series, sending things back to home territory knotted up at one. Later in the quarter after making a free throw, he again made consecutive baskets for the Jazz on a floater with his left hand and another drive up the right side.
“I’m exhausted of going out and playing and letting fans say what the hell they want to say, I’m not with that”.
Even before the fourth-year guard separated his left shoulder back on October 6 and missed the next five months, he had played in just 148 of a possible 246 regular-season games because of injury.
So much of what the Houston Rockets have become under coach Mike D’Antoni focuses on the volume of 3-pointers taken and the influence their perimeter proficiency has offensively.
Houston ranks fifth in blocks allowed per game (4.4) while Utah ranks 11th (4.7).
Jazz medical staff described the problem as “left hamstring soreness” with Exum contributing nine points in just 10 minutes before his game was brought to an early end. “The guy’s incredible the whole time”, D’Antoni said.
Advertisement
The Jazz, the most inspirational story of this National Basketball Association season, haven’t played great this series. On the flipside, though, the Rockets themselves haven’t been shooting the lights out, and could very well get hot just in time to close the Jazz out.
