Houston • During a run late in the first half, Houston’s P.J. Tucker drilled consecutive 3-pointers from the left corner. The home crowd joined in a “De-fense” chant and roundly booed an out-of-bounds call in the Jazz’s favor.
The Jazz deserve credit for battling to the end of a 110-96 loss and even making the Rockets agonize mildly in the fourth quarter. Yet as another series unfolded Sunday, the Jazz were jolted into the reality of what they’ve played themselves into, as the NBA playoffs have a way of doing. So here they are a year later, with the same question surfacing after Game 1: Can they win even once in the Western Conference semifinals?