Lauri Markkanen scored 29 points and Keyonte George added 28 to lead the Utah Jazz to a 133-125 victory over the Houston Rockets on Monday in Salt Lake City.
Jusuf Nurkic added 18 points and a team-high nine rebounds for the Jazz in a rematch of Houston’s 129-101 win at Salt Lake City on Sunday. George had a team-high eight assists. Seven players scored in double figures to help Utah earn its second win in three games.
Kevin Durant led the Rockets with 32 points and nine rebounds. Alperen Sengun chipped in 31 points and 14 assists while Amen Thompson added 23 points, but their efforts were not enough to extend Houston’s five-game road winning streak. The Rockets have won eight of their past 10 games overall.
The Rockets ended the third quarter on a 12-0 run to cut a 21-point deficit to single digits. Houston pulled within 114-113 with 5:12 left following back-to-back baskets from Durant, a dunk and a 3-pointer.
George and Markkanen knocked down back-to-back treys to keep the Rockets from completing the comeback, pushing Utah’s lead to 120-113 with 4:21 to go.
Sengun drove for a layup to slice the deficit to 126-123 with 52.7 seconds left. George hit 5 of 6 free throws and came up with a critical steal down the stretch to help secure the victory for the Jazz.
Utah started much stronger after quickly falling into a double-digit hole during the first quarter a day earlier. The Rockets scratched out a four-point lead four times during the first quarter, the final time on Thompson’s dunk that made it 26-22.
Houston trailed through much of the second quarter, however, after the Jazz went ahead 40-37 on a three-point play from Walter Clayton Jr. Utah eventually extended that lead to 68-57 at halftime.
The Rockets scored just one basket over the final 2:58 of the first half. George made two baskets and a pair of free throws in that stretch to help the Jazz build a double-digit lead.
Utah kept rolling in the third quarter. Back-to-back baskets from George and Kevin Love ignited a 16-7 run that put the Jazz up 98-77. Nurkic punctuated the spurt with a hook shot.
