Jazz vs. Rockets Preview and Predictions

By Gracenote for Scores and Stats08:00 PM
by Gracenote on 12/17/2017

Two teams streaking in opposite directions meet when the Houston Rockets host the Utah Jazz on Monday. The Rockets own the best record in the NBA and are riding a 13-game winning streak while the Jazz dropped five of their last six to fall out of the top eight in the Western Conference.

Houston's winning streak coincided with the return of point guard Chris Paul from a knee injury, and the future Hall of Famer intends to keep the streak alive as long as possible. "We want to keep it going. I mean, who likes to lose?" Paul asked reporters. "I said it before: I hate losing more than I like to win. We want to keep this thing going and keep building. You know, people always say, 'We'll learn from that,' that you learn from a loss. Well, let's win and learn from it, too." Utah looked like it was turning a corner when it earned a 107-95 win at Eastern Conference-leading Boston on Friday but fell back with a 109-100 setback in Cleveland the next night to drop to 1-3 on the six-game road trip. "There's always things you want to do better, but the game kind of went the way a lot of Cavaliers games have gone," Jazz coach Quin Snyder told reporters. "...I thought, overall, we did a good job of trying to hang in there."

TV: 8 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain (Utah), AT&T SportsNet Southwest (Houston)

ABOUT THE JAZZ (14-16): Injuries to the frontcourt are beginning to pile up, and center Rudy Gobert is set for another absence after an MRI on Saturday revealed a strained PCL and a bone bruise in his left knee. Gobert, who missed 11 games bridging November and December with a knee injury and struggled after returning before going down again on Friday, is expected to be out at least two weeks. Power forward Derrick Favors, who averaged 16.5 points during Gobert's first absence, is in the league's concussion protocol after taking an elbow to the face against the Celtics.

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (24-4): Houston's only health issue right now involves All-Star guard James Harden, who leads the NBA in scoring (31.5) and is second in assists (9.1) but is battling a knee bruise. Harden nearly missed Saturday's 115-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks but decided to suit up and managed 31 points in 39 minutes. "I wasn't feeling well at all, but the doc came in and just told me that there's going to be pain for a bit, but you can play through it," Harden told reporters. "It can't get worse, but it's going to be pretty painful until obviously you give it some time. Once he said that, I was like, 'Let's go.'"

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Jazz rookie SG Donovan Mitchell is averaging 25.8 points in eight games this month.

2. Rockets PF Ryan Anderson went scoreless on 0-of-4 shooting Saturday and is averaging 4.8 points while shooting 32.3 percent over the last five contests.

3. Houston already beat Utah twice this season, including a 137-110 home win on Nov. 5 in which Harden collected 56 points and 13 assists.

PREDICTION: Rockets 121, Jazz 108