ROCKETS STUMBLE
Rockets collapse late as Jazz surge past Houston
Feb 23, 2025, 10:31 pm
Jazz defeat the Rockets, 124-115. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.
Keyonte George scored 30 points and Lauri Markkanen added 23 points and 10 rebounds to rally the Utah Jazz to a 124-115 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
Walker Kessler had 11 points and 17 rebounds, and Isaiah Collier added 12 points and 10 assists to help Utah snap a two-game skid.
Alperen Sengun led Houston with 27 points and 12 rebounds. Jalen Green added 25 points and 10 assists, and Amen Thompson had 23 points.
Aaron Holiday and Thompson made back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Rockets up 96-89. But the Jazz surged ahead for good behind a 21-5 run. Three straight baskets, capped by Cody Williams' layup, gave Utah a 110-101 lead with 5:59 left.
Sengun and Dillion Brooks each scored a pair of baskets to key an early 13-2 spurt that gave Houston a 45-40 lead midway through the second quarter.
Utah chipped away at the deficit, but did not retake a lead again until the third quarter when Markkanen bookended a string of four straight baskets that powered a 13-5 run. Kessler’s alley-oop dunk three possessions later punctuated that run and put the Jazz up 77-76.
Takeaways
Rockets: Houston committed only four turnovers over the first three quarters before coughing up the ball three times in the fourth.
Jazz: George propped up Utah’s struggling offense in the first half, scoring 20 points on 6-of-10 shooting before halftime.
Key moment
After falling behind by seven early in the fourth, the Jazz scored on six straight possessions and took the lead for good on a pull-up 3 from George.
Key stat
Utah outscored Houston 66-36 in the paint.
Up next
Houston hosts Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Utah hosts Portland on Monday night.
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Oswald Peraza hit a two-run single in the ninth inning to help the Los Angeles Angels snap a three-game losing skid by beating the Houston Astros 4-1 on Saturday night.
Peraza entered the game as a defensive replacement in the seventh inning and hit a bases-loaded fly ball to deep right field that eluded the outstretched glove of Cam Smith. It was the fourth straight hit off Astros closer Bryan Abreu (3-4), who had not allowed a run in his previous 12 appearances.
The Angels third run of the ninth inning scored when Mike Trout walked with the bases loaded.
Kyle Hendricks allowed one run while scattering seven hits over six innings. He held the Astros to 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position, the one hit coming on Jesús Sánchez’s third-inning infield single that scored Jeremy Peña.
Reid Detmers worked around a leadoff walk to keep the Astros scoreless in the seventh, and José Fermin (3-2) retired the side in order in the eighth before Kenley Jansen worked a scoreless ninth to earn his 24th save.
Houston’s Spencer Arrighetti struck out a season-high eight batters over 6 1/3 innings. The only hit he allowed was Zach Neto’s third-inning solo home run.
Yordan Alvarez had two hits for the Astros, who remained three games ahead of Seattle for first place in the AL West.
Key moment
Peraza’s two-run single to deep right field that broke a 1-1 tie in the ninth.
Key Stat
Opponents were 5 for 44 against Abreu in August before he allowed four straight hits in the ninth.
Up next
Astros RHP Hunter Brown (10-6, 2.37 ERA) faces RHP José Soriano (9-9, 3.85) when the series continues Sunday.