Rockets-Jazz Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Nov 19 2012 2:00AM

A new starting five didn't generate a quicker start, but the Utah Jazz still found a way to finish off a .500 trip.

Now, they get a chance to win their 10th straight in Salt Lake City as they face the road-weary Houston Rockets on Monday night.

Disappointed at his team's slow start in Friday's 99-93 loss at Philadelphia, Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin inserted Randy Foye and Derrick Favors into the starting lineup Saturday, with Gordon Hayward and Marvin Williams coming off the bench for the first time this season.

Utah pulled out an 83-76 victory over league-worst Washington to split its four-game trip, but a 15-point first quarter and a 37.8 percent shooting effort for the game was not what Corbin had in mind when he adjusted his rotation.

"The last game of a four-game road trip, you typically get a little lower in energy," he told the league's official website. "We played last night, but we just didn't execute on either end of the floor as well as I thought we would."

It's uncertain if Corbin will stick with the same starting lineup as Utah tries to improve to 4-0 at home, but forward Paul Millsap doesn't seem to be a big fan of the new starting five.

"I didn't feel too comfortable with it," Millsap said after scoring a season-low six points.

The Jazz, though, have looked at comfortable at home, winning by an average of 13.7 points. Utah is undefeated in Salt Lake City since a 107-105 loss to Phoenix on April 4.

The Jazz, whose last 10-game home winning streak spanned Feb. 24-April 6, 2010, have lost just five times in Houston's last 28 regular-season visits.

The Rockets (4-6) were routed 104-83 in their last trip to Salt Lake City on Feb. 29. A 103-91 home loss to Utah on April 11 started a late swoon in which they dropped seven of their final nine games last season and missed the playoffs as the Jazz claimed the West's last postseason spot.

The Rockets' defense will have to improve if they want contend this season. After falling 119-117 in overtime to Portland on Friday to begin their trip, Houston gave up 40 first-quarter points in Sunday's 119-108 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. The hosts shot 54.1 percent as the Rockets fell for the sixth time in eight games.

"We still need to be playing a lot better, so there's no excuse," Chandler Parsons said of the Rockets playing the last five games without head coach Kevin McHale, who is attending to a personal matter.

Before beginning a stretch of nine of 11 at home on Wednesday, the Rockets will try to avoid a fourth straight road loss. If that's going to happen, James Harden might have to pick up his scoring after finishing with 20 points on 7-of-18 shooting on Sunday.

The Rockets are 1-6 when he finishes with fewer than 30 points.

Harden leads the team with 49 points on the trip, while Parsons has 43 after scoring a team-best 24 with four 3-pointers on Sunday.

Jeremy Lin, who has 21 assists on Houston's trip, scored 28 points and handed out eight assists the last time he faced Utah, a 99-88 New York victory on Feb. 6, in his first career start.

The Rockets are averaging 45.4 rebounds, with center Omer Asik leading the league at 12.8 per game.

Jazz big man Al Jefferson is scoring 15.5 points per game with a team-best 11.6 rebounds. The Jazz are averaging 46.1 boards.

Hayward scores 15 as Jazz beat Rockets 102-91

By LYNN DeBRUIN
Posted Nov 20 2012 12:47AM

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) Houston Rockets guard James Harden was feeling ill before the game, with a fever and upper-respiratory infection.

The Utah Jazz really made him feel even worse when they went on a 13-0 run to open the second quarter, ultimately the difference in a 102-91 victory on Monday night over the road-weary Rockets.

"That's flat-out defense," said Jazz forward Marvin Williams, who started the run with one of his three 3-pointers. "We played with a ton of energy and got them to miss shots and converted on the other end. That opened it up for us."

Reserve Gordon Hayward scored 15 points and Al Jefferson had 14 points and 16 rebounds to lead the Jazz, who evened their record at 6-6.

Hayward, who has come off the bench the last two games along with Marvin Williams, scored on a fast-break layup to keep the run going.

Then big man Enes Kanter took over.

