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Anatomy of an upset: The biggest plays from Houston’s win at Utah

AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

Young and rebuilding teams like the 2021-22 Rockets aren’t supposed to beat perceived Western Conference contenders, and especially not on the road. But that’s exactly what Houston (14-32) somehow managed to do at Utah (29-16) on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.

For the Rockets, who had five players score in double figures as part of a balanced effort, it was a third win in their last four games — all away from home. Sharpshooter Garrison Mathews led the way in the 116-111 win (box score) with a team-high 23 points off the bench, including 5-of-9 on 3-pointers (55.6%). But he had plenty of help, as well.

Veterans Bojan Bogdanovic (29 points, 5 rebounds), Rudy Gobert (23 points, 9 rebounds), and Jordan Clarkson (19 points, 4 assists) led the Jazz, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace. After putting up 5 points in the first five-plus minutes of the second half, Houston exploded to score 54 in under 19 minutes to finish it out, leading to a shocking road win.

Here’s a look back at some of the key plays and sequences from Wednesday in Salt Lake City. We’re largely focusing on offense, since the Rockets have risen from an offensive rating of 104.6 in their first six January games — good for No. 24 in the NBA over that span — to 115.5 over the current 3-1 road trip, which ranks No. 6 in the league in that run.

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Armoni Brooks goes on a personal 9-1 run

In a span of under two minutes late in the third quarter, reserve guard Armoni Brooks hit three 3-pointers, sending Houston from a 75-71 deficit to an 80-76 lead. The Rockets had trailed by 13 just a few minutes earlier.

It was ideal timing for Brooks to break out of a personal slump, since the second-year guard had shot just 28.6% from the field and 22.2% on 3-pointers over his previous six outings — and on high volume at 7.5 attempts per game from 3-point range. Stephen Silas gave him another opportunity, and Brooks made the most of it for the Rockets.

Christian Wood hits from just inside halfcourt

Houston’s big man somehow drilled a contested shot from just inside the halfcourt line as the third quarter expired, with it leaving his fingertip at only 0.1 left on the clock. That shot gave the Rockets an 83-81 edge, and they did not relinguish the lead for the remainder of the game.

While Wood only made 4-of-11 shots outside of that heave, he found other ways to still make a big impact. His 15 rebounds set a personal high for 2022 and easily topped Utah’s Rudy Gobert, who had nine.

Garrison Mathews answers Utah’s runs

The Jazz closed the gap to between two and four points on several occasions in the fourth quarter, but the Rockets always seemed to have an answer at the most opportune times. Two of those came on 3-pointers from Mathews, who put Houston up 88-83 with a trey at the 9:55 mark and by 106-99 after another deep 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining.

Mathews also hit a pair of clutch free throws with only 55.6 seconds left, doubling Houston’s lead from two to four.

Eric Gordon hits two deep 3-pointers

The veteran guard connected on a 27-foot trey with 7:11 left, giving Houston a 98-89 edge, and he hit an even deeper 29-footer on the next trip at 6:30, restoring the nine-point lead. While the Jazz kept pushing, the buffer from those two Gordon makes helped the Rockets survive a scoreless stretch of nearly three game minutes, starting with 4:45 left.

Gordon to Wood to Tate, for a 3-point play

Vivent Arena rose to its feet after Bogdanovic drained a 3-pointer with exactly 2:00 left, bringing the home team back within two points. But when the Jazz swarmed Eric Gordon with both his original defender and the defender on Christian Wood, Gordon made the correct decision to hit his big man on the short roll. Gobert then came out to contest Wood, and the man he was defending — Jae’Sean Tate — cut from the wing to the rim for an open layup. The timing of the two passes by Gordon and Wood was perfect, with each hitting the open man in stride.

Bogdanovic tried to recover, but he was far too late, and he ended up fouling Tate on the shot — ultimately giving Houston a 3-point play that seemed to take much of the energy out of Utah’s comeback bid.

Kevin Porter Jr. seals it with another dagger 3-pointer

The Rockets are currently 4-6 in January (.400), which would be their best winning percentage of any calendar month in the 2021-22 season to date. In each of those four wins, third-year guard Kevin Porter Jr. has made at least one clutch 3-pointer in the closing minutes, including his buzzer-beater in Washington to stop a long losing streak.

On Wednesday, even a tough perimeter defender in Utah’s Royce O’Neale wasn’t enough to slow the 21-year-old when he got to his preferred spot on the left wing. Porter drained the triple with 22.4 seconds left, putting the Rockets up by a 114-109 margin and sending fans to the exits.

Overall, it was yet another encouraging showing by Porter, who finished with 15 points on 50% overall shooting and 50% on 3-pointers (3-of-6), and he dished out 8 assists while turning the ball over only once. Houston had a season-low eight turnovers as a team, and taking care of the basketball on the road played a huge role in their surprising success.

The competition remains stiff for “KPJ” and the Rockets for the time being, given Friday’s scheduled game at Golden State to conclude the five-game road trip. Tipoff from San Francisco is at 9:00 p.m. CST.

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