After Kevin Porter Jr. sprained his left ankle early in Thursday’s game, DJ Augustin started in his place for the Rockets during a blowout loss to Utah.
Two nights after losing reserve forward Danuel House Jr. for an indefinite period due to a foot sprain, the struggling Houston Rockets (1-4) suffered an even more impactful injury on Thursday when starting point guard Kevin Porter Jr. sprained his left ankle during a home loss to Utah.
Porter first suffered the injury in the first half and attempted to stay in the game, but he did not return after halftime. Veteran DJ Augustin started in his place to open the second half of a 122-91 loss (box score) to the Jazz, who clearly outclassed the young and rebuilding Rockets. Led by 19 points from Bojan Bogdanovic and with seven players scoring in double-figures, Utah improved to 4-0 on the 2021-22 season to date.
In postgame comments, head coach Stephen Silas said he did not yet have an update on Porter’s status moving forward.
Christian Wood scored 16 points to lead the Rockets, who made just 9-of-44 shots from 3-point range (20.5%). Rookie big man Alperen Sengun added 14 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals in 24 minutes, while rookie guard Jalen Green scored 13 points but went 0-of-8 on 3-pointers.
Houston does have an extra day between games to potentially allow those injuries to heal up, since the Rockets don’t return to game action until Sunday night’s game at Los Angeles versus the Lakers. Tipoff from Staples Center is scheduled for 9:30 p.m. Central.
[lawrence-related id=56144,56072]
Kevin Porter Jr. is out for the rest of the game with a left ankle sprain.
The Utah Jazz enter next season as a team with something to prove. They were stellar in the regular season but fell short in the playoffs.
The Utah Jazz enter the season as a team with something to prove after falling short in the last playoffs.
There is nothing easy about what Utah accomplished last year. They finished with the best record (52-20) in the league and outscored opponents by 9.0 points per 100 possessions, nearly three points better than what any other team achieved. How were they able to do that? Why didn’t it work in the postseason?
Below, check out our preview for the 2021-22 Jazz campaign.
Now that it is behind us, there was nothing easy about the 2020-21 NBA regular season, especially for those participating in every game.
Now that it is behind us, there was nothing easy about the 2020-21 NBA regular season, especially for those participating in every game.
Whether it was due to injuries some may attribute to a shortened offseason or various restrictions and complications related to COVID-19, it was incredibly rare to see a player on the floor every single night. Ultimately, when it was all said and done, there were only 11 players who were able to play in all 72 games.
If that number seems low, you are absolutely right, as it was nearly half of the total from the most recent full season (21) in 2018-19. In fact, since the league moved to an 82-game schedule in 1967-68, this is the lowest number we have seen.
There is nothing surprising about only 11 players completing the full 72-game slate when considering the chaotic schedule that teams faced this year. But for perspective, while fewer than a dozen players appeared in each game for their squad, that number was as high as 58 in 1999-00.
While it is always impressive for a player to be counted on night after night, this year, that accomplishment deserves even more praise than ever before. In this case, it may even factor into the MVP discussions as Denver Nuggets big man Nikola Jokic was the only All-Star who played all games.
Another individual worth saluting includes No. 1 overall pick Anthony Edwards, who played the full season despite a coaching and ownership change for his Minnesota Timberwolves.
No one should be too surprised to see RJ Barrett, who finished with the second-most total minutes played in his first season under New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau, widely known to expect intense minutes from his roster.
Others who met these qualifications for top playoff contenders include Mikal Bridges (Phoenix), Bojan Bogdanovic (Utah), Georges Niang (Utah) and Ivica Zubac (LA Clippers).
Hopefully, next season will be more normal and we can see more players get the full 82-game experience.
Assessing the betting odds and chances of Utah Jazz winning the Western Conference and the 2019-20 NBA Championship, with picks and best bets.
The Utah Jazz were fourth in the Western Conference with a record of 41-23 when the 2019-20 NBA season was suspended. Below, we look at the BetMGM betting odds of the Jazz winning the NBA Championship once play resumes with a 22-team format in Orlando, Fla., later this summer.
Utah Jazz season recap
The Jazz have been one of the more consistent teams in the league. Of their 41 wins, 21 were at home and 20 on the road. They were 5-5 in the Northwest Division and 5-5 in their previous 10 games before the season stopped. In terms of betting results, Utah was only 30-32-2 against the spread with a 33-31 Over/Under record.
