After a crushing defeat to the Lakers, the Rockets faltered to their third straight road trip to Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City, home of NBA team Utah Jazz, the true devil's home court, where the Jazz have won 10 straight regular-season home games, including late last season.

The entire league knows that the Rockets have two highly talented players on the defensive line, but the league also knows that the Rockets have serious flaws on the inside.

In the game against the Rockets, Jazz coach Tyro Carbine made a strange move: let Randy Foye replace Hayward, and at the same time let Derrick Favors replace Malvin Williams, so that the Jazz's frontcourt players gathered three interior masters: Al Jefferson, who is 6'10", plays the center position, while Favors, who is also 6'10", plays power forward, and Paul Millsap, who is 6'8", is placed in the small forward position.

This setup also worked wonders, at the beginning of the game, Jeremy Lin's breakthrough layup was fanned out of the bottom line by Jefferson, although Asik and Parsons' consecutive free throws helped the Rockets get a 5-0 start, but then the Jazz's Millsap made a layup, Jefferson made a strong basket, and Marvin Williams led the Jazz to return an 11-0.

The Jazz hoarded heavy defense inside, Harden had to start trying to shoot on the outside, and the Rockets also replaced the super rookie Tall and Strong in time, and the tall and strong came on the court to revitalize the Rockets' offense, and soon under the jump shots of Gao Dazhuang and Parsons, the Rockets chased to 17 draws.

Then the two sides exchanged offense and defense, and the Rockets ended the first quarter with a 26-29 deficit.

But at the beginning of the second quarter, the Rockets' offense suddenly fell into a slump, Harden and Tall Zhuang missed shots one after another, and the Jazz's Marvin Williams hit a three-pointer, and Jefferson made a dunk under the basket, and the Jazz played a wave of 13-0, leading the Rockets by 16 points.

At this time, the tall and strong broke through to create a foul and stopped the scoring drought, and Harden also used a layup to score his first sports game of the game, but the Jazz's Jefferson immediately hit a 2+1 for the Rockets, plus Foye hit consecutive three-pointers, and the Rockets trailed the Jazz by 17 points at halftime at 44:61.

Harden didn't show up on the court in the second half because he had an upper respiratory infection, and he gave up the game after suffering from the flu.

At this time, the offensive core on the court became tall and strong, and the tall and strong half-volley helped the Rockets continue to play with the Jazz by 15 points in the early part of the third quarter, and even chased the score to 60-70 for a while.

But the Jazz's "three-high" lineup began to exert its power, scoring consecutive points on the Rockets' inside, and after Jefferson hit a three-pointer at the whistle, the Jazz ended the third quarter 85:70.

Hayward's three-pointer led the Jazz to a 7-0 offensive run in the early part of the final quarter, and the Jazz led 96-76 halfway through the final quarter.

The Rockets closed the gap in the closing stages under Jeremy Lin's leadership, but still lost 91-102.

"That's the most intuitive defensive effect" Talking about the comprehensive suppression of the Rockets on the court today, Jazz coach Taylor Carbine said excitedly, "We showed strong energy, let the opponent keep shooting, we also controlled the offensive end, and the door to victory opened for us."

Rockets assistant coach Sampson stressed that the Rockets have no excuses to say: "Even if we just played in Los Angeles last night, there were no excuses today, usually we all know how to run basketball, but tonight it looks like the opponent has found a feeling, they have been beating us."

When talking about Harden's injury, Rockets acting coach Sampson was reluctant to say more: "We let Harden out of the game, put him on medication, and hopefully he will be ready for the next game."

The growth of any superstar requires setbacks and tribulations, and Harden was hit by the flu against the old powerhouse Jazz, and due to a respiratory infection caused by the flu, he left the game in a hurry after only playing the first half of the game.

Post-game comments from the Associated Press: The Jazz made Harden feel worse, Harden only got 6 shots in this game, only hit 1 shot, including 1 of 2 three-pointers, and finally only got 6 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 block, and 3 of 3 free throws from the free throw line.

Today's game is the only game in which Harden has scored no more than 10 points since joining the Rockets, and the number of shots, shots, free throws, three-pointers and shooting percentage are the lowest points since joining the Rockets, in addition, the number of free throws and rebounds are also the lowest in the season, a total of eight statistics are the lowest points after joining the Rockets.

