Over the past five weeks, the Utah Jazz have dramatically resuscitated their season.
A 14-point loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Dec. 11 knocked the Jazz nine games under .500, a low-water mark for a team that appeared destined for deeper doldrums given their injury woes at the time. But with better health has come superior performance, and the Jazz have gone 15-5 ever since.
Utah, which will start a six-game road trip against the Houston Rockets on Saturday, has not lost consecutive games during that span, with Thursday's 134-129 loss to Oklahoma City snapping a six-game winning streak.
"I don't question the fight of our team," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. "I think the first part of the season as a whole kind of shows you the character of that group, not just within one single game but what they've done over a large chunk of games, where we were record-wise versus where we are now. I definitely don't worry about their toughness and mental resolve."
Even in defeat Thursday, the Jazz showed their growth. Utah allowed 76 first-half points but displayed the fight needed to play the stretch run of the fourth quarter within a two-possession window.
Hardy previously had voiced concerns that the details behind success were slipping during its win streak. And while the start against the Thunder wasn't ideal, the Jazz again proved their worth.
"I don't want my comments the other night to make it seem like I was unhappy with our play," Hardy said. "You start to see little things start creeping in. It's my job to be critical of those things.
"But, yeah, I thought the response from our team was great. It's what we've talked about even in the games that we're winning. These games are long and you let your foot off the gas for a minute or you lose focus and you can have things really go south on you. In those moments early in the game our team's messaging to each other, I didn't have to say that much about it."
Lauri Markkanen, who missed eight straight games during Utah's down period, leads the Jazz with 24.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. He had 26 and 10 against the Thunder, while Collin Sexton scored a game-high 31.
The first half of the Rockets' season has unfolded in a wholly different manner than that of the Jazz. Houston surged to a season-best four games over .500 on Dec. 15 before immediately suffering three consecutive losses while allowing an average of 132.3 points per game during that skid.
The Rockets' defense had propped up their strong start. But in the 15 games following that three-game slide, Houston has produced a 116.0 defensive rating that ranks tied for 15th in the NBA.
Houston dropped five of six games during its recently completed road trip, including a 109-94 loss to the New York Knicks on Wednesday that yielded the lowest points total since Dec. 11 and second-lowest in a loss, tracking back to a season-opening setback at the Orlando Magic.
Veteran forward Dillon Brooks lamented the Rockets' recent lack of focus and adherence to the game plan, a surprising development for a team that had cultivated some moxie under first-year coach Ime Udoka. Of late, the Rockets appear to have lost their way.
"I think we're doing an OK job, a good job," Brooks said. "These last five games are not an indicator of who we are. Just more effort, more hard work and we'll change things around."
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