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James Harden posted 29 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds as the No. 4 seed Houston Rockets beat the No. 5 Utah Jazz 122-90 in Game 1 of their NBA Western Conference playoff series on Sunday.
Clint Capela added 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Chris Paul had 14 points and seven assists.
Rudy Gobert led the Jazz with 22 points and 12 rebounds.
Jazz Must Ditch Scheme, Defend James Harden Straight Up
Defending Harden is a near-impossible task for any team, and the Jazz were no exception on Sunday.
Utah either doubled or shaded Harden to his right, but the strategies were unsuccessful, as Alykhan Bijani of The Athletic pointed out:
Alykhan Bijani @Rockets_Insider
James Harden at halftime: 17 points on 7-14 shooting (3-5 on 3s), 7 assists and 4 rebounds. He has dissected the Jazz defense. Jazz sending a double from the double-side (where there are two shooters), he finds the open man. Send him too right on perimeter, knocked down step back
The left-hander posted 17 points on 7-of-14 shooting and seven assists after 24 minutes.
When he wasn’t scoring, he was finding his teammates, as Andy Larsen of the Salt Lake Tribune noted:
Andy Larsen @andyblarsen
Rockets up 59-44 at the half. Jazz’s defensive strategy didn’t work in that first half… sure, they’ve forced a few Harden floaters, but he’s still been able to make the pass out with his left hand. We’ll see if they adapt in half number 2. https://t.co/3q1kvgSl8t
If the lane was clogged, Harden found Tucker in the corner for threes:
Bijani explained why Tucker found himself open frequently:
Alykhan Bijani @Rockets_Insider
PJ Tucker and Danuel House are a combined 1-8 on 3-pointers from the corner. Jazz are shading Harden right, and it’s creating automatic open corner threes with the assist of a Capela flare screen. Luckily for Utah, PJ and Danuel have not knocked them down.
Alykhan Bijani @Rockets_Insider
As I say that, PJ Tucker knocks one down from the left corner. Utah is zoning the double-side. What that means is that they’re sending an extra help defender from the weak-side and giving one defender responsibility of covering two shooters. Often times, Tucker will be left open. https://t.co/saoNROKZxx
If the paint was open, Harden found Capela for lob dunks:
If Harden took it upon himself to score, he did:
Houston Rockets @HoustonRockets
The MVP is on the board!
#Rockets lead early 20-17 https://t.co/rzBjFBEr9I
Utah’s defense wasn’t necessarily a bad idea in theory. It’s worked for the Milwaukee Bucks:
Andy Larsen @andyblarsen
Again, the “give Harden the right” plan has worked before… Bucks limited Harden to 23 points and held Houston to <100 with it in March. But Jazz aren't preventing the pass to the corner like Bucks did... Harden's getting to his left hand for the pass. https://t.co/fnL4ZPi1zF
However, Mike Prada of SB Nation offered a theory as to why it worked for the Bucks and not the Jazz:
Mike Prada @MikePradaSBN
This is the problem I’m talking about. Gobert is so high trying to meet Harden, which means Sefolosha has to come ALL the way down to help on Capela, which means Tucker is wide open.
If Gobert is lower, he can play Harden and Capela, and Thabo can stay home https://t.co/31upGOgO7A
Mike Prada @MikePradaSBN
Now, I don’t know if Quin’s plan is for Gobert to come high and for Crowder, Mitchell, etc to be zoning up more effectively than they have. Maybe it is.
But the reason MIL’s defense worked well is that Lopez planted himself RIGHT at the rim, so nobody else had to rotate.
Mike Prada @MikePradaSBN
This is the problem I’m talking about. Gobert is so high trying to meet Harden, which means Sefolosha has to come ALL the way down to help on Capela, which means Tucker is wide open.
If Gobert is lower, he can play Harden and Capela, and Thabo can stay home https://t.co/31upGOgO7A
Perhaps the Jazz make some slight adjustments and give the strategy another chance, but they may be better off employing Tony Jones of The Athletic’s idea:
Tony Jones @Tjonesonthenba
Going forward in this series, I think the jazz are just going to have to switch everything. It’s going to leave them with some mismatches, but it’s the lesser of the evils from what we are seeing tonight
Ultimately, the Jazz lost by 32 on a night where the Rockets shot a pedestrian 36.6 percent from three-point range. That’s not a good sign, and significant adjustments are clearly needed.
What’s Next?
Houston will host Utah in Game 2 on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
This article will be updated to provide more information soon.
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