I swear, by the end of the series someone's going to throw a punch, the way this game went, with constant game stoppages for flying elbows & technical fouls. -_-'
Yeah, this was a fun one to watch as the Jazz crushed the Thunder 113-96. I was a little nervous for the first 1.5 quarters when the Jazz couldn't buy a bucket & the Refs seemed determined to take this game over (including a phantom foul on the Jazz when one of the Thunder players hit Westbrook). However, the Jazz managed to grind down the Thunder & stay in the game until the shots finally started landing halfway through the 2nd quarter. And from there, the Jazz were off to the races. This game was never in danger of falling out of their control after the first half.
I'm proud of this team. They remind me of the 90s-era Jazz in the sheer energy & hustle I saw on the court. If there was a loose ball, there was a Jazz man making a run for it & quite frequently knocking it back into play. They played hard, and they showed the Thunder that they are more than their match, despite not having the "star power". This team plays with a chip on their shoulder after a season of everyone writing them off after Hayward bailed.
And Russel Westbrook can go **** off. He was so focused on his little one-sided pissing match with Rubio that he didn't realize that Rubio isn't supposed to be a primary scorer with the Jazz. Rubio doesn't care if Westbrook shuts him down from a scoring perspective. His job, as the Point Guard, is to get the ball to the players who can best make the shots. He was so focused on Rubio that, meanwhile, every other major Jazz player was having the time of their life.