![]() Houston ended its scoring drought after that, scoring the next five points, capped by a three-point play from Harden to make it 80-77. Rubio had two steals and a basket to help Utah go on top. The Jazz opened the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to take a 77-75 lead with nine minutes left. James Harden led the way for Houston, as he normally does. Gobert wasn’t much of a factor in this one, scoring just nine points with 10 rebounds. Royce O’Neal came off the bench to lead Utah with 18 points, Rubio had 17 and Jae Crowder added 15. Harden struggled to get going early but after missing his first seven shots and 11 of his first 12 attempts, he finally found a rhythm. ![]() He acknowledged that he was having trouble breathing in the Game 4 loss because of an upper respiratory infection and was held to just four points.Īfter scoring 31 points to lead Utah to the victory in Game 4, Mitchell managed just 12 points on a night he missed all nine of his three-point attempts. The Rockets were helped by a solid game from Clint Capela, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds. #NBAPlayoffs /Uwhufaeg6qâ Adam Clanton April 25, 2019 Now watch as he is crucified in the national media & his team is given zero chance to knock off Golden State. ![]() The #Rockets are advancing to the 2nd round because when it mattered most in a deciding game, *defense* sealed the win. It didn’t bother Harden on that occasion as he added two points to the Rockets’ score with a floater. ![]() He also had to deal with a bizarre defensive strategy from Ricky Rubio, who got creative when trying to stop Harden sinking his trademark step-back three-pointers.Īt one stage in the fourth quarter when Harden had the ball facing the rim at the three-point line, Rubio stood behind the 29-year-old to guard him, preventing him from attempting a step-back three and forcing him to charge towards the paint. He failed to impact the scoreboard in the first quarter and finished 10-from-26 from the field and three-from-12 on shots from beyond the arc. Harden didn’t have everything his own way, though. Last year’s league MVP top scored for Houston and also pocketed six rebounds and six assists before coming up with a crucial defensive play in the final minute, forcing a turnover from Rudy Gobert when he went up for a dunk that would have kept the Jazz in the game. A couple of Detroit’s young pieces, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, joined the clinic and combined to shoot 17-23 for 45 points.James Harden scored 26 points in the face of some unusual defensive tactics as the Rockets bounced past Utah 100-93 on Thursday to win their first round playoff series 4-1. Lauri Markkanen put on an efficiency clinic, making 13 of his 20 shots, including 9-13 from three. 500 with this victory, getting a critical win against a bad squad. Here’s the details on every storyline from Tuesday: There’s Lauri Markkanen trying his hardest to keep Utah above water in contention for the playoffs. There’s Nikola Jokic, trying to win a third straight MVP, posting a second straight triple double. There’s one of the league’s premier franchises, NY Knicks, winning its eighth straight game, their longest since they won nine straight in Apr. Even a random Tuesday ahead of Christmas, a day which sees many casual fans start to pay attention to the NBA season, is jam packed with storylines. One thing that I’ve really come to learn firsthand in my first season covering the league at large is that there’s never a shortage of fun things to talk about each night.
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