NBA 2018-19: Jazz throttle the Rockets - 3 Key Talking Points

In a highly anticipated match-up between pre-season favourites to go to the Western Conference Finals, the Utah Jazz went head-to-head against the Houston Rockets in what turned out to be an easy victory for the former. It was an easy victory for the Jazz with 118-91, in what seemed like a contest the Rockets never wanted to win.

The Jazz lost their mammoth, Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert in the early minutes of the first quarter due to a technical on him. Even after his ejection, the Rockets were not able to capitalize on such a glaring gap inside the Jazz's defense.

Chris Paul and James Harden were trying to do too much and in return costing the team crucial turnovers due to which they were never able to make a comeback and have a run for the victory.

After this match, the Jazz are 11th in the Western Conference Standings with 13 wins in 26 games. And the Rockets are at an abysmal 13th with 11 wins in 24 games.

With all that in mind, here's a look at the top 3 talking points from the game:

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#3 Rockets lack ball movement

Houston Rockets have been very disappointing

Where's the Golden State type of basketball brand that Mike D'Antoni was so vocal about preaching to his players last year? Because this year it seems that the players have forgotten how to play.

There looks like a lot of selfishness and trying to do too much with too little in the Rocket's line - up right now. And the result of that is the Rockets had only 13 assists and gave up 23 turnovers.

The Rockets look a shadow of the team that challenged the Warriors till game 7 of the Western Conference finals last year.

#2 Rockets defense is very fragile

Houston Rockets need to start showing up

When the season started everyone expected the Rockets to take a step back in their defense after losing the services of Trevor Ariza and Lukk Mbah a Moute. But, not to the extent where they give up so many points on a nightly basis and that too against average offenses like that New Orleans or the Jazz.

At the beginning, it was thought that Carmelo Anthony is the reason behind this. But now that Anthony is gone, no real improvement seems to be visible in the Rocket's defense. They give up open looks, easy threes and don't show enough effort in transition defense.

More than offense, it was the defense that took Rockets so deep last year. But they are just refusing to show up this year which is causing all the struggles. They need to buckle up things fast because the West is as deep as ever this year.

#1 The Utah Jazz tight defense

Utah Jazz were a great defensive side last season

Jazz showed why they're one of the leagues best defense even after losing their DPOTY Rudy Gobert in the early minutes of the first quarter.

The Jazz, currently ranked 5th on points allowed the opposing offenses by only giving 107.2 points on a nightly basis. This was evident in tonight's match-up as well even though they lost their most prominent defensive presence Rudy Gobert in the early minutes of the first quarter. But the Jazz hanged on to their nerves and disrupted the opposition's offense with 16 steals and never allowed them to breathe inside their area.

Everyone looked engaged on the defensive end and as a result, they created an easy offense for themselves as well by taking clean look shots and easy fast break points. As a result, they shot a whopping 50% from the field and showed why they're still a team to be afraid of.

It's going to be interesting to see how the Rocket's comeback from such a lackluster performance in their next match against Dallas Mavericks while Utah go to San Antonio to increase their winning streak.

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