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Jones, Rockets rout Jazz

Mar 18, 2014 - 3:48 AM Houston, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Terrence Jones led a potent Rockets attack with 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting as Houston routed the Utah Jazz, 124-86, on Monday from Toyota Center.

Patrick Beverley had 19 points and Jeremy Lin contributed 17 with nine assists off the bench for the Rockets, who were without All-Star center Dwight Howard. Howard missed the contest with a mild left ankle sprain and is considered day- to-day.

Omer Asik started in Howard's place and took advantage of extended playing time, pouring in a season-high 12 points and 11 rebounds. James Harden and Jordan Hamilton added 15 points apiece as the Rockets won their ninth straight home tilt.

"With Dwight out, it's time for (Asik) to step up and he gets a double- double," Harden said of Asik. "It's great to have that combination of bigs. We have a great backup center."

Alec Burks and Derrick Favors both netted 15 points in Utah's fifth straight loss. All 13 Jazz players that dressed scored at least two points.

"We just couldn't get it going," Utah head coach Tyrone Corbin admitted. "It was like we were running in mud and couldn't get ourselves out of it."

The Rockets returned home following an 0-3 road trip and immediately regained their form on the home floor, jumping out to a 40-27 advantage after Beverley's 3-pointer early in the second quarter.

The lead grew to 54-33 on Chandler Parsons' reverse layup at 1:56, and Jones' alley-oop put the finishing touches on a dominant first half with another alley-oop with 14 seconds remaining.

Houston led comfortably the rest of the way, with the margin reaching 41 points late on an Isaiah Canaan triple before Rudy Gobert's layup late resulted in the final spread.

Game Notes

Houston shot 46-of-79 (58.2 percent) from the floor and 13-of-25 from 3-point range ... Rockets forward Donatas Motiejunas had 11 rebounds ... Both teams turned it over 19 times ... The Rockets took the season series, 2-1.