The Jazz have always been known for their fierce defensive ability, and in today's game, the Jazz used a tall lineup, Millsap, Favors and Jefferson were in the third, fourth, and fifth positions, so Foye on the outside was tightly attached to Harden, preferring to let Harden break through and try to interfere with his shooting, when Harden broke through and hit the basket, the three interior lines could form a tight encirclement, so that Harden's layup could not find space at all, and could only pass the ball outside again to relaunch the offense.

Of course, the most direct reason for Harden's poor performance is mainly injuries, and there have been classic battles in NBA history where Jordan was able to win the Finals despite food poisoning and dehydration, but it is clear that Harden is not Jordan.

In the absence of Harden due to injury, another offensive core tall and strong with 8 of 18 shots, 6 of 8 free throws, scored a team-high 24 points, 3 rebounds and 6 assists.

Parsons scored a team-high 21 points, Asik contributed 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Patterson had 14 points, three rebounds and five assists.

The starting point guard Jeremy Lin made only 4 of 13 shots and 5 of 7 free throws, scoring 13 points, 1 rebound and 3 assists.

After the game, the "Houston Chronicle" published an article with the theme of "The Rockets are being beaten all over the game", in which columnist Fagan once again publicly criticized Jeremy Lin: No wonder "Basket World" listed Jeremy Lin as "one of the most disappointing players" this season, and the reason why Jeremy Lin was able to set off a whirlwind in the Knicks last season was because of his indomitable spirit and momentum, as well as the ruthlessness of not being afraid of heaven and earth, but what about this season? Jeremy Lin's sharpness and momentum, as well as the ruthlessness in his bones, are all gone, and all that remains is a dull style of play.

Maybe you can complain that the Rockets didn't tailor tactics for Jeremy Lin, or you can complain that the team's style doesn't match Lin's crazy style of play in the past, these may be facts, but in addition to looking for objective reasons, Jeremy Lin always has to find the subjective problem of his poor performance, and it can even be said that if his performance on the offensive end is always so sluggish, then the possibility of a decline in status or even being deprived of the main position is not impossible.

For example, in today's game, he can almost be regarded as the weakest link in the Rockets' starting five, and a tradition of the Rockets is that the backup point guard constantly counterattacks the original main point guard, from Brooks PK Alstom, to Lowry PK to Brooks, and then to Dragic PK to lose Lowry......

As soon as this article came out, it immediately won a large number of reprints and comments from fans, and many Rockets fans began to discuss the possibility of trading the Rockets in the forum.

At this time, ESPN's reporter Ricky Bache also suddenly broke the news: "In order to find a new partner for Harden and the tall and strong combination, the Rockets may poach Bynum with a maximum salary."

Rich Bache pointed out that the Rockets' total salary next season is $39.74 million, and if you calculate the salary cap of $58 million this season, the Rockets have close to $20 million in salary cap, and they can offer any superstar a contract in this context. What's more, Rockets general manager Morey publicly stated after getting James Harden that they also intend to poach a superstar and complete the rebuild.

In fact, the Rockets have taken great pains to complete the rebuilding plan, Dwight Howard asked the Magic to trade him, he himself is not particularly fond of the Rockets, but Morey, after learning the news, actively pursued Howard, hoping to get the big man, as a result, everyone knows that Howard went to the Lakers, and now Bynum is one of the targets of the Rockets, although he missed the first few games of the season due to injury.

"Lin is too selfish to play, if he passes you a few more balls, we won't have a chance to win," Patterson whispered in a tall and strong ear on the plane to Houston.

"Right now we lack a real core on our team," Patterson continued, pouting as he glanced at Harden, who was sitting at the front.

"All we can do now is play well, and the rest should be considered by the coaching staff," said the tall and strong helplessly.

"I've heard that the team's top management has been in a lot of contact with other teams lately, and I predict that there could be a trade," Patterson said mysteriously.

"What? Is the team finally unhappy with Lin? He should have been traded a long time ago," Delfino, who was sitting on the side of the hallway, suddenly leaned over and whispered.

……

In fact, such trade rumors have been circulating within the Rockets, and the entire Rockets are panicking.