The Utah Jazz on Thursday brought a surprising win to their home fans as the team smashed the visiting Houston Rockets 118-91 without the help of Rudy Gobert.

The Jazz entered the game having only won three games at home, a lukewarm record shared by several other NBA teams. Though the Rockets have been disappointing so far this season, they traveled to Salt Lake City as the favorites based on last season's Western Conference finals, wherein James Harden and Houston's pick-and-roll attack baffled the Utah defense.

The Jazz took a head-on blow early as their defensive pillar Rudy Gobert was ejected less than 3 minutes into the game for smacking a bottle off the scorer's table and criticizing referees. Utah had to send Derrick Favors onto the court as center. However, this incident helped determine the team's defensive mindset: when Harden or Paul called for a screen, Utah's center would remain in the paint, refusing to give an easy basket and testing the shooting of Houston's guards.

The Jazz bet on the right horse, forcing Houston's Eric Gordon, Harden and Chris Paul to shoot just 3 of 14 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Utah tried their best to avoid giving open corner three-pointers to Houston by having no wing players help defend the restricted area. The plan paid off as the Rockets went 8 of 36 on three-point attempts.

Utah's defense also facilitated their offense as Houston turnovers quickly turned into fast-break scoring opportunities. The Rockets in the first half delivered only six assists but committed 11 turnovers. The total number of 23 turnovers for the entire game also explained where the Jazz got their 16 steals.

However, Utah making the right play was only part of the reason behind Houston's humiliating loss, as the Rockets trailed by only eight points (45-53) after the first two quarters. Houston's mindset is what really spelled disaster for the team. After watching Joe Ingles pass him like he was a standing still multiple times in the first half, Harden continued his negligent performance on both offense and defense in the second half and his attitude affected the rest of the team.

The Rockets in the third quarter fell into a vicious cycle of too much ball handling and not enough confidence to score in front of the Utah defense. As a result, they made sloppy passes which were then stolen by the Jazz and turned into transition points. The above process was repeated for the remaining seven minutes until the game became a foregone conclusion.

The loss on Thursday was just one game but it should be a bigger lesson for the Rockets. After a 65-win season, the rest of the league studied how Houston played and gradually came up with ways to defeat the team. 

As a team made up of two superstars (Harden and Paul) and a group of role players, the Rockets relied on Harden and Paul to deliver extraordinary performances to win. Paul's already 33 years old and has a record of injuries, meaning that it's unrealistic to expect him to play like an All-Star guard for the whole season. Harden has been criticized for his disappointing defense since arriving in Houston and carrying the team on his own often consumed him too much to have enough strength left in the last quarter.

The simple solution to the team's problem was to find a third core player to share the burden with Harden and Paul, either from within the franchise or from the market. However, Gordon has proved that looking from within the organization is a no-go. 

Meanwhile, the Rockets did not have proper leverage to make a trade because the players they were willing to send away could not interest other teams. Yet if they put valuable players in the deal, that would be another bite of the team's roster which is already too short to cut.

Other games on Thursday included (away teams come first):

New York Knicks 100-128 Boston Celtics

Phoenix Suns 86-108 Portland Trail Blazers