Title : Rockets power past Jazz to take commanding series lead
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Rockets power past Jazz to take commanding series lead
Chris Paul says that mid-range jumpers are like layups for him.
The Houston Rockets have emphasized dunks and 3-pointers in becoming one of the NBA's most efficient offences but Paul's in-between jumpers proved to be the difference when the long-range shots weren't falling.
"I wasn't joking about that," Paul said of his layup comment. "If [Rudy] Gobert's going to back, that's what I'm going to shoot."
Paul had 27 points and 12 rebounds while James Harden scored 24 points to power the Houston Rockets to a 100-87 win over the Utah Jazz on Sunday night, taking a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinal series.
"It showed a lot of grit for us to come in here and win two games," Paul said.
Paul, playing the sidekick to Harden for most of his first season in Houston, took centre stage, controlling the tempo and getting to his favourite spots as the Rockets led from start to finish.
"Chris is shooting those shots like a layup," Harden said. "He was extremely aggressive tonight, which we need from him."
Donovan Mitchell scored 25 before fouling out and Joe Ingles had 15 for the Jazz.
Mitchell started finding lanes to the basket late and got the Jazz within 85-80 after he fuelled a 10-2 run, sending the crowd into a frenzy. But Paul, who matched his scoring high for this playoff run, hit a pull-up jumper and found Trevor Ariza for a 3-pointer to put the Rockets back up by double digits and they never looked back.
Disruptive defence
Houston, which has been known for their offensive firepower, put forth a disruptive defensive effort.
Clint Capela, the anchor of the Houston defence, had 12 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks, one of which featured a Dikembe Mutombo-like finger wag in the fourth quarter.
"We missed 22 shots at the rim," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "We had our chances and didn't convert. Some of them were contested. Some of them were open. You're not going to get any better shot."
The Rockets went up by 15 in the second quarter before the Jazz closed to 51-46 on back-to-back three-point plays by Mitchell. Utah trailed 58-48 at the half.
Neither team was accurate from beyond the arc as the Jazz were 7-for-29 and Houston went 10-for-38.
"There's all different ways to win. We're not strictly a jump-shooting team," D'Antoni said. "Chris has the mid-range, James gets to the hole and you got Clint down there. We've got a lot of other stuff we can go to."
Already without Ricky Rubio, the Jazz lost back-up point guard Dante Exum in the third quarter, also to a hamstring injury. Exum was a surprising offensive spark for the Jazz with 9 points in the first period, but picked up three fouls guarding Harden.
Durant puts Pelicans on brink
Kevin Durant made his approach to taking over a pivotal NBA playoff game sound so simple — and look that way, too.
"I just try to tell myself that I'm at my best when I don't care what happens after the game, the outcome or anything," Durant said. "That's when I'm free and having fun out there, and forceful. That was thing — just try to play with force no matter if I missed shots or not, just keep shooting, keep being aggressive."
Durant scored Golden State's first two baskets on pull-up jumpers of 21 and 15 feet before a minute-and-a-half had elapsed in Game 4 of the Warriors' Western Conference semifinal series against New Orleans on Sunday. He finished with 38 points on 15-of-27 shooting to go with nine rebounds, and Golden State soundly defeated the Pelicans 118-92 to take a commanding 3-1 series lead back to the West Coast.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry said it was apparent early that getting the ball to Durant would be wise.
"Just find ways to get him in scoring positions," Curry said. "Sometimes, that's not really hard to do — just throw it to him.
"Just keep the game simple at that point because he's such a great scorer, you don't have to really overthink things."
The Warriors lost by 19 in Game 3 Friday and the Pelicans were looking to even the series. Instead, the Warriors responded with a resounding effort that produced a wire-to-wire win with leads as large as 26 points. Curry scored 23, Klay Thompson added 13 and Quinn Cook, who was a Pelicans reserve earlier this season, contributed 12 points.
Anthony Davis had 26 points and 12 rebounds for New Orleans, but the Pelicans hit only 36 per cent (32 of 88) of their shots, missing 22 of 26 3-point attempts.
Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said Golden State's defence "had a lot to do with" the Pelicans' poor shooting.
"We didn't have the looks we normally have," he said. "We pressed a little bit when we got behind."
E'Twaun Moore scored 20 and Jrue Holiday 19, but New Orleans reserves combined for just 14 points after scoring 32 two nights earlier. Rajon Rondo finished with 11 rebounds but had only six assists after racking up 21 in Game 3. The Pelicans also committed 19 turnovers, which led 21 Warriors points.
"We missed a lot of easy shots, a couple game-plan discipline mistakes early on and they came out on fire," Davis said. "We just can't afford to shoot that poorly
"But we've got another one," Davis added. "Any time we've been punched in the mouth, we've always responded very well."
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