SG Donovan Mitchell and SF Bojan Bogdanovic lead the way in scoring, averaging 24.2 points per game and 20.2 PPG, respectively. C Rudy Gobert and PG Jordan Clarkson both averaged 15.1 PPG, while Gobert led the Jazz in rebounds with 13.7 RPG.
Looking to place a bet on the NBA Championship? Get some action on it at BetMGM. Bet Now!
Utah is not a huge long shot to win the title but definitely not a favorite. The Los Angeles Lakers (+250) are the favorites to win it. With championship odds at +2500, the Jazz are 10 times that. They are a consistently good team, but don’t really have a shot unless the Lakers, the East-leading Milwaukee Bucks (+280) and Los Angeles Clippers (+325) lose several top players.
Should you bet on the Jazz to win the title? NO.
Plus, Bogdanovic’s status is in doubt as he had surgery in May to repair a ruptured ligament in his right wrist.
Utah Jazz Western Conference odds
The same is the case for the Jazz to come out of the Western Conference to play in the NBA Finals. They are +1400, behind four other teams. The Jazz are decent, but they’re not on the same level as the top two teams in the West, being the Lakers and Clippers. A bet on the Jazz to win the West is the same as betting for a championship. I wouldn’t do it. AVOID.
Get some action on the NBA Championship by signing up and betting at BetMGM. If you’re looking for more sports betting picks and tips, access all of our content at SportsbookWire.com.
Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.
You might have missed a fairly big NBA report on Monday, so let’s recap: Utah Jazz forward Bojan Bogdanovic is getting season-ending surgery on his wrist, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The NBA, of course, is in limbo. If the league doesn’t come back for a modified 2020 playoffs, it’s simply Bogdanovic making sure he’s healthy for what could be a full 2020-21 season.
But that limbo makes this decision — we don’t know if it was Bogdanovic’s choice or the Jazz’s — a curiosity.
Before the league suspended play the night of March 11 when Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, the Jazz had righted their ship after a sluggish start, and had won five or their last six. They were the No. 4 seed in the West, just a game and a half behind the No. 3 seed Denver Nuggets. It’s conceivable that in a tournament or shortened playoffs that they could be a darkhorse team.
Yet now’s the time when Bogdanovic — in the middle of a career year with 20.2 ppg — elected to have surgery?
Utah's Bojan Bogdanovic has been one of two NBA players to average 20 points, shoot 40 percent on three-pointers and 90 percent on free throws this season, per @ESPNStatsInfo. Milwaukee's Khris Middleton is the other.
Could that mean the Jazz don’t think they can overcome, say, the Lakers or Clippers in a hypothetical postseason and would rather have Bogdanovic good to go for next season? If he had kept playing, would it have gotten worse?
And — if we’re pulling back the magnifying glass a bit — it makes me wonder how other NBA teams and players are approaching this idea of a summer postseason and next year.
If you’re on a contending team, maybe unlike Bogdanovic you’re electing to hold off on surgery and hope you make a run. If you’re out of the running entirely, are you assuming your season is basically over and focused on a possible December return?
See? So many questions about one decision. And we may get a lot more of these as the NBA continues to figure out what it will do this summer.
Bojan Bogdanovic set a career-high in scoring on March 15, 2016. The former Brooklyn Nets forward has yet to top that mark.
With the NBA going on hiatus — which NBA commissioner Adam Silver set as at least 30 days on Thursday — and New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, placing a ban on gatherings of more than 500 people for the foreseeable future due to the coronavirus outbreak in the United States, no Brooklyn Nets games will be played for the time being.
For the Nets, as much as any team, this comes at an odd time — Brooklyn was battling the Orlando Magic for the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference standings. At the stoppage of play, the Nets had a half-game advantage over the Magic.
Since there aren’t any games, each day Nets Wire will highlight major individual performances and key developments throughout Nets history:
On March 15, 2016, Bojan Bogdanovic had an offensive performance he still has yet to replicate, even though his numbers have steadily increased since the Brooklyn Nets traded him away in the middle of the 2016-17 season.
