Strategies did not matter. Matchups were trivia answers.
There are times, as with the shimmy James Harden flashed when a crossover dribble sent Jazz guard Ricky Rubio flying toward the parking garage, that Harden can shrug his shoulders and make everything else irrelevant.
The Jazz had made their corrections. They tightened the defense that had gotten so much attention since they brought it into the series on Sunday. Harden and the Rockets' 3-point shooting around him blasted it into a footnote, sending the Rockets to a lead that reached 28 before the Rockets cruised to a 118-98 win and a 2-0 series lead.
Of the 282 teams that have held a 2-0 series lead before this season, 262 have won the series. Few have done it as spectacularly, with the Rockets going from Sunday's 32-point win, matching the second-largest in franchise playoff history to Wednesday's start-to-finish rout.
Harden finished with the third post-season triple double of his career, scoring 32 points with 10 assists and a career playoff high 13 rebounds. Chris Paul came on in the second half, scoring 17. P.J. Tucker and Eric Gordon each added 16 while no one needed to play more than 34 minutes before the benches were cleared for good with the Rockets up 20 with 3:06 left.
Though the Jazz competed longer when the game was headed to a certain blowout, in many ways the rout was no different from Sunday's, with the Jazz making just 37.6 percent of their shots and just 7 of 37 (18.9) percent of their 3s when the starters were done for the night.
This one, however, was a quicker blowout.
The Rockets had taken command in the first half, putting up 70 first half points to match the 70 they had against the Jazz in last season's Game 3. Between those two games, the Rockets had scored 70 in a half as many times against the Jazz in the past two seasons as in the rest of their franchise post-season history.
Harden did not just take apart the Jazz defensive game plan; he demolished it. He made a few floaters, put in some step backs, drove to the rim, drew the defense to set up 3s. The notion of playing him to the right to force him to Rudy Gobert in the lane was trashed in the first quarter, with the Jazz forced to switch on screens and trap the ball out of his hands.
The Rockets, however, attacked every bit as quickly and decisively, moving the ball to open 3s and firing away whether they came from the attention the Jazz had to devote to defending Harden or the ball movement on the perimeter.
Harden has put up 25 points with seven rebounds and seven assists in the first half, which was not unusual for him, even against the elite Jazz defense. Among his 55 games scoring at least 20 in a half this season, his 29 points in the first half in Utah in February were the Jazz allowed any opponent in a half this season.
The Rockets, however, were rolling all around hm. While Harden made 5 of 9 3-pointers, includ-ing the trey he line-drived in off the backboard through a Thabo Sefolosha foul, the rest of the Rockets were 8 of 17 from deep. P.J. Tucker hit 4 of his 5 3-pointers, Eric Gordon 3 of his 6.
The Jazz could not begin to match that, going 4 of 22 on 3-pointers in the first half. Donovan Mitchell was, as the Rockets predicted, much more aggressive looking for his shot, but made just 4 of 14 attempts, sinking just 1 of his 6 3s. By the end of the half, the Rockets were defend-ing with so much energy, Capela swatted a Mitchell drive and then blocked Gobert's put-back.
On the next possession, Capela batted an offensive rebound back out to Gordon for a 3-pointer. With a Harden drive to end the half, the Rockets led by 26.
The challenge left – besides handling the Jazz switch of assignments on Harden to Joe Ingles and then Royce O'Neale – was to maintain the intensity that built the lead in the first place.
There were a few minutes it did seem to slip. The Jazz moved to within 17. Then Harden sent a lob to Kenneth Faried that Faried snared and spike with one motion. Harden followed with a 3, lifting his hands after as if to say that it was too easy.