Jazz at Rockets
The Houston Rockets are experimenting with a small-ball lineup and are comfortable going through entire games without any player taller than 6-7 taking the floor. That strategy took a hit in a blowout loss at Phoenix on Friday and will face a stiff test from an All-Star center when Rudy Gobert and the Utah Jazz visit on Sunday.
Houston had a four-game winning streak come to an end in the 127-91 loss to the Suns and was outscored 46-26 in the first quarter before fighting back in the second and running out of gas after the break. The Rockets ended up giving 14 minutes of playing time to center Isaiah Hartenstein in the loss but remain committed to the small lineup with P.J. Tucker and newcomer Robert Covington in the frontcourt. The Jazz are coming off a controversial 117-114 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday that snapped a six-game slide and finished with Gobert blocking All-Star Damian Lillard at the rim, though Lillard and the Blazers believed it should have been called goaltending. "It was a really tough game," Utah swingman Bojan Bogdanovic told reporters. "We didn't start the game how we were supposed to, but in the second half we started to play defense and finally got the win, and that's great for us."
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: NBA TV, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, AT&T SportsNet Southwest, TSN 4/5
ABOUT THE JAZZ (33-18): Utah followed a stretch of 19 wins in 21 games with the five-game slide and will take any win, even if it comes with some controversy. "Obviously, after watching the replay, you can see that was goaltending," Gobert told reporters. "I was just trying to make a play. Goaltendings happen all the time - it's part of the game. Just one play. ... That's what people are gonna talk about. They're not gonna talk about us coming back from (16 down), and playing well as a team, and fighting to come back as a team." Gobert posted 16 points and 14 rebounds in the win while fellow All-Star Donovan Mitchell added 16 points.
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (33-19): Russell Westbrook has been powering the Houston attack and scored 41 points in a 121-111 win at the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday before sitting out to rest on the second night of the back-to-back. The Rockets missed his energy and explosiveness early and are still getting used to Covington, who made his first start after coming off the bench on Thursday. Covington delivered nine points and five rebounds in 25 minutes but went 1-of-7 from 3-point range as part of an 11-of-48 performance from beyond the arc for Houston.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Jazz SG Joe Ingles scored 14 points on Friday after being held to single digits in each of the previous six games.
2. Rockets SG Eric Gordon (leg) left Friday's game and is day-to-day.
3. Houston earned a 126-117 win at Utah on Jan. 27 behind Gordon's career-high 50 points.