Jazz play not to lose anyone in loss to Houston Rockets


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HOUSTON — The Utah Jazz fell to the Houston Rockets Wednesday 117-91 in the season’s final game. However, that wasn’t the real story.

At least, it wasn’t the story that ultimately mattered. The Jazz finished the season with a record of 38-44, marking an improvement of 13 games over last season’s struggles.

Wednesday, the Jazz, with nothing to play for, played their stars limited minutes, allowing Houston to get its stars ready for a deep playoff run with a game they needed for playoff seeding.

The Rockets swept Utah in Houston for the season as Houston enters the playoffs with a record of 56-26. Overall, in a four-game stretch against Western Conference playoff teams to end the season (Memphis, Portland, Dallas and Houston), the Jazz finished 2-2.

There were a variety of storylines that helped explain Utah’s blowout loss, but a few significant ones stood out.

Winning this game never mattered --------------------------------

There will always be fans that believe every game should be won, and while those Jazz fans were the vocal minority, they still made their presence known on social media during Wednesday’s game. However, what in this game really mattered for Utah?

It’s an honest question to ask, because the Jazz had absolutely nothing to play for besides a vanity win over Houston. The Rockets had everything to play for in this game, with the race to decide playoff seeding very much in play. Houston played its stars; Utah didn’t — it’s that simple.

Gordon Hayward and Trevor Booker didn’t play for the Jazz; Derrick Favors played a total of nine minutes. In no way can the Jazz be expected to win a game if those are the contributions from those players, and the other team is playing all of its best players to ensure a win.

The three leaders in minutes-played — Chris Johnson, Bryce Cotton and Elijah Millap — are all developmental pieces the Jazz are evaluating, and also trying to have other teams in the league evaluate. This was one final chance to get them on game tape for the offseason.

Jazz lose battle in paint and on boards

Teams have rarely beaten Utah when the Jazz out-rebound an opponent, and a loss has been ever rarer when Utah outscores a team in the paint. Wednesday, the Jazz failed to accomplish either as the Rockets won the battle on the boards 49-44, and won the battle in the paint 54-48.

To make matters worse, the Rockets had more success at the free-throw line (23-of-34) and the 3-point line (12-of-28) than Utah did, as well.

Harden posts triple-double

James Harden is a candidate for the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award, and he posted another gem of a performance in the Rockets’ final game of the season. Harden 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in the win. His primary competitors figure to be Golden State’s Steph Curry and Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook.

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Jon Oglesby

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