SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Rudy Gobert had 19 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks and the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 109-91 on Thursday night for their ninth victory in 11 games.
The Jazz used their size to dominate the paint and pulled away in the second half.
Gobert put on a show as the Rockets didn't have an answer for the 7-foot-1 Frenchman on either end of the floor. He had a double-double in the first quarter and 18 rebounds at halftime.
Teammate Gordon Hayward finished with 29 points, seven assists and four rebounds. Rookie Rodney Hood put up a career high for the second consecutive game with 20 points.
Corey Brewer led the Rockets with 25 points, and James Harden had 15.
The Jazz sprinted out to a 24-12 lead thanks to Gobert dominating the glass and getting second-chance opportunities for the team.
The Rockets closed the gap when they played to their strength and got out in transition. Houston scored nine straight thanks to seven fast-break points, but only had 14 in the game. The first quarter ended with the Jazz up 28-23.
The Jazz extended the lead to 10 at halftime by closing the second quarter with a 13-5 run highlighted by a one-handed thunder dunk from Gobert on Terrence Jones.
Houston never put together a significant second-half run and that's when Hayward and Hood got hot from the field.
TIP-INS
Rockets: Houston was outrebounded 34-22 in the first half to allow the Jazz to score 21 second-chance points. ... The Rockets never led.
Jazz: Trey Burke was 0 for 8 after going 1 for 11 on Tuesday night in a victory over New York. ... Hood made his sixth start of the season in place of Joe Ingles. ... Hayward returned to the starting lineup after being held out Tuesday with a lower back strain.
MATCHING UP
Snyder had a decision to make before the game -- match up with the smaller Rockets are continue to play big with Gobert and Favors. He chose the latter, but spoke about the dilemma before the game.
"That's the question of all questions across the league, constantly," Snyder said. "We've traditionally stayed big and tried to make people guard us. But that's not something we're committed to over the course of the next year or two. I don't have a problem playing small. But when you're trying to build as much and do as much as we're trying to do, it's difficult to all of a sudden have another style of play.
"As good as (Gobert) is defensively or (Favors), there's times when, for matchup reasons, it makes sense to follow and go small. Oftentimes, it makes a lot more sense if you make them match up to you and you see two teams with different strengths."
UP NEXT
Rockets: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday.
Jazz: Hosts the Detroit Pistons on Saturday.
