Mike D'Antoni: Rockets Were 'Lulled to Sleep' After Game 1 Win vs. Jazz

Houston Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni offered an explanation for his team's 116-108 loss to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday in Game 2 of their second-round playoff series.

After Houston's comfortable 110-96 win in Game 1, D'Antoni expressed his belief that the Rockets may have fallen into a false sense of security, according to ESPN.com's Tim MacMahon: "We can correct our energy and we can correct the necessary focus that we need to have. You get lulled into sleep. You think this stuff's easy. It's not easy. This is the NBA. This is the [conference] semifinals. We kind of got lulled into it, and we paid for it."

Houston trailed by nine points at halftime in Game 2 and was down by as much as 19. Although the Rockets cut the deficit to one entering the fourth quarter and eventually took the lead, the Jazz pulled away in the final frame.

The Rockets largely held Jazz star rookie Donovan Mitchell in check Wednesday from a scoring perspective, as he made just six of his 21 attempts from the field and finished with 17 points.

Utah forward Joe Ingles was the difference-maker, though, as he went 10-of-13 from the field and 7-of-9 from three for a team-high 27 points.

The Rockets' trio of James Harden, Chris Paul and Clint Capela scored 21 or more points each, but the rest of the team combined for just 32 points.

With regard to the Jazz, D'Antoni added: "These guys are good. We kept warning [Rockets players] they're good, but we saw tonight how good they are."

Houston owned Utah during the regular season, going 4-0 and winning by at least 11 points each time. Overall, the Rockets were the NBA's top regular-season team with a 65-17 record, putting them six games beyond the Toronto Raptors.

After earning a split on the road, the Jazz will return home with a chance to take a surprising 2-1 series lead in Game 3 on Friday.