The Rockets advance to the Western Conference Finals

The Houston Rockets beat the Utah Jazz to move onto the next round of the playoffs: the Western Conference Finals.

The Rockets finished off the Jazz tonight 112-102 to win a second-straight series 4-1. These back-to-back gentleman’s sweeps put Houston in a prime position heading into their probable matchup with Golden State.

This game was a close one throughout as the Jazz were not about to go down without a fight. Donovan Mitchell put on a show, outscoring the Rockets 22-21 in the third quarter by himself. Unfortunately, he suffered an injury at the end of the game, so best of luck in his recovery this offseason.

CP3 was certainly ready to advance to his first ever Conference Finals. He put on a show, we’ll get into the logistics here in a little bit.

Let’s get into the stats:

Key Stats

Chris Paul: 41 points, 7 rebounds, 10 assists, 0 turnovers

James Harden: 18 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists

P.J. Tucker: 19 points, 6 rebounds, 7-9 FG (5-7 from 3), 3 blocks

How the Rockets won

Chris Paul went bonkers, especially in the fourth quarter. He put the Jazz to rest and truly wanted this game tonight. He took over this game and was the main reason why the Rockets won.

James Harden was off tonight. It’s not a good look for him to be this bad in an elimination game, but at least he has a good excuse. CP3, in the postgame interview, said that Harden has been sick and is still recovering. Feel better James!

P.J. Tucker went off as well. He had a playoff career-high 19 points and made 5 shots from deep. His ability to spread the floor has been huge for the Rockets this postseason. If he can shoot like that against the Warriors, that would be a big help.

Gerald Green provided a spark off the bench. He has found his way back into the playoff rotation with Ryan Anderson losing his minutes. Green had two big 3s that helped the Rockets weather the storm a bit in the third quarter.

Next: Game 4 takeaways