Jazz Trail Series 3-0 After Poor Second Half Performance

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – In a must-win game, the Utah Jazz had a strong first half followed by a second half where they missed some costly shots and lost to the Houston Rockets 104-101 in Game 3.

Donovan Mitchell led the Jazz with 34 points and 6 rebounds. Derrick Favors added 13 points off the bench.

After missing his first 15 shots, James Harden scored 22 points on 3-for-20 shooting, including 2-of-13 from downtown to go with his 10 assists and 6 steals.

Utah Brings Energy Early

The Jazz got off to a great start with two great plays in a row within the first 90 seconds of the game. James Harden picked up two fouls with the second one coming off of fouling Donovan Mitchell on a three-pointer that he made.

The first big play was an alley-oop from Jae Crowder to Mitchell after stealing the ball from Harden.

That sequence fired up the crowd at VIvint Smart Home Arena as the Jazz took an early 8-0 lead.

Houston buckled down and weathered the storm from the Jazz and tied the game at 20 with 3 minutes left in the first.

Donovan Mitchell fired up the crowd once again with another three-pointer. To that point, Utah hit three triples on 11 attempts, Mitchell made two and Joe Ingles hit the other.

Mitchell finished the opening quarter with 13 points and the Jazz had a 30-28 lead.

Utah kept the aggression in the second quarter but the Rockets kept hanging with the Jazz. Midway through the second, Utah had just a one point lead.

The Jazz ended the first half with a crazy sequence of Harden stealing a cross-court pass, which was immediately snatched by Mitchell who found Ingles on the wing to hit the three-pointer with one second left. Utah took a 55-50 lead into the halftime break.

Mitchell finished with 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field, including 3-of-6 from downtown.

For Houston, Chris Paul led the first half with 12 points and 4 rebounds, Harden had 6 points on 0-for-10 from the field.

Second Half Struggles Cost Jazz Game 3

Midway through the third quarter, the Jazz and Rockets were basically even in scoring with Utah scoring 7 points and the Rockets just 6. Harden was still without a field goal, going 0-for-12 and just six points to that point in the game.

With missed free-throws by the Jazz, the Rockets took a two point lead with 3:20 left in the third quarter.

The Jazz took the lead back with a pick-and-roll with Ricky Rubio and Derrick Favors. Kyle Korver caused an offensive foul on the following defensive possession to give the Jazz a spark.

Late in the quarter, Paul picked up his fifth foul.

At the end of the third period, Utah had a 76-74 lead. Derrick Favors provided the spark in the quarter as he was up to 11 points off the bench. Harden was still without a field goal, going 0-for-14.

Half-way into the fourth quarter, the Jazz trailed by four points when Harden committed a turnover that turned into a three-pointer by Royce O’Neale.

Mitchell went 5-for-7 from the field in the first quarter, but only shot 1-of-12 in the next two and a half quarters before hitting a field goal to cut the Rockets lead to one point with 4:51 left in the game.

Holding a three-point lead, P.J. Tucker missed the back end of his two free-throws and Utah had a chance to tie with 10 seconds left in the game.

Mitchell missed the open three-point shot and the Rockets prevailed.

What a fight pic.twitter.com/D2TEqXnGJ3

— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 21, 2019

Up Next

Houston leads the series 3-0. The Jazz will look to avoid elimination with Game 4 on Monday at Vivint Smart Home Arena. The game will begin at 8:30 p.m. on TNT.