SALT LAKE CITY — Three thoughts on the Jazz's 93-91 loss to the Houston Rockets from KSL.com's Utah Jazz beat writer, Andy Larsen.

1. Jazz lose 15-point lead to Rockets as Jazz unable to score

The Jazz were up 72-57 on the Rockets with four minutes left in the third quarter, then scored just 21 points in the game's final minutes. Why?

I'd point to a few reasons:

• The Rockets really turned up the defensive intensity at the end of the game, like most teams will. When J.B. Bickerstaff, head coach of the Rockets, was asked about what was the turning point of the game, he said, "Defense. No doubt about it. They scored 19 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth quarter."
• The Jazz's wanted to rest Rodney Hood and Gordon Hayward at the same time, so that they could play together late in the game. As a result, at the end of the third quarter, the Jazz took both Hayward and Hood out of the game for the first time, and the Jazz's offense really struggled. The Jazz ended up losing four points of their lead during this period, and being down by just eight at the end of the third gave the Rockets hope.
• The Jazz didn't crash the boards as effectively. In the first three quarters, the Jazz picked up 13 offensive rebounds on 32 missed shots, a ratio that would make any team jealous. In the fourth quarter, they only picked up two offensive boards on 13 misses. The second chance points were a major source of offense for the Jazz until that point: at the end of the third, the Jazz led the Rockets in second-chance points 22-0. The Jazz finished with 24 total second-chance points. You do the math.
• Jazz didn't get foul calls when they deserved them. I'll be talking about this later.
• In the end, the Jazz just don't have players that can reliably score against tough one-on-one defensive players. "In the fourth quarter we missed. They did a good job guarding us," said Jazz coach Quin Snyder. "They have good individual defenders.

2. "Controversial" referee decisions change course of game

Okay, I'll go ahead and amend the above: incorrect refereeing decisions changed the course of this game. Throughout the game, the crew of Tom Washington, Tony Brown, and Eli Roe made late and confusing calls that pushed the crowd to the point of delirium. In a two-point game, those calls absolutely changed the course of events.

The big one was the non-call with 22 seconds remaining, when Jeff Withey rose for a dunk and was fouled by two Rockets players on the arm. Here's the video, from three angles:

What were the refs watching on this play? How do you miss this? Might be the worst "no-call" I've ever seen. pic.twitter.com/R24CsjleJA — Jeremiah Jensen (@JJSportsBeat) January 5, 2016

This is a foul. It is impossible to think that it is not a foul. Harden absolutely pushed Withey from behind, I think intentionally. Referee Eli Roe should have seen this push, as he had a great angle on the play. Montrezl Harrell absolutely catches Withey on the arm coming to the ball. Referee Tony Brown should have seen this from the reverse angle.

It is absolutely unimaginable that neither referee blew the whistle. This is an objectively bad lack of a call. They just froze. Referees like to say that the players make mistakes too, but the player equivalent of this non-call was like if two players just laid down on the court, face to the floor, and stayed motionless for a critical play to determine the game at the end of the fourth quarter.

As Rodney Hood said after the game, "All 10 players on the floor stopped. I think everyone assumed it was going to be a foul."

After the game, I was informed that it was possible to ask the referees to comment on the play, through a "pool reporter." The process is this: the media requests to speak with the crew chief of the officiating staff about a specific play or plays during the game. Then, the team PR officer of the media making the request and the pool reporter go and knock on the door. The referees are notified about the request, and can choose to either accept or decline the interview request.

I went through the process, acting as the "pool reporter," about two plays that occurred: the aforementioned Withey non-call, and the foul call on Hood at the end of the game. We knocked on the door, and the referees told us that they would not be answering questions about the plays, and that was that.

Tomorrow afternoon, the NBA will release the "Last Two Minutes" reports about all games that were within five points with two minutes left. In these reports, they evaluate every referee decision and non-decision, and report their findings to the public. We'll see what the report finds.

Also tomorrow, I hope to speak to an NBA representative about the process for interviewing officials after a game, and in what circumstances they should give public comment. I'll report back with what I hear.

3. A fan/Harden oddity at the end of the third quarter

Beyond the referees, more wackiness happened at the end of the third quarter of this game, when James Harden stopped after the first free throw and spoke to the officials about a fan shining something at him. Harden pointed out where the light was coming from, and then officials reported that information to arena security, who escorted the fan out of the game.

Here's how Harden reacted:

That fan was escorted out by security for "aiming a flash light at a player", and was banned from entering an NBA game for 1 calendar year. Rockets head coach J.B. Bickerstaff was also assessed a technical foul, for reasons that weren't clear. All in all, the break took about two minutes.

Harden said this about the play, "Some guy was lasering me. I saw it the first time and I thought it was a picture being taken. I went to the foul line again and it happened again. The referee caught it before I did. That's the first time that happened to me."

Obviously, fans should not try to blind NBA players when they're on the court: it's dangerous and impacts play. I'm unclear, though, on how security will ban the fan from entering NBA arenas moving forward.

What a weird game.

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