Eighth victory in the last nine NBA games for the Houston Rockets, who dominate at home to the Utah Jazz. The NBA matinee remains balanced for just over a quarter, then Durant and his teammates spread thanks to a super defense capable of forcing Markaanen and his teammates into as many as 14 turnovers in the first half alone. Houston makes its first breakthrough already in the first quarter with a run of 19-4 in seven minutes of play, even if Utah manages to stay at -9 at the end of the first twelve minutes of play. The Jazz try to stay in touch at the beginning of the second quarter, Ace Bailey’s basket brings Utah back to -8 at 39-31 but from that moment Houston scores the knockout blow with a new run of 16-2 in just over three minutes of play quickly reaching +22. In the first half the Rockets reached their maximum lead at +26, before a leap from the Jazz who tried to reduce the gap reaching the halftime score at 67-48.
NBA, Utah returns to -13. Durant and his teammates break through in the third quarter
Houston relaxes at the start of the second half, Utah takes advantage of it and gets to -13 with a 7-0 run by Markaanen and Ace Bailey, fifth overall pick in the latest NBA Draft. At 74-61, however, the Rockets’ attack explodes and the game ends in six minutes of play. Houston goes on a 24-3 run and with two minutes left in the third quarter the Rockets are ahead by 34 points at 98-64. From that moment it’s pure and simple garbage time before the final 129-101. For the Rockets the top scorer is Alperen Sengun, author of 27 points in 28 minutes with an excellent 10 out of 15 from the field, while for Utah Ace Bailey’s 19 points and Jusuf Nurkic’s 14 points with six rebounds and nine assists are not enough. Houston thus rises to 13 wins and four defeats, the fourth best record in the NBA behind only the Thunder, Pistons and Lakers. The Jazz, on the other hand, are doing badly, suffering their fifth defeat in the last six games and stuck at six wins and 13 defeats.
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