HOUSTON — It wasn’t the first time Kris Dunn and Jabari Smith Jr. have gone at it.
On January 20, both players were the victims of technical fouls when they got into a fight (nothing burger) during the third quarter of the Utah Jazz’s overtime loss to the Houston Rockets.
But on Saturday night at the Toyota Center, rather than just sharing words and a little nudge here and there, both players took swings.
Only five seconds had passed in the second quarter of an eventual 147-119 Rockets victory, and there was Smith and Dunn, tangled, with Dunn holding Smith’s jersey, before the two players tried to punch each other.
Neither player landed a punch, but by the letter of the law, landing a punch doesn’t matter and both players were ejected.
After the game, Dunn told the Deseret News that it was just two guys who exchanged a few words, and then it went a little further. He also said he would respect any additional discipline that comes from the league.
“I take responsibility for my actions,” Dunn said. “Whatever the league decides, I will respect it.”
According to NBA rules, “any player who throws a punch, whether connected or not, has committed an unsportsmanlike act.” He will be ejected after confirmation during instant replay review and suspended for at least one match.
While it’s not a big deal for the Jazz — losing Dunn for one game won’t impact their place in the standings in a way they’ll care about — the Rockets need Smith.
Houston is trying to win games, and the Rockets are doing a really good job of it lately, despite some injury issues. They are 10-1 in their last 11 games after beating the Jazz and are 1.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors, who currently occupy the last Play-In spot.
“We’re playing good basketball,” Fred VanVleet said. “We know where we are in the table, we are making an effort, but more than anything you have that spirit, that belief and that confidence and you can see it and feel it. It’s good to have this time of year.
Already missing Steven Adams, who underwent right knee surgery before being traded to Houston, the Rockets are also playing without their leading scorer Alperen Sengun (sprained right ankle) and their two top bench scorers, Tari Eason and rookie Cam Whitmore. (Eason underwent season-ending surgery, but Whitmore should be able to return before the end of the season because of a sprained right knee).
The Rockets have a very busy schedule coming up and they need to get every win they can, especially because Golden State already owns the tiebreaker against Houston, so any game where they are missing Smith, who plays an average of 31 minutes per game for the Rockets, it’s going to hurt.
However, you wouldn’t know it from the way they scored against the Jazz on Saturday.
Defensive effort
The Rockets entered halftime with an 85-55 lead over the Jazz. The game was already over at that point, but the Rockets continued to go hard, finishing the night by hitting 27 3-pointers, scoring 30 fastbreak points and leading the way with 41 points to their name.
“Whether we scored or even missed a goal…we didn’t sprint on defense like we should have,” Collin Sexton said. “I feel like transition defense is something we keep talking about, but that hasn’t changed. We have to keep pushing. »
VanVleet made five of his 10 3-pointers in the first quarter, and after that the Jazz were still slow to close on him or give him space for deep looks. But by then he was already in a rhythm.
“There’s a lot of things that happen in organized basketball that, strangely enough, would never happen in a pickup game,” Jazz head coach Will Hardy said. “I promise if I hit five 3s in a row in a pickup game, our team wouldn’t let me shoot the sixth.”
The Jazz don’t expect to win these games and they understand that there are nights where they are doomed to fail, but it’s the way they fail that is frustrating.
“Fred VanVleet was hitting crazy stuff,” John Collins said. “But on our end, we have to take more pride in just stopping guys. Really fair, excuse my French, but play [expletive] Stronger. I have no excuse for this. Like I said, credit to those guys for being able to make tough shots, but at some point we have to figure it out.
