Rockets soar; Jazz pulsate
LOS ANGELES— The Houston Rockets and the Utah Jazz hurdled their respective rivals on Monday to move within a win of advancing in the NBA Western Conference playoffs. James Harden scored 36 points as the Rockets downed the Minnesota Timberwolves, 119-100, while the Jazz silence the Thunder, 113-100. The Rockets and the Jazz took a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. —
LOS ANGELES— James Harden scored 36 points as the Houston Rockets moved to the brink of a Western Conference first round playoff series victory with a 119100 rout of the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday.
But it was the Utah Jazz that pulled off the victory of the day, trouncing the Oklahoma City Thunder to take a 3-1 lead in their first-round series.
Harden underscored his status as frontrunner for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award after leading a stunning third quarter performance that saw the Rockets explode for an astonishing 50 points.
That devastating burst of scoring—a franchise record—included 22 points from Harden as the Rockets transformed a onepoint contest at halftime into a comfortable victory.
“We hit the switch that we’ve been trying to hit since the beginning of the playoffs, at both ends of the court,” a satisfied Harden said afterwards. “It’s pretty scary what we’re capable of when we’re locked in defensively like that and when we get rolling offensively.”
The win gave Houston a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series, giving the Western Conference leaders a chance to book their place in the second round of the playoffs with a victory at home in game five on Wednesday.
The smart money will be on Houston to wrap up the series quickly after Monday’s demolition job at Minnesota’s Target Center arena.
“It was a great (third) quarter for us,” Harden said. “It gave us the belief. Now we go back to the crib and try to finish it off.”
While Harden’s virtuoso third quarter performance ulti- mately decided the contest, the Rockets will also take heart from an offensive display that saw five players finish with double-digit points tallies.
Point guard Chris Paul weighed in with 25 points—including 15 in the lop-sided third quarter—while Eric Gordon had 18 and Trevor Ariza 15.
Center Clint Capela finished with 14 points, and also pulled down 17 rebounds during his 31 minutes on court.
The Timberwolves’ scoring was led by Karl-Anthony Towns with 22 points.
In Monday’s other game, the Jazz moved to within one win of clinching their series against the Oklahoma City Thunder with a convincing 113-96 win in Salt Lake City.
Rookie star Donovan Mitchell made the decisive contribution for Utah with 33 points as Russell Westbrook and Paul George’s Thunder came unstuck.
Utah now leads 3-1 heading into game five in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.
All five Utah starters made double figures as the Jazz overturned a 30-24 first quarter deficit to tilt the contest in their favor in the second and third periods, outscoring the Thunder 66-43.
George led the scoring for Oklahoma City with 32 points while Westbrook had 23 points and 14 rebounds.
Utah’s Ricky Rubio saluted the performance of Mitchell, who belied his age with a composed performance.
“He’s playing amazing,” Rubio said. “He doesn’t seem like a rookie at all. It’s fun to see it, and it’s fun to help him get better.”