Houston Rockets Frazzle Utah Jazz 97-82

The Houston Rockets had the opportunity to face the Utah Jazz for the 2nd time this season.

The last time these two teams met up was Oct. 29, the second game of the Rockets’ season.

The Jazz were opening up the season at home and the Rockets were fresh off a gritty, feisty win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Fast-forward to the present 35 games later.

The Rockets have flourished — with a few slight bumps — compiling a 25-11 record.

The Jazz on the other hand are in complete rebuild mode, allowing their young prospects to flourish.

Those prospects do fight hard and did hang with the Rockets all the way until the end in their last meeting.

That was certainly the case tonight.

In the 1st quarter, things were tight as both teams worked to get loose out there on the court with a few reps.

This included a failed alley-oop attempt by James Harden to Dwight Howard that totally sailed over the rim with 6:25 left.

The Jazz did jut out to a quick five-point lead with 6:16 left after a Derrick Favors layup.

But it was Trevor Ariza and Josh Smith who slam-dunked on back-to-back possession to cut the Jazz’s lead to one. Rockets 13, Jazz 12

Jan 10, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward

Josh Smith

(5) talks to forward

Trevor Ariza

(1) on the sidelines during a timeout against the Utah Jazz in the first half at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Each team would take turns taking the lead to eventually end the 1st quarter tied up at 23-all.

It was more of the same for the 2nd quarter, with the Rockets not being able to find a solution to put the Jazz away. They seemed to be like an annoying tick that they just couldn’t fight off.

The Rockets continued to miss shots throughout the quarter shooting as low as 31 percent but hung tough by making defensive plays.

They had already forced 17 turnovers on the Jazz by the end of the half.

Smoove was quite efficient off the bench up until this point by being aggressive yet smart on both ends of the court. He had eight points, three rebounds off 3-for-7 shooting before the end of the half.

Harden continued to do his thing by drawing fouls and he drew a good one off of Dante Exum for three free throws.

Harden converted all three to put the Rockets up 39-34 with 2:07 left.

Patrick Beverley hit a jump shot along with a Ariza three, followed by a Donatas Motiejunas turnaround hook to cap off a 12-3 run to put the Rockets up 46-37 at the half.

Jan 10, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward

Donatas Motiejunas

(20) and Utah Jazz forward

Jeremy Evans

(40) fight over a loose ball in the second half at Toyota Center. The Rockets won 97 to 82. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

At the start of the 3rd quarter, D-Mo finished right where he left off with a lay-in that put the Rockets up 48-37.

After two free throws sunk by Derrick Favors off an Ariza foul, Harden went with the step-back to put the Rockets up 50-39, a lead of 11 their largest of the game.

But as the Rockets kept trying to pull away, the Jazz would find ways to stay in the game as that lead evaporated.

After Kevin McHale called a timeout to get things sorted out, the Rockets came out firing forcing turnovers in addition to Harden, Beverley and Ariza hitting threes on the following possessions to put the Rockets up by 14 with 5:43 left. Rockets 63, Jazz 49

Jazz turnover count at that point: 22!

The Rockets then went on a 9-0 run including a killer three by Harden and a friendly “welcome to the NBA” butt-patt for a his defender, Elijah Millsap who tried his hardest to defend him.

The team pushed things further to lead the Jazz 78-57 at the end of the third.

At the start of the 4th, the Rockets maintained their lead until the Jazz went on an 8-0 run to get a bit closer cutting the team’s lead to nine with 4:53 left. Rockets 84, Jazz 75

The Beard hit two threes to after a pair of Enes Kanter free throws and hit his second off a Jazz shot-clock violation to put the Rockets up by 15 points with 4:01 left. Rockets 90, Jazz 75

By then, the Rockets were cruising and McHale decided to put Alexey Shved in with 1:20 left to go, he hit a nice corner-three with 33 seconds left to put the lid on the team’s victory! Final Score: Rockets 97, Jazz 82

It was the Rockets’ defense that won this game although it wasn’t completely pretty by any means.

The Rockets forced 30 turnovers on the Jazz while shooting 33-for-77 (42.9 percent) from the field and 13-for-34 (38.2 percent) from the three-point line. The Jazz lost despite shooting 29-of-70 from the field (41.4 percent) and 19-for-21 from the charity stripe (90.5 percent).

Ariza limited Gordon Hayward to nine points and 2-for-10 shooting, he had previously limited him to eight points, 3-for-11 shooting when they previously matched up in October.

Jan 10, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Utah Jazz forward

Gordon Hayward

(20) is guarded by Houston Rockets center

Dwight Howard

(12) in the first half at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Harden led all scorers with 30 points, five assists, including shooting 8-for-14 from the field, 4-for-8 from beyond-the-arc and 10-for-11 at the line.

D-Mo had 14/10 with three steals.

Smoove and Corey Brewer were once again the lighting rods off the bench — they dropped 10 and nine points respectively. Smoove also shot 4-for-10 from the field three rebounds, two assists and one hell of a block on Millsap late in the 3rd quarter.