Le Jazz Froid
It might be NCAA Tournament time (go Cougars!) but the Rockets made their own Elite Eight tonight, with their eighth straight win. This win came against Le Jazz Cold, aka the Desert Tankers.
Utah, despite a pretty good first half of the season has changed tack, and is now trying to dive to the bottom of the tank (good luck, with Detroit and Washington feeding off the bottom already). Fortunately for them, they were in absolutely no danger of winning this one, as it was essentially over after the first quarter.
The Rockets won the first quarter 47-21, and had 85 at the half, compared to Utah’s 55. Utah just seemed overwhelmed early by the Rockets speed, athleticism and aggression. Fred VanVleet may only answer to one of those descriptions, but he was shooting it hot tonight. FVV scored 34 points in 28 minutes, shooting 11-16 overall, and a scorching 10-15 from three point range. He also notched 7 assists amidst all that long range accuracy.
The other red hot Rocket? Yes, that man, Jalen Green went over 40 points in under 35 minutes tonight. He shot 15-22, 7-11 from three point range, and grabbed (only) 4 rebounds and dished 4 assists.
There was more Green being flashed around Toyota center tonight, though, as Jeff Green got some extra minutes due to a weak Jabari Smith ejection in the 2nd quarter that was pretty much entirely due to Kris Dunn’s grifting. (Grrr. The Rockets are so scary. Grrr. Toss ‘em!)
Anyhow, Uncle Jeff took advantage of the green light and dropped 21pts on 7-14 shooting, and 4-8 from three point range in 25 minutes.
It’s hard to find a lot to say about this one. Amen Thompson had a bad shooting night, but overall a great game. Amen with a shot is quite likely unstoppable. He did grab 10 rebounds, dish 6 assists and managed a steal, too.
It’s really hard to imagine what offensive rebounding might look like for the Rockets with Eason, Thompson and Adams on the floor at the same time. Those Rockets might not be good at shooting, but they’ll grab all the boards off their misses until they make it.
Jock Landale continues to BE imposing at center, despite not posting imposing numbers. He only played 18 minutes, but they were high impact.
The Jazz started the game, like the Rockets, without a center on the court. And without their best player, Markkanen, and also without Jordan Clarkson,,and Omer Yurtseven. Their really their only notable bigs were John Collins, who was the only Jazzman to really show up, though he did most of his damage from the FT line, and seemed to mostly do some stat padding tonight. Walker Kessler was the other Utah big, but he seems to fluctuate between looking dominant, and looking pretty rigid.
In any case, Jazz got stomped early, and really just sort of lay on the court, twitching, for the last 3⁄4 of the game. Games that are essentially a blow out in the first half can be bad for your defensive ratings, as the Rockets, under more pressure to do so, could probably have held Utah under 100.
The next game is against Portland, in Houston, so perhaps the Rockets can get dressed to the nines. The Warriors and Lakers both face good opponents tomorrow, and if both lose, or just Golden State does, the Rockets really will be breathing down their necks for the play in.
No one wants to be the sort of team that only aspires to the play in game, but that’s not really the Rockets, after three years in the tank.