He was a force inside with back-to-back blocks of Terrence Jones and Toney Douglas and a high-flying dunk off an alley-oop pass from DeMarre Carroll. Derrick Favors also was tough in the paint, dunking off another Carroll pass and finishing with two of Utah's 11 blocked shots.

The Jazz held Houston scoreless for the first 4:57 of the second quarter.

"The second group came in and gave us a huge boost, moving the ball against the transition baskets," Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. "The pace picked up when Marvin came in and made some baskets and we got running from there."

Utah's starters poured it on late in the second, with Jefferson muscling between two defenders and converting a three-point play. Randy Foye's first 3-pointer put Utah up 20 with 3:12 left in the second.

Foye finished with four 3-pointers and scored 14 points for the Jazz, who led by as many as 23 in the first half. Utah led by 17 at halftime, shooting 50 percent from 3-point range (5 of 10).

The Rockets (4-7) pulled within nine late in the third, but Houston wouldn't get any closer with leading scorer Harden on the bench with a fever. Harden was a game-time decision but coach Kelvin Sampson said he wanted to give it a try. He started 0 of 6 and finished with six points in 17 minutes before exiting just before halftime.

"We shut him down, gave him some medicine and tried to get him ready for Wednesday," Sampson said of Harden, who came in averaging 26 points.

Patrick Patterson tried to pick up the slack, scoring a season-high 19 points, and Jeremy Lin added 13 for Houston, which lost its third straight.

Patterson was disappointed at the effort in transition.

"There are no excuses for tonight, even though we did play in L.A. last night," Patterson said of the 11-point loss to the Lakers. "We're an NBA team. We're all professionals out here. We're all in NBA shape. We're all fine. Usually we're the ones known for pushing the ball, but tonight it seemed the shoe was on the other foot. They were doing that to us."

Lin's layup with 6:44 left in the third pulled Houston to 70-60, but Foye's fourth 3-pointer bumped Utah's lead back to 13 points, and Jefferson sank a pair of free throws to make it a 15-point lead.

A 6-0 Houston run, capped by Greg Smith's jam, got Houston within 75-66. Utah closed the third on a 10-4 run, capped by Hayward's three-point play after a driving layup at the buzzer.

"It's hard, especially on the road, when you get down that big," said Houston forward Chandler Parsons, who finished with 11 points and 10 boards but shot just 3 of 11.

"Granted we're tired. It's the last game on a road trip. But there are no excuses. It's a game we should have come in here and stole."

The Jazz opened with their big lineup again: Favors at power forward in place of Williams and Foye in at shooting guard in place of Hayward.

That changed one minute in as Favors had two fouls and went to the bench. Both would be key reserves, with Williams adding 12 points, including 3-of-3 shooting from beyond the arc.

Utah led 61-44 at halftime, shooting 50 percent to 38 for the Rockets. The Jazz also held a 26-18 edge on points in the paint and 17-6 advantage on the fast break in the first half, while their bench outscored the Rockets reserves 26-9 before the break.

"We got down and pretty much the whole rest of the game was a dog fight trying to get back into the game," said Patterson, who shot 8 of 14 and had two of Houston's nine blocked shots.

Notes: Former Jazz coach and Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan watched the game from about 20 rows above Utah's bench. ... Jefferson had nine rebounds in the first half. ... Utah shot just 40.2 percent but made 9 of 21 from 3-point range. The Jazz also held a 30-19 advantage on the fast break. ... The Rockets were 7 of 21 from 3-point range and shot just 34.9 percent overall. ... The Rockets will play five of the next six at home, including a rematch with the Jazz on Dec. 1.

Botebook: Jazz 102, Rockets 91

Andrew Aragon, For NBA.com
Posted Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:43 AM - Updated Tue Nov 20, 2012 12:43 AM

THE FACTS: The Utah Jazz are only a .500 team overall, but they have some serious home-court magic going on this season.

