HOUSTON - James Harden split the double-team and accelerated on his way into the paint before hurling himself into the air to unleash a ferocious, filthy and positively violent tomahawk dunk amid a crowd of helpless, sagging and slump-shouldered Jazz defenders. They knew. Everyone knew. Harden’s jam was not just thrown down in the mug of Utah’s players; it had been forcefully flushed in the faces of the entire franchise and its fan base. It was, of course, just a single play. But when the final horn sounded and the Rockets had finished dooming Utah to a 125-80 defeat – its worst home loss in franchise history – that one play summed up what took place during those 48 jaw-dropping minutes more than mere words ever could.
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