The Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets are headed down the stretch with the playoffs within reach, so there was plenty at stake when they went to overtime Tuesday night.
Gordon Hayward scored 28 points and the Jazz made the crucial plays in the extra period for a 117-114 victory over the Rockets.
The win moved the Jazz into eighth place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of the Rockets. The first tiebreaker for a two-way tie is head-to-head winning percentage. Houston (28-29) fell to 2-1 against Utah (28-28) this season.
”Definitely in overtime it had that playoff atmosphere, and that’s when we played better,” Jazz forward Trevor Booker said. ”We don’t talk about it as a team, but I’m sure everybody individually knows what we’re fighting for and who we’re fighting against.”
James Harden scored 42 points for Houston, and Jason Terry hit a 3-pointer with 10.8 seconds remaining to tie it at 106 and force overtime.
It was Harden’s eighth 40-point game, tying him with Stephen Curry.
”It is not about where we are in the standings, it is about us continuing to fight and play the right way,” Harden said. ”We made some tough shots. Rodney Hood made a couple of tough 3s off of the dribble. It is a tough loss for us but we played well and competed at a high level.
”It was definitely intense. It was a great atmosphere. It was a tough one and we have to bounce back on Thursday.”
Hood hit a 3 over Dwight Howard with 51.9 seconds left in OT to give the Jazz a 115-112 lead. Harden followed with a layup, but Derrick Favors’ putback pushed the margin to 117-114 with 11.8 seconds to go.
Favors finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Howard had 13 points and 16 rebounds.
Hayward scored 28 points on just seven shots from the field, making six. He was 3 of 4 on 3-pointers and 13 for 15 at the foul line.
”To have multiple guys be able to make plays was really important,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder said. ”It wasn’t pretty all the time offensively, but when we didn’t turn it over, we got some good things to happen.”
The Rockets rallied in the third quarter behind a spectacular effort from Harden, but Trey Burke hit three 3-pointers in the fourth as the Jazz regained the lead.
Utah jumped out to a 34-23 lead at the end of the first quarter thanks to a 15-2 run. The highlight of the half came on Hood’s crossover, step-back 3-pointer over Howard to beat the buzzer.
Turnovers, however, kept the Rockets in it. Utah committed 16 turnovers in the first half that Houston converted into 23 points.
via Yahoo!Sports