Kevin Porter Jr. (24 points, 5 assists) led the Houston Rockets back from a 19-point deficit in the second half, but it wasn’t quite enough to secure a victory in Utah on an off night by Jalen Green. The Jazz ultimately held on to win Wednesday’s game, 109-101 (box score).
Porter connected on 10-of-22 shots (45.5%) and scored 15 of his points in the fourth quarter. But Green, who scored 17 points, made just 6-of-20 (30.0%) shots for the game. The Rockets were -3 in Porter’s 35 minutes and -19 in Green’s 36 minutes. Houston came within two points in the closing minutes but never tied or took the lead.
The Jazz (4-1) were led by veteran forward Lauri Markkanen, who recovered from an inefficient night in Monday’s loss to the Rockets (1-4) to score a team-high 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting (66.7%). Markkanen also grabbed 9 rebounds in his 34 minutes played.
Veteran guard Eric Gordon added 16 points for the Rockets on 6-of-12 shooting (50.0%). Jabari Smith Jr. (10 points, 9 rebounds) and KJ Martin (11 points, 10 rebounds) each had solid games on the interior for an undersized Houston group that was missing Alperen Sengun (illness) and Bruno Fernando (left knee soreness).
Scroll on for highlights, analysis and postgame interviews. The Rockets will play game two of their four-city road trip on Friday night at Portland (4-0), with the tip set for 9:00 p.m. Central.
The Rockets played well enough to get back in the game and that is a good thing because they normally would have hung their heads and got blew out. They missed entirely too many shots in the paint and free throws…#Sarge
— #SARGE (@BigSargeSportz) October 27, 2022
The #Rockets played an ugly game in Utah tonight. Fought hard in the fourth quarter, but it’s another L, one of many they’ll take again this year.
— Brandon Scott (@brandonkscott) October 27, 2022
The young, feisty Rockets scrapped their way back to within two points after falling behind by 19 on the road, but ultimately came up short. Not a bad night for the rebuild
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) October 27, 2022
Kevin Porter:
22 points
5 assists
4 rebounds
1 steal
1 block9-21 from the field
0-4 from 3-PT range
4-4 from the FT lineHas scored 13 points in the 4th quarter. pic.twitter.com/OuscM8XB7E
— Salman Ali (@SalmanAliNBA) October 27, 2022
KPJ’s work at the FT line is worthy of so much praise
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) October 27, 2022
Give it up to the Rockets though they would have gotten blown out last year in this type of game
— Lachard Binkley (@BinkleyHoops) October 27, 2022
Tate left open at top of 3-point line, passes up the shot to move to a dribble handoff for Mathews. Defender playing off Tate allows Mathews to get a wide-open look on the screen, a good way to handle that defense with his ballhandling. Two possessions later, Tate hits the 3.
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) October 27, 2022
Love how KPJ, who’s been struggling tonight, opens the fourth quarter attacking the basket. #Rockets
— Brandon Scott (@brandonkscott) October 27, 2022
The #Rockets had a ROUGH three quarters of play, and then Kevin Porter Jr. turned his night around in the fourth and spearheaded the comeback after being down 17, but then things unraveled in the closing minutes.
A lot of bad tonight, but KPJ in the fourth was a silver lining.
— Jackson Gatlin (@JTGatlin) October 27, 2022
Josh Christopher getting a DNP-CD tonight after playing just four minutes on Monday is notable
— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) October 27, 2022
KPJ caught a lot of flak after the last game so I hope he gets credit for spoon feeding these guys open shots down the stretch (got EG an open three from the damn floor -while injured!) and they just bricked them
— Jason Williams (@AstroRocket) October 27, 2022
Stephen Silas said the #Rockets ran more isolation than he wanted to see. “We told them before the game that they weren’t going to (be able to) play the same way they did in Game 1 (against the Jazz).”
— ClutchFans (@clutchfans) October 27, 2022
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