Jazz at Rockets
The Houston Rockets needed an easy opponent on which to work out some of the kinks in their new rotation and found it Thursday in a 120-96 demolition of hapless New York. The Rockets will test out those improvements against a tougher opponent when they host the Utah Jazz on Saturday. The Jazz held off the Oklahoma City Thunder for most of the night Friday before fading at the end and will be playing the second night of a back-to-back at Houston.
Josh Smith continues to get more comfortable in a Rockets uniform but had a three-game string of scoring in double figures come to an end with two points in 20 minutes against the Knicks. The veteran forward is coming off the bench behind Donatas Motiejunas as he absorbs more responsibility. Utah will test Smith, Motiejunas and Dwight Howard with its young, improving frontline led by Derrick Favors and Rudy Gobert.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ROOT (Utah), ROOT Southwest (Houston)
ABOUT THE JAZZ (13-24): Favors posted his third straight games of at least 20 points and 10 rebounds when he went for 22 and 11 on Friday while Gobert blocked a career-high seven shots to bring his five-game total to 25. Utah led most of the game against the Thunder but failed to make a field goal in the final 4:40 and ended up with a 99-94 loss. “I think it was a really good effort (Friday),” Jazz coach Quin Snyder told reporters. “Sometimes there’s more you can do. I don’t think that was really the case (against Oklahoma City).”
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (25-11): One of the few things holding Houston back in the first few months was the struggles of Trevor Ariza, who is shooting a career-worst 36.1 percent from the field and went 27 straight games without hitting 50 percent of his shots. That ended with a 6-of-10 performance against the Knicks, and the team is hoping it’s a sign of things to come. “(Ariza) got some run-outs and some layups, which always helps,” Rockets coach Kevin McHale told reporters. “Hopefully, this is a start, but everybody cycles hot and cold in this league when you shoot. Hopefully, this is a cycle of a good hot streak.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Ariza scored 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting in a 104-93 win at Utah on Oct. 29.
2. Jazz F Gordon Hayward is 1-of-14 from 3-point range over the last three games.
3. Utah C Enes Kanter (ankle) has missed the past four games and remains day-to-day.