Rockets @ Jazz

Who will WIN this matchup?

Houston Rockets

@ Utah Jazz

Current odds:

Houston Rockets: (-150)

Utah Jazz: (+130)

• The line for this game is Rockets by 3 points.

• The Utah Jazz did about as well as any team can possibly do defensively against James Harden in Game 3 and still couldn’t come away with a victory. The Jazz will try to avoid a four-game sweep of the Western Conference series when they host Harden and the fourth-seeded Houston Rockets in Game 4 on Monday. Harden missed his first 15 field-goal attempts and finished 3-of-20 from the floor but came through with a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and had no trouble getting to the free-throw line while finishing with 22 points in the 104-101 victory. “Keep shooting, keep being aggressive,” Harden told reporters. “0-of-15, 14-of-15, 15-of-15, my job is to go out there and produce and be aggressive and in attack mode. Nothing changes. … I didn’t shoot the ball well, and we still won. Guys stepped up major tonight, and that’s what we’re going to need.”

• Utah only held a slim advantage for most of the first three quarters despite Harden’s off night and realize it missed an opportunity. “We didn’t capitalize as much as we needed to, especially during a stretch there in the third quarter where I thought we had a chance to build a little bit of a lead,” Jazz coach Quin Snyder told reporters. “We got some looks that we had to take, and they didn’t fall.”

• Chris Paul scored 18 points, Clint Capela recorded a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds and P.J. Tucker scored the last of his 12 points at the free-throw line to seal the win on Saturday. Harden scored 14 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter and added 10 assists and six steals in the victory. “They played him tough, there’s no doubt about it,” Houston coach Mike D’Antoni told reporters of Harden. “They got into him, and they did what they were supposed to do, but James normally figures that stuff out anyway. So, he just didn’t have a great night – and it happens.”

• Utah star guard Donovan Mitchell scored a series-high 34 points in Game 3 but missed a wide-open look at a 3-pointer that would have tied the game with under 10 seconds left and missed five of his 17 free-throw attempts. “We had the right mindset and were aggressive, but we’ve got to capitalize,” Mitchell told reporters. “You can’t give a team like this multiple opportunities. I wouldn’t say it all came down to (missed free throws), but it definitely would’ve helped.” Jazz center Rudy Gobert turned in his best defensive performance of the series in the Game 3 loss, blocking seven shots after managing a total of one block in the first two contests.

• Jazz SF Joe Ingles is 4-of-17 from 3-point range in the series.

• Houston hasn’t swept a playoff series since taking three straight from the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 1997 postseason.

• Utah PF Jae Crowder made his first start of the series in Game 3 and finished with five points in 24 minutes.