Utah Jazz-Houston Rockets Gm 2 react: Dante Exum is getting paid

Joe Ingles had a career night to lead the Utah Jazz to a Game 2 upset win over the Houston Rockets, leveling their series at 1-1.

If you’re like me, you woke up this morning thinking beating OKC making the playoffs drafting Donovan winning Game 2 was a dream. The Houston Rockets have a formidable, nay, better than formidable, offense. One of the top 10 offenses in NBA history. And atypical for a Mike D’Antoni offense, this team is also the sixth best defensive team.

After getting trounced in the first half of Game 1, very few people foresaw a Utah Jazz victory in Houston.

It turns out that when Coach Quin Snyder has some time to prepare and the Jazz have some rest, they have some mental fortitude. All it took was some execution, hitting some shots, and avoiding panic when the inevitable rally from the Rockets came in the second half.

Joe Ingles’ 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting and 7-of-9 from distance helped too. The Aussie was aggressive and on-point from tip-off. However, the Jazz’s series-tying 116-108 win had multiple heroes.

It turns out Rudy can hang with the best

In case you didn’t see this floating around, Coach Nick of BBall Breakdown did a really thorough analysis of Rudy Gobert in Game 1 to “prove” that the Stifle Tower couldn’t help the Jazz beat a team like Houston. Worth noting: Gobert definitely saw the video and “liked” it.

The problem with his analysis was that it was based on a team that had little prep time and little rest. They had just come from an emotional and intense Game 6 with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Compare his Rudy’s reactions in the clip above to this clip from Game 2 —

Not only does Gobert have the size, wingspan and timing, he also has the basketball IQ to make the right reads on defense. Of course, we’re Jazz fans and we’ve seen this from him before.

Gobert left his mark on the game with 15 points, 14 rebounds and three blocks.

Donovan “scorer only” Mitchell

We also must talk about Donovan Mitchell’s special game. He broke a record held by John Stockton for the most assists in a game by a Jazz rookie. Stockton’s record was 10, Donovan posted 11. Some of them you’ll have to watch multiple times to even understand.

How in the world does Mitchell see and make this pass? Very few are capable of what he does right here —

Mitchell also benefited from a breakdown of his work in Game 1. Kobe Bryant provided some analysis in his series “Detail.” —

Donovan stated that he had watched the video twice and recognized some of the points made by Bryant. Clearly it helped; he orchestrated the Jazz offense brilliantly in lieu of Ricky Rubio, but you can tell his scoring takes a hit when he has to be the primary ball handler and playmaker all game.

His scoring output has dropped considerably from the OKC series to the first two in Houston without Rubio.

Dante Exum is the key to the game

Of course, without the defensive brilliance of Dante Exum, the Jazz also could not have won this game.

Exum frustrated and irritated James Harden all night. I’m not sure it will last all series, and Harden still had 32 points and 11 assists (man, getting to the line makes a HUGE difference in scoring), but he was held to 2-of-10 from the 3-point line.

And Dante doing the Russell Westbrook dunk-and-scream almost got me to do the dunk-and-scream myself.

If he continues to play as he is, there’s a good chance Exum is getting paid this offseason.

There were a lot of positives to take from this as we head into Friday’s Game 3 in Salt Lake City. Is it time for the nation to #TakeNote of the Utah Jazz? Or has nobody learned to stop underestimating this team?