Rockets defeat Jazz 100-93 in Game 5 to win series 4-1

Posted: April 24, 2019 -- 11:55 p.m. CT

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- The Houston Rockets scored the final six points in a 100-93 Game 5 win over the Utah Jazz Wednesday night to win the first round series 4-1 and eliminate Utah from the playoffs for the second consecutive season.

Houston led 94-93 after Utah guard Ricky Rubio sank a pull up jumper in the pain with 1:32 remaining in the fourth quarter. On Houston's possession, Eric Gordon missed a driving layup; and, Utah's Donovan Mitchell rebounded the missed shot; raced up the court and passed to Rubio who was alone in the corner. Rubio launched the potential go-ahead basket.

Airball.

"I had an open three to get up with one and a half minutes to play, and I missed it," Rubio acknowledged. "It's not about that. It’s about the whole game."

The basketball sailed over the rim; and, Houston's PJ Tucker rebounded the miss. Tucker was fouled with 1:09 on the clock. Tucker missed both foul shots; but, Gordon stole the ball from Mitchell on Utah's possession. Tucker was fouled again. This time, Tucker made both foul shots for a 96-93 Houston lead with 54.8 seconds remaining.

Then, James Harden blocked Utah big man Rudy Gobert's shot attempt as Gobert was going up with the ball. Harden grabbed the loose ball; was fouled; and made both free throws.

Houston's defense bailed out its offense. The Rockets outshot the Jazz 44.4% to 37.2% tonight and 43.5% to 40.0% for the series.

The Rockets are 13-0 when holding their playoff opponent below 100 points going back to 2016, including 6-0 against the Jazz (3 times this series; 3 times in 2018 Western Conference Semifinals).

James Harden had a game-high 26 points with 6 rebounds, 6 assists, a playoff career-high 4 blocks and 3 steals tonight. is the second player (Kevin Durant vs. Cleveland on 6/4/17) to post those numbers in a playoff game dating back to the 2004 playoffs.

The Rockets found a way to win.

"You know that's what the playoffs are all about," Mike D'Antoni, Rockets Head Coach said after the game. "It's not playing pretty – everybody knows everybody's stuff, so you can't trick them. It's tough; you got to make big plays. It's one on one more or less and you got to go after them; and, you got to guard them, and I thought P.J. (Tucker) – the whole game was unbelievable. Eric (Gordon) played 40 minutes on Donovan (Mitchell)."

Clint Capela had 16 points (6-7 FGs) and 10 rebounds tonight, marking his third double-double of the series and the 13th of his playoff career.

"I feel a lot better," Capela said after the game. "My strength on finishing at the end of the game, the energy. I really felt like definitely another person than the last game. It felt great, it felt great."

Chris Paul scored 9 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter. He averaged 17.4 ppg on 45.2% shooting this series after averaging 11.5 ppg on 38.1% shooting vs. Utah during the regular season.

"We got a lot of grit, a lot of grit, a lot of fight," Paul said. "Especially, playing a team two years back to back. We knew them well, they knew us well, and we knew it was going to be a hard fought series. So, it was great to get the win tonight."

Eric Gordon shot 4-of-8 from 3-point range tonight. He hit 3 plus 3-pointers in all five games this series and averaged 3.6 threes on 48.6% shooting in the series.

"A lot of things are not going to go your way offensively; and, it didn't for us throughout the whole game," Gordon commented. "And, what carried us over was defense. We made a lot of stops towards the end of the game, where they couldn't score. It’s all about making it hard on them. They're a good team, they're a really good team and we got to give them credit for making it hard on us."

NOTES:

Harden averaged 27.8 ppg, 8.0 apg, 6.8 rpg, 2.20 spg and 1.40 bpg this series.

Houston had 12 steals and 12 blocks tonight. The last time the Rockets had 10+ steals and 10+ blocks in a playoff game was the decisive Game 5 of the 1994 Western Conference Finals at home vs. Utah. Houston was 18-7 when having 10+ steals during the regular season (2-0 this series). The Rockets only had 10+ blocks three times during the regular season (3-0 mark).

NEXT:

The Rockets will face the winner of the Golden State / LA Clippers series in the second round.

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