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SALT LAKE CITY — Tough. Energy. Fighters.
Those were the words the Utah Jazz used to describe Monday’s Game 4, when the Houston Rockets led the series 3-0 and threatened to sweep the Jazz out of the NBA Playoffs at Vivint Smart Home Arena.
Those are also the words Jazz coach Quin Snyder uses to describe Jae Crowder.
Crowder personified the team's "fighter's mentality" Monday night.
Crowder poured in 23 points and four rebounds, the second-most on the team behind Donovan Mitchell’s 31, into Utah's 107-91 win over the Rockets in Game 4 that sent the first-round Western Conference series back to Houston.
"I'm ready for any role for our team to succeed, but obviously I wanted to bring something," said Crowder, who also had two steals in 33 minutes. "Those guys came and punched us in the mouth the first three games. Just with energy alone, I wanted to match that as much as possible."
Like a prizefighter fending off technical knockout, the Jazz — led by Crowder — landed the first blow Monday night inside the Octagon created by 18,300 fans at Vivint Arena.
Crowder capped off a personal 7-0 run, including a rim-rattling dunk in transition that sent the crowd into a frenzy with 8:35 left in the first quarter. The son of Corey Crowder drained his second 3-pointer of the quarter to cap a 12-3 run just a few moments later as the Jazz opened the game doing something that had been in short supply for the first three games of the series: made open shots.
The Jazz did something they've scarcely done in the playoffs: open a 10-point lead in the first quarter, en route to a 32-24 lead at the break, when Crowder had 14 points on 5-of-5 shooting.
"I just wanted to come out with a good start. Bring energy," Crowder said. "When you bring energy, it makes it much easier for everybody. I think we lacked that through a few games and it puts more pressure on our shots.
"We bring energy and fly around, it makes our shots much easier."
Maybe just as importantly, he helped hold James Harden to 13 points on 4-of-11 shooting. It’s not the kind of effort Harden had Saturday night, when he missed his first 15 shots before rallying the Rockets to a win.
But the Jazz led by eight points after the first quarter, six at halftime, and then Mitchell carried the team across the finish line in the fourth.
Mitchell. Crowder. Rudy Gobert. Ricky Rubio, who had his third-career postseason double-double with 18 points and a game-high 11 assists. Every night, it can be a different guy who steps up — a hallmark of the Jazz in 2018-19.
📹| @CJC9BOSS ⤵️
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) April 23, 2019
23p | 4r | 3 3pm | 2s | 1a pic.twitter.com/vIvag3rR0y
Monday night, when it mattered most, it was the son of former Jazzman Corey Crowder's turn. And then his example fueled the rest of the team.
"Everybody stepped up tonight," Rubio said. "Jae had a great game. (Derrick Favors) coming off the bench. We just showed we have a great team."
On a night when the Jazz faced elimination from the postseason, the 6-foot-6 swingman kept the playoffs alive in Salt Lake City, giving Utah hope of coming back from a 3-0 series deficit — if even for a moment.
"It feels good. But we’ve got one more game three more times," teammate Georges Niang said. "We’ve got to go in with that mentality, just go in there, win games, and do what we do.
"The best thing that we do, is go out and punch them first. I think that is when we are at our best."
