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HOUSTON — After just a 38-hour turnaround after defeating Oklahoma City, the Utah Jazz found themselves matched up on the road against the NBA's No. 1 regular-season team, the Houston Rockets. Clearly, it was too much to handle.
The Rockets jumped all over the Jazz early, getting a 13-point lead after the first quarter and a 25-point lead at halftime, before finally defeating the Jazz 110-96 on Sunday afternoon in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals. James Harden led the Rockets with 41 points on 12-26 shooting from the field and 7-12 from the 3-point line, while backcourt teammate Chris Paul finished with 17 points and six assists. The Rockets, especially Harden and Paul, were unstoppable from beyond the 3-point line, the team shot 17-32 overall from deep.
Meanwhile, the Jazz's offense, sans starting point guard Ricky Rubio who missed the game due to a strained left hamstring, struggled to attack the Rockets' switching defense. Eventually, Donovan Mitchell was most successful doing so, scoring 21 points. Teammate Jae Crowder matched his contribution off the bench, also scoring 21 on 8-13 shooting.
More coverage to come later in the afternoon from KSL.com.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this article said Jae Crowder scored 8-12 shooting. This article has been corrected to reflect 8-13 shooting.