The play of Al Jefferson and a well-balanced effort helped the Jazz continue their home-court dominance as they defeated the Houston Rockets 102-91 in a game that wasn't as close as the final score indicated on Monday night. Utah improved its home record to 4-0 this season and earned its 10th straight regular season home victory dating back to last season.

Jefferson had 14 points and 16 rebounds and five different Utah players scored in double figures. Gordon Hayward came off the bench to score 15 points. Randy Foye had 14 points and made four 3-pointers, while Jamaal Tinsley dished 11 assists for the Jazz (6-6).

Patrick Patterson led Houston (4-7) with 19 points and Chandler Parsons had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

QUOTABLE: "We fell behind 7-0→ I didn't really think about it. I knew we were going to get it together. We shot some good shots, they just didn't fall for us. We are in 'The Solutions' [EnergySolutions Arena]. We don't panic when we are in the 'The Solutions.'"

--Jazz center Jefferson

THE STAT: Utah played unselfishly on offense, and it showed with 30 assists on 37 made baskets. The Jazz had great ball movement, and in several instances passed up decent looks for better ones.

TURNING POINT: After a sluggish first quarter, the Jazz blew the game open in the second period. They opened the second quarter on a 13-0 run, which was highlighted by a sweet 25-foot alley-oop from DeMarre Carroll to Enes Kanter that put Utah ahead 40-26. Carroll made two layups during Utah's spurt, and the Jazz shot 60 percent in the second period. Houston missed its first nine shots of the second quarter and didn't score until James Harden made two free throws with 7:03 left in the period. Utah got 13 straight stops before Patterson hit a jumper.

HOT: Carroll made the most of his playing time against the Rockets and lifted the Jazz with his energy. He had eight points, three assists and two rebounds in 13 minutes. Patterson was one of few bright spots for Houston. He made five of his first six shots and scored a season-high in points despite sitting out the fourth quarter.

NOT: Harden was not himself in Tuesday's game. He laid on the trainer's table before the game looking quite ill with a upper respiratory infection and Utah's high altitude didn't help matters. He was mostly a decoy in the first half, and didn't make a basket until there was 1:37 left in the second quarter. He shot 1-for-6, scored six points and did not play in the second half.

QUOTABLE II: "It's hard to play, especially on the road, when you get down that big [Utah's largest lead was 23 points]. And it was just all about our effort in the first half. Again, they were getting so many easy buckets in transition and we didn't come out there with the fire and passion we needed to. And, granted, we're tired -- it's the last game of the road trip -- but there are no excuses."

--Rockets forward Parsons

GOOD MOVE: Hayward and Marvin Williams haven't sulked since being removed from the starting lineup in Utah's last two games. Hayward led Utah in scoring while Williams entered the game after just a minute and had 12 points and four rebounds. Both players gave Utah a big spark off the bench.

BAD MOVE: Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin went big with his starting lineup for the second straight game with a large front line of Jefferson, Paul Millsap and Derrick Favors along with guards Mo Williams and Foye. And, for the second straight game, the starting unit got Utah off to a slow start. Favors committed two fouls in the first minute of the game and went to the bench. Utah missed its first six shots and fell behind 7-0. The same lineup combo struggled in the third quarter and the Jazz shot just 25 percent in the period.

NOTABLE: The Jazz scored a season-high 61 points in the first half. Harden had five straight 20-point outings, a career-high, going into Monday's game. The Rockets went 0-3 on their road trip and have lost four straight road games.

UP NEXT: For the Rockets, Wednesday vs. Bulls, Friday vs. Knicks, Nov. 27 vs. Raptors. For the Jazz, Friday vs. Kings, Saturday @ Sacramento, Monday vs. Nuggets.

• Rockets: Machado, Motiejunas, White
• Jazz: Bell, Watson

• Rockets: --
• Jazz: --

• Lead Changes: 1
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City, UT
• Officials: #13 Monty McCutchen, #44 Eli Roe, #65 Sean Wright
• Attendance: 19197
• Duration: 2:11