Jazz get some revenge, top Rockets to improve to 4-1

SALT LAKE CITY — A whistle here. A whistle there. A whistle everywhere.

By the time Wednesday night's game neared the end, Jarred Vanderbilt and Kelly Olynyk were sitting on the bench after they fouled out, and Mike Conley played with five fouls himself.

"Tonight was a pretty disjointed game," Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy said.

That can happen when a combined 58 fouls are called. Some were legitimate, of course; others were more of the ticky-tack variety. Regardless, it made for a slow and tedious game.

Disjointed or not, the Jazz will take the win.

Utah got a bit of revenge on the Houston Rockets with a 109-101 win at Vivint Arena to improve to 4-1 on the season; Houston handed the Jazz their first loss of the year on Monday.

"Winning in this league is really, really hard, and every night our team has to try to find a way," Hardy said.

And so far, it's been a different way each time.

The Jazz have used a different closing lineup in each of their five games. On Wednesday, it was Talen Horton-Tucker joining the fray.

The fourth-year pro (yet, still somehow 21 years old) played 28 minutes as the Jazz fought foul trouble. He scored 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and seven assists in his most extended action as a member of the Jazz.

Conley picked up his fourth foul early in the third quarter, and Collin Sexton had to leave the game in the first half with a left oblique contusion. The Jazz called on Horton-Tucker, who averaged 13.5 minutes in the first four games of the season, to step up.

He answered the bell — highlighted by tomahawk dunk in the third quarter.

"I thought Talen was great. I thought his composure was really good. He did a much better job playing off two feet in the paint and made some good decisions," Hardy said. "I think the other thing that really stood out to him was his rebounding. Playing with smaller lineups, everybody has to step up on the glass, and he ended with seven rebounds, which is fantastic."

As for Horton-Tucker, the 6-foot-4 forward/guard said it was good to find a rhythm but admitted that he's still figuring out where he fits best on the team.

"I just try to show the coaching staff that I can play with any group to be able to be versatile, and feel like I can bring that to our team," he said.

Utah's overall versatility has been key to its surprising start.

On Wednesday, the Jazz were just 13-of-45 from deep and shot just 42% from the field — yet, they found a way to win. Lauri Markkanen, who has yet to find the range on his deep shot, beat the Rockets' defense with back cuts and used his size to find buckets near the rim.

In the end, he scored 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, and was 9-of-11 from inside the arc.

"I think he just did a really good job of adjusting to our opponent," Hardy said. "After seeing Houston once a couple of days ago, I think that really helped him. He's gonna have to do that every single night, every opponent based on the matchups that he draws is going to give him something different."

Jordan Clarkson finished with 20 points, six rebounds and five assists. He hit three consecutive 3-pointers to start the third quarter that had Vivint Arena buzzing, and it led to Clarkson skipping around the court.

His shooting display helped Utah push its lead out to a 19-point advantage.

Houston, however, closed to within 2 points in the fourth quarter before its youth reared its head in the final minutes. The Rockets took some ill-advised shots on their way to missing six of their next eight looks after making it a one-possession game.

"We were never really able to get into a rhythm offensively, but I'm proud of the guys for digging in," Hardy said. "Houston scored 5 points in the last five minutes. We were able to get stops when we needed them."

And the Jazz found yet another way to win.

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