Houston • Jazz coach Quin Snyder attributes Houston Rockets guard James Harden’s ability to read, anticipate and then take advantage of opposing to defenses to some sort of artificial intelligence.
Harden’s own coach, Mike D’Antoni thinks Snyder could be on to something. D’Antoni has witnessed the greatness of Harden for years now, but even he admits this season that Harden’s ability to break down opponents has gone up another level or two.
That much was obvious Wednesday night as Harden used a blistering 17-point first quarter to ignite a triple-double performance to help lift the Rockets to a 118-98 win over the Jazz in Game 2 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series.