Houston • The Utah Jazz are going to be on the receiving end of some big individual scoring nights as the season wears on.
It’s inevitable, and coach Quin Snyder knows this. The NBA is home to the best basketball players in the world. Sometimes, guys are just going to make shots and put up big numbers. When that happens, you pass your compliments and move on to the next game.
Sunday night’s 137-110 loss to the Houston Rockets was different for the Jazz at the Toyota Center. Superstar guard James Harden scored 56 points and handed out 13 assists against Utah. But that wasn’t the issue. A lack of toughness? A lack of will? Those were the issues for the Jazz.
“As much as anything, we made so many mental mistakes,” Snyder said. “Just breakdowns and there wasn’t the collective resolve that we needed to play with. We weren’t able to stop Harden with the kind of game he was having. We didn’t respond as a group.”
Harden turned in what may have been the best individual performance the NBA has seen this season — even better than LeBron James’ 57 points against the Washington Wizards last Friday night.
In 35 minutes, Harden went 19 of 25 from the field. He went 7 of 8 from 3-point range. He went 11 of 12 from the free-throw line and finished one point shy of Calvin Murphy’s franchise record.
Houston scored a season-high 137 points. Collectively, the Rockets made 23 3-pointers, tying for the fifth most in NBA regular-season history. It was a great performance by the Rockets, and the Jazz didn’t respond. They never got back into the game once Houston established a double-digit lead. The lead changed hands once and the Jazz surrendered 48 points in the third quarter alone.
“We’re all pissed off and we didn’t show it during the game when we needed it,” Jazz shooting guard Rodney Hood said. “We let Houston play so freely and so loose. We didn’t play with any physicality. There were no hard fouls, no nothing. This just can’t happen like that. We’re going to get beat some games, but the way we lost tonight was unlike us. This is one of our worst losses since I’ve been here.”
Storylines<br>Utah surrenders a season-high 48 points to the Rockets in the third quarter.<br>Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell scores eight of his team-high 17 points in the first quarter.<br>Utah falls to 5-5 on the season
It serves as irony that the Jazz played well offensively. They moved the ball well and put six players in double-digits, led by Donovan Mitchell’s 17 points. They made 13 of 34 from 3-point range, good for a respectable 38 percent. They went 21 of 24 from the free-throw line and turned the ball over just 14 times.
But the defensive end has been an issue for the Jazz in the last week. They defended well in Wednesday’s overtime win against the Portland Trail Blazers. But they allowed the Dallas Mavericks to make a bunch of shots last Monday, although the Jazz rallied to win. They allowed the Toronto Raptors to do the same, and star guard DeMar DeRozan obliged with 37 points on Friday night.
As Snyder said on Sunday night, the loss to the Rockets was different. He said the Jazz are a better team than they showed against Houston, and told them so following the loss.
With the loss, Utah falls to 5-5 on the season. The Jazz have lost two straight games, after previously winning two straight.
“The challenge is, we have to be better as a team and our guys know it,” Snyder said. “There are a lot of reasons why, some things we can control and we didn’t. Guys making unbelievable shots you can’t control. But the most important thing is we had egregious defensive mistakes. Just a lack of discipline and a lack of communication.”