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Sports

Rockets vie for Southwest title, welcome Jazz

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

(SportsNetwork.com) - The Houston Rockets are still jockeying for position in the Western Conference and will wrap up the regular season Wednesday at home versus the Utah Jazz.

The Rockets are currently fifth in the West, while the Los Angeles Clippers are in the No. 2 spot after Tuesday's win over the Phoenix Suns in their season finale. The Clippers are a half-game ahead of both Houston and San Antonio in the standings.

Houston and San Antonio are tied for the Southwest Division lead, and the Spurs have the tiebreaker with a 3-1 advantage in the season series. The Clippers will take the No. 2 spot if both the Rockets and Spurs lose.

San Antonio is third in the West.

The Rockets have won two straight after dropping two in a row and recorded a 100-90 victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Monday. MVP candidate James Harden scored 29 points and made 14-of-16 free throws to lead the visitors and Josh Smith added 16 points and 11 rebounds.

"We made some stops (after halftime)," Rockets head coach Kevin McHale said. "We found some rhythm."

Rockets center Dwight Howard sat out on the second game of a back-to-back to rest his balky knee and Terrence Jones recorded a double-double with 10 points an 11 boards in the win. The Rockets' 26 road wins this season are the second most in franchise history, one shy of matching the record set in 1996-97.

Houston is 12-4 in the last 16 games and 29-11 at home this season.

Harden is chasing Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook for the scoring title and trails him 28.0 ppg to 27.5 ppg. Westbrook and the Thunder will visit Minnesota Wednesday.

The Jazz had a decent season under first-year coach Quin Snyder and look to close the campaign with three straight wins.

Utah prevailed for the seventh time in nine tries with Monday's 109-92 triumph versus the Dallas Mavericks, as Rudy Gobert tied a career-high with 20 points to go along with 17 rebounds. Bryce Cotton scored a career-best 21 points off the bench and had an exciting alley-oop jam in the second quarter.

"I used to catch lobs in the D-League, and we ended up running that play tonight," Cotton said.

Trevor Booker added 13 and 12 boards for Utah, which shot 50 percent from the floor and scored 21 points off 17 Dallas turnovers. Joe Ingles chipped in 15 points to help Utah snap an eight-game slide versus the Mavs.

The Jazz are first in opponents' scoring at 94.6 ppg and should make a run toward the postseason in 2015-16 with a talented roster that includes Gordon Hayward, Derrick Favors, Rodney Hood, Trey Burke and Alec Burks.

Favors (back), Burke (back) and Hayward (Achilles) are questionable against the Rockets. Burks has been out since December with a shoulder issue.

Utah is 1-2 against Houston this season and halted a three-game slide in this series with a 109-91 triumph on March 12 in Salt Lake City. The Rockets are still 7-2 in the past nine meetings and unbeaten in the last four encounters at the Toyota Center.