After missing an opportunity on Monday to approach Western Conference No. 2 Seed No. 2, Houston Rockets gets a new chance on Wednesday evening when they host Utah Jazz.
This is a quick turnaround comb for these teams that played less than a week ago. Rockets (49-27) cruised to a 121-110 victory over the jazz (16-60) Thursday in Salt Lake City.
Despite their 104-98 road loss Monday evening against the Los Angeles Lakers, the rockets remain slightly before Denver Nuggets for No. 2 seed. Both teams have six remaining matches, which include a home game versus Denver on the last day of the regular season.
Houston had won three in a row and 12 out of 13 before the loss to the Lakers. The win was there to take, but Los Angeles stayed in the end.
“We have won more than we have lost and lost some of the last year. I felt that there are improvements overall,” said Houston coach Ime Udoka, referring to Rocket’s 26-18 record in games that are within five points during the last five minutes.
“(Monday) night, offensively we were not good enough,” he added. “We protected good enough-without the late free throw, we basically hold them to 100-but some of our best players had an off-night shooting.”
Houston had a solid offensive excursion in Thursday’s victory over the jazz. The Alperen Sengun led seven rocket players in double numbers with 33 points.
Monday’s game on Charlotte-a loss of 110-106-where another sweet and sour moment for jazz this season.
On the one hand, Utah’s loss to Hornets ensured that the campaign 2024-25 drops as the worst record in franchise history. The jazz reached the 60 loss brand for the first time and ended its status as the only NBA organization that never lost at least 60.
1974-75 New Orleans Jazz, which went 23-59 in the first season of the franchise despite the presence of Pete Maravich, no longer has loss records.
On a more positive note, Jazz saw another franchise record broken on Monday – the beginner helps Mark. John Stockton had the record of 415 assists since his debut in 1984-85, but Isaiah Collier surpassed it with his fourth dime Monday night. He now has 419 assists with six remaining games.
Although Collier’s shooting has been suspicious-he, only 25 percent strikes from the 3-point interval for the year-he has an average of 7.7 assists as a starter. It is significantly more than last season in Southern California, when he pulled out 4.3 assists per match as a Trojanes beginner.
“There is no way the level he is with from a decision point of view that he showed up here with nothing,” Jazz coach Will Hardy told KSL.com. “That would be impossible. I can imagine any of it may have been hidden.”
Hardy said that jazz is anxious to take advantage of the hidden talent to see what players like Collier can at the NBA level. This development effort and games are part of the strategy for a season where Utah consciously publishes a product that would lose a lot.
“Not every guy in the league right now, it’s an All-Star entered the NBA with this super high reputation,” Oh, he’s safe to become the best player. “You don’t know,” Hardy said. “So we have to give them the opportunity to do it, and that’s what we do every night.”
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