Aaron Brooks poured in 19 points and
dished out nine assists, as the Houston Rockets used a strong second half to
take down the Utah Jazz, 113-96, at EnergySolutions Arena.
Luis Scola added 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Rockets, who have won three
straight games after a season-opening loss at Portland. Rookie Chase Budinger
added 17 points off the bench. Trevor Ariza chipped in with 15 points, while
Shane Battier ended with 13 points. Chuck Hayes finished with 12 points and
nine boards for the victors.
"It was a big game. When you're playing against Utah you know it's going to be
tight at the end of the season," said Brooks. "Even though it's early in the
season we know these games really count because they can determine a lot later
down the road."
Mehmet Okur paced the Jazz with 21 points. Ronnie Brewer tallied 19 points for
Utah, which was coming off a win over the Clippers on Friday. Deron Williams
and Andrei Kirilenko each had 18 points in defeat.
"Obviously we overlooked their talent level out there," said Jazz forward Paul
Millsap. "Those guys actually can play. They wouldn't be in the league if they
didn't. We have to get out there and play defense."
After the Jazz scored the first four points of the fourth to take a one-point
edge, the Rockets went on an impressive 23-8 run to take control of the
contest.
Houston made four three-pointers during the spurt, including a trey from Kyle
Lowry with 5:02 left to make it a 102-84 game. The Rockets' lead was never in
jeopardy the rest of the way.
Down 24-19, the Jazz bridged the first and second periods with a 13-2 run.
Wesley Matthews' layup capped of the flurry and gave Utah a 32-26 lead with
10:08 to play until half.
The remainder of the first half remained tight and the Jazz used four points
from Williams at the end of the second quarter to take a 57-54 lead at the
break.
With the score tied at 65, Houston put together a 9-1 spurt. A Scola jumper
capped off the run with 3:36 left in the third, giving the Rockets a 74-66
lead. Utah scored seven of the final nine points of the quarter to cut the gap
to 79-76 heading to the fourth.
Game Notes
The Rockets shot 50 percent from the field, while the Jazz made 45.1 percent
of their shots...Houston made 10-of-19 shots from the beyond the arc, while
Utah made just 3-of-11 shots from three-point range...Houston and Utah split
four meetings a year ago.
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