Jazz silence Rockets with latest buzzer-beating trey in Houston

For a second time this season, the Rockets lost at home on a stunning last-second 3-pointer. This time, Bojan Bogdanovic did the damage.

For the second time in barely over half of one season, the Houston Rockets lost by one point at home on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

Much like the buzzer-beater by Sacramento’s Nemanja Bjelica on Dec. 9, Sunday’s heroics came courtesy of an out-of-bounds play drawn up with less than two seconds left and Houston leading by two points.

This time, the damage was done by the Utah Jazz and Bojan Bogdanovic, who made just his second basket of the game as time expired. His buzzer-beater came with James Harden and P.J. Tucker directly in his face.

It was the fourth lead change in the game’s final 30 seconds. Tucker and Robert Covington each hit 3-pointers to put Houston in front, but Bogdanovic and the Jazz got the last word at Toyota Center.

It’s the second straight loss for the Rockets (33-20), and the second consecutive victory for the Jazz (34-18). With a win, the Rockets would have passed Utah in the Western Conference standings in the race for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

With a victory, Houston also would have clinched the potential tiebreaker over Utah by securing the season series. Instead, Bogdanovic’s buzzer-beating shot over a pair of defenders gave the Jazz an uplifting 114-113 victory (box score), and the Rockets a crushing loss.

The rubber match of three games between the teams is on Saturday, Feb. 22 in Salt Lake City, with the winner earning the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Rockets defeated the Jazz in the first meeting there on Jan. 27.

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As for Sunday’s game, Russell Westbrook scored a game-high 39 points on 18-of-33 shooting (54.5%), while Harden had 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. Both of Houston’s former MVPs recorded assists on the late go-ahead 3-pointers by Tucker and Covington.

Harden connected on just two of his 13 attempts (15.4%) from 3-point range, however. On a night when the smaller Rockets were out-rebounded 48-36 by Rudy Gobert (15) and the larger Jazz, they probably needed to win the shooting battle to overcome it. Both Utah and Houston hit 15 3-pointers, but the Jazz did so on four fewer attempts.

Guard Eric Gordon sat out with a lower left leg contusion, and Houston clearly missed both his shooting and wing defense.

Reserve guard Jordan Clarkson led the Jazz with 30 points on 12-of-19 shooting (63.2%) off the bench, while Donovan Mitchell scored 24 points and took advantage of Harden’s fifth foul in the fourth quarter by repeatedly driving past him and collapsing Houston’s defense, knowing that the NBA’s scoring leader couldn’t risk fouling out.

The Rockets host the Boston Celtics (37-15) on Tuesday in their final game before the All-Star break. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. from Toyota Center, with the game broadcast nationally on TNT.

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