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James Harden and the Houston Rockets will take on Donovan Mitchell and the Utah Jazz Saturday night at 8 p.m.
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Harden leads the entire NBA in scoring with 36.3 ppg and is shooting an impressive 44% from the field. Mitchell and the Jazz will have the privilege of trying to shut him down, as they look to jump up in the Western Conference standings. Currently seventh in the West at 29-23, Utah is only one game behind the 29-21 sixth place Rockets. The Jazz have played well at home this season with a 15-9 record, while the Rockets are actually under .500 this season on the road at 10-13. With Chris Paul back in the lineup, the Rockets have gone 6-4 over their last 10 games. The Jazz have been hot, as they’re 8-2 over their last 10 games.
Jazz Looking to Keep Playing Well
Utah is hosting the Atlanta Hawks Friday night, before the familiar Rockets come into town. This will be the fourth time these two teams have faced off this season, as the Jazz have won two of three games already. All three games between these two have been relatively low scoring. In both wins for the Jazz, they only allowed the Rockets to score 91 and 89 points. The defensive rating is the deciding factor, as Utah is 4th in defensive rating at 105.7 and Houston ranks 27th at 112.8. The offensive ratings are completely flipped, as Houston holds the 2nd best at 114.1 and the Jazz rank 20that 108.8.
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Houston Seeking Health
The Rockets may never experience a fully healthy starting lineup all season long, as once they got Chris Paul back from injury Clint Capela tears a ligament in his thumb. Capela underwent successful surgery and is expected to miss the next 4-6 weeks. As far as replacing him goes, things have changed in the two games with coach Mike D’Antoni going with a no-center lineup. As much as this absence helps the Jazz’s chances, this is a tough blow for the Rockets. Capela was averaging 17.6 ppg, 12.6 rpg and 1.8 bpg and without him Houston doesn’t have a big man who can guard Rudy Gobert. Gobert and Capela are similar in a lot of ways, as they’re both great defensive centers and rebounders. On the season, Gobert is averaging 15 ppg, 12.8 rpg and 2.2 bpg. The offense will continue to flow through Harden and Paul, and perhaps the Rockets will turn to shooting from beyond the arc more now that they’re without Capela.
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Pick and Prediction
ESPN’s matchup predictor is taking the Utah Jazz as a 65.9% favorite to win this game. Mitchell is in his second season averaging 22.5 ppg for the Jazz, but is that enough to take down Harden and the Rockets? We’ve seen Harden put this injury-riddled team on his back and carry his team to wins. We expect this game to be a close and lower scoring like their previous games, but we’re picking the Rockets to win and even up the series.
