SUMMARY:  Houston Rockets push their win streak to 13 games with an impressive defensive outing against the Utah Jazz 96-85.

• The Houston Rockets without Clint Capela, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon were able to extend their winning streak to 13 games behind a remarkable defensive effort.

• The Jazz game plan worked as well on the defensive end as you could imagine. The Jazz were able to keep the Rockets off the three point.  The Rockets take 50% of their shots from three and tonight they hit on just 9 of 32.  32 of their Rockets 79 shots were threes and 40.5% well below their season average.

• The Jazz wanted to keep Harden away from his off the dribble three and off the three point line. When Harden takes 12 or more threes the Rockets are 18-2, when he takes 10 or more they are 33-4.  The Jazz took away his attempts as he got just 5 attempts.  They are now 10-6 when he takes 9 or fewer.

• This is the sign of how great this Rockets team is this year. They have amazing depth to be able to play without three primary guys.  They are able to execute well enough offensively when a team takes them out of their offensive plan and most impressively they defended well enough to win this game.  They are 9^th best defensive team in the NBA and tonight their defensive effort won the game.

• Donovan Mitchell really struggled tonight. He had 8 turnovers, for a new season high and shot just 6 of 15. His efficiency has not been the same as it was for a while now.   He is the focus of teams and it was the 4^th time the Rockets have seen him.  This is all part of the progression of a rookie and why you don’t see a lot of rookies as the lead guy on a good team.

• The Jazz three point shooting is regressing to the mean from the hot streak in a big way. They were 7 of 29 and are now 32 of their last 120 (26.7%) over the last 4 games

• The hot Joe Ingles and Royce O’Neale that were present before the break were not a part of this game tonight as Joe went 1 for 6 and Royce was 1 for 3.

• This game a ton of holding and grabbing and both teams were up in arms throughout the night at the lack of calls by the officiating crew

• Luc Mbah a Moute scored 11 straight points at one point in the 4^th quarter

• Chris Paul put the mid range jumper on display when the Rockets needed points

• James Harden had 26 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists to go with 7 turnovers and the Jazz defended him about as well as you could expect a team to handle him.

• Alec Burks had two fun drives to the basket

• Jazz offense was not on point tonight. Very impressive for this Rockets team to be able to dictate a game on the defensive end when they aren’t having their way offensively.  They are a legitimate title contender.