Brooklyn’s starting lineup in this 2015-16 game against the Philadelphia 76ers was Bogdanovic, Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young, Wayne Ellington and Donald Sloan. The Sixers’ current general manager, Elton Brand, was coming off the bench for head coach Brett Brown.
There wasn’t a whole lot of defense played in this one, which worked out just fine for the Nets as they walked away with a 131-114 win (full box score).
No one took greater advantage of the offensive tone to the game than Bogdanovic. He went off for a career-high 44 points — a mark he has yet to top. The forward finished 17-for-27 from the floor (4-for-9 from deep) and grabbed eight rebounds.
“I started the game with a couple of easy free throws, easy buckets on the fast break. I had 15 or 17 after the first quarter,” Bogdanovic said after the win. “So I realized that tonight is maybe my night to get a career-high in the NBA.
“I tried (for 50), but then I missed a couple of shots and then I was like 40 is good too.”
Lopez and Young each had a double-double. Lopez finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds, while Young scored 14 points and ripped down 16 boards.
For the third time in 54 regular-season games, an opponent hit a 3-pointer in the final two seconds to overcome a two-point Houston lead.
From a Houston Rockets perspective, perhaps the most surprising element of Bojan Bogdanovic’s game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer in Sunday’s loss to the visiting Utah Jazz is in how familiar it felt.
The 2019-20 season isn’t yet to the All-Star break, and it’s already the second time for Houston to lose on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at home. The first came on Dec. 9, when Nemanja Bjelica did it for Sacramento.
In both cases, the Rockets had taken a two-point lead courtesy of a made basket with under two seconds remaining. It was a Russell Westbrook layup in December, and a P.J. Tucker 3-pointer this week.
Each time, however, the Rockets still lost courtesy of an ensuing 3-pointer. Both the Kings and Jazz advanced the ball by calling a timeout, which also allowed them to draw up a sideline out-of-bounds play.
#Rockets on Bojan Bogdanovic game-winning 3 for Utah: Mike D’Antoni:”He made a heck of a shot.We had 2 guys on him.I was afraid we were gonna foul him” James Harden:”Tough-ass shot” PJ Tucker:”That last shot didn’t lose the game.We lost the game way earlier-They scored way 2easy” pic.twitter.com/zFQ9DAzJmx
In both plays, the Rockets enlisted a tall center with long arms (Clint Capela, Tyson Chandler) to guard the inbounds passer, standing at a slight angle toward their own basket. Presumably, this was designed to help prevent either a pass into the corner or a lob toward the rim.
That effectively made it a four-on-four battle, and the Kings and Jazz were each able to momentarily free up a shooter by utilizing a screen. Had they not covered the inbounds pass, Houston could have had five defenders tracking four players through the maze of screens and cuts.
Another option if they didn’t cover the passer would be to position the center in a “free safety” role near the basket — which could allow the four defenders at the 3-point line to be less concerned about cuts.
As it was, the Rockets recovered well against Utah, with both Tucker and James Harden closing out hard on Bogdanovic. They didn’t contest as well on Bjelica, but he was over 30 feet away from the basket.
Great play design from Kings on this game winner. Elevator screen for Bogdanovic but the key is that he curls. Tucker tries to protect on a potential lob. 2nd key is Barnes backscreen for Hield. That engages Harden, no one to help on Bjelica's cut and Tucker can't recover in time pic.twitter.com/mwpfBu72wK
Both shots, on paper, were less likely than likely (perhaps much less likely) to go in — yet each did. Flip those two results, and Houston would be 35-18 and in position for home-court advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs and only two games back of the No. 2 seed.
Instead, the Rockets are 33-20 and in the West’s No. 5 spot, only a game ahead of the No. 7 position.
It’s hard to say that Mike D’Antoni‘s strategy was faulty in either case, given the low probability of each long-range shot. However, with a two-point lead in both cases, it’s fair to wonder if perhaps the Rockets would be better served to try and overplay the perimeter and force a shot inside the arc — where the worst-case scenario is overtime, rather than a loss.
In each situation, with the Rockets at home and led by a pair of All-Star guards and former MVPs in Harden and Westbrook, Houston almost certainly would have been a slight favorite in overtime.
Strategy aside, another part of it is simply bad luck. How bad? Per Second Spectrum, Bogdanovic’s shot had just a 12.6% chance of going in, making it the lowest probability of any NBA game-winner this season.
