Jazz Debut New Earned Jersey, Defeat Depleted Rockets To Start Second Half Of Season

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah Jazz started the second half the 2020-21 NBA season by debuting a new “Earned Edition” jersey and beating a depleted Houston Rockets team.

The Jazz hosted the Rockets at Vivint Arena on Friday, March 12.

Utah, sporting a fresh green jersey, defeated a diminished Houston roster, 114-99.

Spida & Stifle

The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Jazz.

Donovan “Spida” Mitchell led the Jazz with a game-high 28 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, one steal, and a block.

“The Stifle Tower”, Rudy Gobert, also tried his best to get a triple-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks.

Rudy's 5th block of the night 🚫🚫🚫🚫🚫 pic.twitter.com/wTn7Ef0Gm6

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) March 13, 2021

Game Flow

The Rockets entered the night with a less than complete roster to put out on the hardwood. Houston’s injury reported featured the team’s main players like John Wall and Victor Oladipo.

Utah began the contest by going up nine points at the end of the first quarter.

Spida with 11 of our first 25 points 🕷#TakeNote | @spidadmitchell pic.twitter.com/QXuCQkXIMx

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) March 13, 2021

By halftime, the Jazz had extended their lead to double-digits.

After the break, Utah opened the third quarter with a nice run and pushed the lead to over 20 points.

Then Houston pushed back.

The Rockets outscored the Jazz in the quarter and made Quin Snyder play his main rotational pieces down the stretch of the fourth quarter.

With 7:28 to go, Houston had cut Utah’s lead to four points, 94-90.

Quin Snyder on how the @utahjazz played tonight:

"Very poor on a lot of levels, gave up the paint, gave everything. We gave up the paint, gave up threes. We were lucky didn't make more shots."#TakeNote

— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) March 13, 2021

Over the next five minutes, the Jazz kicked things into a higher gear and went on a 14-2 run to put the game away.

Team is Everything

Not only did Utah’s two superstars put up quality numbers but so did the supporting cast.

All five of the Jazz players in the starting lineup reached double-figures in scoring.

easy bein' 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯 💚 pic.twitter.com/hbzBMTxZap

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) March 13, 2021

Gobert and Royce O’Neale recorded double-doubles and played impressive defense.

🗣 𝙄𝙉𝘾𝙊𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙂 🗣#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/71fTgNxjRA

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) March 13, 2021

Bojan Bogdanovic and Mike Conley supported Mitchell’s scoring with 35 combined points.

Jordan Clarkson came off the bench and poured in 15 points

with bounce #MACU3 | @MountainAmerica pic.twitter.com/74sHylDGl9

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) March 13, 2021

Utah finished the game shooting 48.1 percent overall and 37.5 percent from distance.

Houston Rockets

A recent addition to Houston, Kevin Porter Jr. led the Rockets with 27 points on 11-25 shooting.

The Rockets ended the contest shooting 36.9 percent from the field and 20.9 percent from three.

Got the start and put on a show!

🏀 27PTS
🏀 8AST
💯 @Kevinporterjr pic.twitter.com/kAxCiC0kW4

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) March 13, 2021

Houston now sits at a record of 11-25.

It was the Rockets’ 15th straight loss.

The #Rockets with 20 offensive rebounds in his game. 20!!!
They also have attempted 111 FGs in this game which is the most by any #UtahJazz opponent this season. Jazz still win by 15.#TakeNote l @KSLSports

— Sam Farnsworth (@Samsworth_KSL) March 13, 2021

Houston’s last win came against the Memphis Grizzlies on February 4.

Up Next

With the win, the Jazz improved their NBA-best record to 28-9 on the season and 16-2 at home.

undefeated in green 😁#TakeNote pic.twitter.com/ABoNua7ZOu

— utahjazz (@utahjazz) March 13, 2021

Utah’s next game is against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, March 14 at 2 p.m. (MDT). The game will broadcast on NBA TV, AT&T SportsNet, and 97.5 FM.