Rockets vs. Jazz 2018 recap: Houston dominates Game 3 after home letdown

Houston’s final score in a thoroughly convincing win is 113-92 in Game 3 on Friday, a blowout basically from the start to the end. This is what the Rockets can do, and honestly, were bound to do. They’ve walloped Utah twice now, once in the first game that was relatively easy and now a second time in Game 3 with no real regard for human life.

The Rockets were up 40 points at their most dominant moments, and they somehow still finished the game with a 21-point lead despite being outscored seven points in the fourth.

Utah can take this with them: James Harden was once again limited, as far as anyone can limit him. His 25 points came on 8-of-17 shooting, and he still can’t find his three-point shot — 2-of-8 from beyond is obviously not his best work. And they limited Houston’s three-point shooting, too, as the Rockets only hit 11 triples on 36 attempts.

On the other end, though, Houston was dominant. The Rockets vowed to be better defensively and they absolutely were, switching with much more crispness and allowing Clint Capela to play an absolutely behemoth of a game on the interior. The young center finished with four blocks and two steals, as well as countless more shots affected at the rim.

Houston needed to show out after dropping a game at home, and there’s no real reason — if motivated and if shots are falling — that they can’t do this again. Truthfully, they only hit 31 percent from deep. Even if they aren’t bombing every shot, they can perform like this on both ends with reasonable success.

Quin Synder will have a wrinkle, like he always does. Utah is a resilient team and I want to be careful not to write them off too early or too say anything except that this series is 2-1 with at least two more to play. Ricky Rubio could return soon, too, and that changes Utah’s look offensively.

But this game played out more like we all expected this series to headed into it, so perhaps things are evening out now.

Rockets 93, Jazz 65, end of the quarter: Barring an impossible comeback, we’re going to stop giving updates on this game. See you at the final buzzer.

Rockets 80, Jazz 43, 8:01 remaining: It’s time to start thinking about what the Jazz can do to come back in Game 4, since Houston once again has their biggest lead of the game. There are a few things, like attacking Clint Capela a little more frequently on switches, but you’ve also got to remember that the Rockets are the best regular season team for a reason. They’re good. This is them playing great basketball, and they’re fully capable of playing like this on a nightly basis.

Utah has a lot to think about between now and Sunday, when Game 4 will be played. If there’s anything that they can fall back on, it’s how well they’ve guarded James Harden and, to a lesser extent, Chris Paul. Maybe the role players won’t be quite as effective in the rest of this series. But right now, this is a total beatdown, and there’s still more than 17 minutes left somehow.

Rockets 70, Jazz 40, end of half: This game is, uh ... not close.

Rockets 49, Jazz 34, 6:01 remaining: Utah was bound to make a run, and here it is. Mike D’Antoni went ahead and took a timeout. Royce O’Neale hit a three-pointer, and then he scored a couple transition layups. Getting out in the fast break is a key part of the Jazz’s attack against Houston, especially after seeing how stout that half court defense was in the opening 16 minutes or so.

Rockets 49, Jazz 25, 7:54 remaining: Clint Capela has been an enormous factor in this game. At one point, on four consecutive possessions, he had forced two layup attempts and blocked two more.

I miss Ricky Rubio now, my beautiful son.

Rockets 39, Jazz 22, end of quarter: While the Rockets bench unit couldn’t continue their run, they didn’t cede too much of it, either. Donovan Mitchell briefly went to the locker room — in 10 minutes, he is shooting 1-of-6 from the field, with one assist and two turnovers. That’s something to watch going forwards.

Rockets 30, Jazz 12, 3:44 remaining: So ... the Rockets are serious now. Their defense has been sensational thus far, with their switches happening much more effectively than Game 2 and an excellent job shutting down lobs to Rudy Gobert.

On the other end, Harden has quickly racked up five assists. We’ve seen both teams come back from double digit leads in this game, so let’s now overreact too much here. But so far, Houston looks much closer to their regular season selves.

Rockets 8, Jazz 3, 10:09 remaining: Houston comes out quickly, with much better defense, at least so far. They promised they would play better on that end, and they’re certainly capable of it, especially against a somewhat limited offensive team like Utah. Early results do favor the Rockets.

The Utah Jazz came back to life in their 116-108 Game 2 win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday. Still without their starting point guard, Ricky Rubio, Utah found the shooting to keep up with James Harden, Chris Paul, and one of the best offenses the NBA’s ever seen.

Joe Ingles went off for 27 points, making 10-of-13 shots from the field, and five other players contributed with double-figure scoring. This was a group effort. Rookie Donovan Mitchell scored 17 points on an off-shooting night, but the rest of Utah’s depth showed up. Jae Crowder scored 15 points, Derrick Favors had 10, Rudy Gobert knocked in 15 and Alec Burks had 17.

The Rockets were a mess from three-point range, making just 10-of-37 shots, shooting just 40 percent from the field. Harden’s 32 points came on 9-of-22 shooting, and just 2-of-10 from deep.

“We can correct our energy,” Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, “and we can correct the necessary focus that we need to have. You get lulled into sleep. You think this stuff’s easy. It’s not easy. This is the NBA. This is the [conference] semifinals. We kind of got lulled into it, and we paid for it.”

Date: May 4

Where: Vivint Smart Home Arena, Salt Lake City

When: 10:30 p.m. ET

TV: ESPN

Stream: WatchESPN