Bojan Bogdanovic’s game-winning 3 tonight was the 3rd game-winning FG (5 seconds or less remaining) from 28+ feet this season. With just a 12.6% chance of going in, it had the lowest shot probability of any game-winner this season.
For the entire season, the NBA has had three game-winning shots in the final five seconds from 28 or more feet away, and two of them were the shots from Bogdanovic and Bjelica at the buzzer to defeat the Rockets at Toyota Center. In both cases, the Rockets led by two.
The trend isn’t just limited to this season, either. In the final game of 2018-19, the Rockets led by two in Oklahoma City — only to lose on a dagger 3-pointer from Paul George with only 1.8 seconds remaining. The George trey was slightly different from this year’s buzzer-beaters, since it came off a transition sequence, as opposed to an out-of-bounds play.
That loss to the Thunder proved to be very costly for the Rockets, dropping them from the No. 2 seed to No. 4 in the West playoffs.
Including the two game-winners this year, that’s now three times in Houston’s last 54 regular-season games that they’ve lost a two-point lead courtesy of an opponent’s 3-pointer in the final two seconds.
It remains to be seen just how costly this year’s buzzer-beaters will be in the West standings. But it’s becoming a very familiar problem.
For a second time this season, the Rockets lost at home on a stunning last-second 3-pointer. This time, Bojan Bogdanovic did the damage.
For the second time in barely over half of one season, the Houston Rockets lost by one point at home on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.
Much like the buzzer-beater by Sacramento’s Nemanja Bjelica on Dec. 9, Sunday’s heroics came courtesy of an out-of-bounds play drawn up with less than two seconds left and Houston leading by two points.
This time, the damage was done by the Utah Jazz and Bojan Bogdanovic, who made just his second basket of the game as time expired. His buzzer-beater came with James Harden and P.J. Tucker directly in his face.
It was the fourth lead change in the game’s final 30 seconds. Tucker and Robert Covington each hit 3-pointers to put Houston in front, but Bogdanovic and the Jazz got the last word at Toyota Center.
It’s the second straight loss for the Rockets (33-20), and the second consecutive victory for the Jazz (34-18). With a win, the Rockets would have passed Utah in the Western Conference standings in the race for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
With a victory, Houston also would have clinched the potential tiebreaker over Utah by securing the season series. Instead, Bogdanovic’s buzzer-beating shot over a pair of defenders gave the Jazz an uplifting 114-113 victory (box score), and the Rockets a crushing loss.
James Harden on Bogdanovic game winner: "We all saw it. That's a tough ass shot. I think I probably skimped the ball. PJ was on his body. I don't know. It's one of those tough shots. It hurt." pic.twitter.com/b60CNycBpw
PJ Tucker on Bogdanovic game winner: "I knew it was good as soon as he caught it. I could just tell. As soon as he shot it, I knew it was in." pic.twitter.com/BDr9LxsAcL
The rubber match of three games between the teams is on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Salt Lake City, with the winner earning the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Rockets defeated the Jazz in the first meeting there on Jan. 27.
[lawrence-related id=24476]
As for Sunday’s game, Russell Westbrook scored a game-high 39 points on 18-of-33 shooting (54.5%), while Harden had 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Both of Houston’s former MVPs recorded assists on the late go-ahead 3-pointers by Tucker and Covington.
Donovan Mitchell makes both at the line… and PJ Tucker buries the GO-AHEAD TRIPLE with 1.6 left!@utahjazz 111@HoustonRockets 113
Harden connected on just two of his 13 attempts (15.4%) from 3-point range, however. On a night when the smaller Rockets were out-rebounded 48-36 by Rudy Gobert (15) and the larger Jazz, they probably needed to win the shooting battle to overcome it. Both Utah and Houston hit 15 3-pointers, but the Jazz did so on four fewer attempts.
Reserve guard Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz with 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting (63.2%) off the bench, while Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and took advantage of Harden’s fifth foul in the fourth quarter by repeatedly driving past him and collapsing Houston’s defense, knowing that the NBA’s scoring leader couldn’t risk fouling out.
