The Houston Rockets drew first blood in the series, as they eked out a comfortable 110-96 win over the Utah Jazz in Game 1 Sunday. Will the Rockets expand their series lead to 2-0? Or will the Jazz even it all up at 1-1?
Utah’s perimeter defense could use some improvement heading into Game 2 of this series. While the Jazz allowed just 36 points in the paint in Game 1, the Rockets drilled 17 3-pointers on 32 attempts against Utah on Sunday. Defense, however, is one thing that the Jazz have been generally great in this season, so expect some adjustments to be made before the second leg of the series. Meanwhile, Ricky Rubio will still likely be out due to a hamstring issue, and if he’ll miss another game, then Royce O’Neale could get another start. O’Neale only had four points in 29 minutes in Game 1, but he’s there for his defense more than his offense. If anything, the Jazz shot 50 percent from the field in Game 1 with super rookie Donovan Mitchell scoring 21 points. So far in these playoffs, Mitchell is averaging 27.4 points per game.
The Jazz are 4-3 AT in their last seven road games.
Betting on the Houston Rockets (-11.5)
James Harden did not waste much time to show Utah he’s a different superstar than any of the three the Jazz faced in their first-round matchup. Harden exploded for 41 points on 12-for-26 shooting in Game 1 to go with seven 3-pointers. Chris Paul, meanwhile, had 17 points and six assists. Houston went undefeated in all six meetings with the Jazz in those games during which Harden averaged 31.0 points and shot an amazing 42.2 percent from the field. With Rudy Gobert making it extremely hard for opposing teams to score in the paint, the Rockets are going to use their ability to knock down 3-pointers to stretch Utah’s defense. Utah made 15.3 3-pointers per game on 41.5 percent shooting clip against the Jazz in the regular season.
As for betting trends, the Rockets are 2-0 Ats in their last two home games and 7-3 ATS in their last 10 home games against Utah dating back to 2013.