P.J. on the loss: "The last shot didn't lose the game. We lost the game way earlier in the end of the 3rd Q, beginning of 4th – they scored way too easy. Clarkson got whatever he wanted, Conley got to the rim whenever he wanted, we gave up wide open 3s, I can go down the list."
The Rockets host the Boston Celtics (37-15) on Tuesday in their final game before the All-Star break. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. from Toyota Center, with the game broadcast nationally on TNT.
[lawrence-related id=24476]
"Hats off to that shot," said D'Antoni. He said it was a great game and the Rockets did some things they can build on.
Eric Gordon scored a career-high 50, and the Rockets won at Utah despite James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Clint Capela all being out.
The Houston Rockets were without three starters and two former MVPs on Monday night for the second half of a road back-to-back, all against a Utah Jazz squad that had won 19 of its last 21 games.
With a gritty and determined effort on both sides of the court, the scrappy and shorthanded Rockets found a way to win, anyway.
Eric Gordon scored a career-high 50 points in the absence of James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Clint Capela, and the undermanned Rockets (29-17) won in Salt Lake City, 126-117 (box score). It was the first of three meetings between the Western Conference rivals this season.
[lawrence-related id=23113,22666]
The 6-foot-3 Gordon connected on an astonishing 14-of-22 shots (63.6%) from the field, and 6-of-11 (54.5%) on 3-pointers.
Eric Gordon on scoring 50 points: "It really feels great, man. All the stuff I've been through over the years. All the injuries. For me to get a chance to get 50, it definitely means a lot. And I'm headed in the right direction." pic.twitter.com/K022iynuiT
The Jazz (32-14), who lost to the Rockets in a pair of five-game series in both the 2018 and 2019 NBA playoffs, were led by 36 points from Donovan Mitchell and 30 by newcomer Bojan Bogdanovic.
The Rockets led for the majority of the game, and they set the tone early in part due to an unorthodox call from head coach Mike D’Antoni.
D'Antoni: "Definitely uplifting. I coached a lot of teams, in a lot of games, and that was one of the most satisfying. I thought our guys couldn’t have played harder. Obviously, you make mistakes in a game. But big play after big play after big play."
Rather than replace Capela with a more traditional center such as Isaiah Hartenstein or Tyson Chandler, the Rockets started 6-foot-5 P.J. Tucker in the middle. That forced Utah’s defensive anchor, Rudy Gobert, to abandon the paint at times and defend out to the 3-point line.
That floor spacing opened driving lanes for the likes of Gordon and Austin Rivers, who set a 2019-20 season high of his own with 21 points.
Danuel House Jr., who started at power forward with Tucker sliding to center, also scored 21 points — but his biggest contribution was a career-high 11 rebounds. Despite going smaller, Houston still outrebounded Utah, 40-38, led by 11 rebounds by House and 10 from Tucker.
Thus, the switch to a smaller lineup paid off for the Rockets offensively without compromising them too much on the defensive end.
D'Antoni said it wasn't a tough decision for the #Rockets to go 5 out against Gobert, as opposed to replacing Capela with a traditional center. Pointed to their success doing it with Luc Mbah a Moute two years ago.
In the absence of three starters, veteran Thabo Sefolosha scored 9 points in a season-high 26 minutes on 4-of-7 shooting (57.1%) off the bench. He also provided steady defense, allowing the Rockets to continue spacing the floor at all positions even in the 16 minutes that Tucker sat.
House and Rivers each set 2019-20 season highs with 46 and 41 minutes, respectively, allowing D’Antoni and the Rockets to overcome a short rotation with three starters out due to injuries or rest.
Amazing, improbable win for the short handed Rockets! Gordon dropped a career high 50! Rivers a season best 21. House had 21 & a career high 11 rebounds. They defended, rebounded and shot it really well. It was Utah's 4th home loss of the season. Finish it up strong in Portland!
The Rockets have now won three of four games overall, including a 2-1 start to their current four-game road trip. They will finish up the road swing on Wednesday against the Trail Blazers before a stretch with five of seven games at home leading into February’s All-Star break.
Westbrook (rest) and Harden (bruised thigh) are expected back for that game, while the status of Capela (bruised heel) is less clear. Tip-off is scheduled for 9 p.m. Central time from Portland.
Russell Westbrook was very exciting postgame. Hyping up both Eric Gordon and Austin Rivers during their postgame TV interviews.
