After being one of the hottest teams in the NBA before the All-Star break, the Utah Jazz were in danger of losing more ground in the playoff race Tuesday night. Despite a hot-shooting performance, the Jazz lost a double-digit lead and came close to dropping 1 1/2 games behind the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference standings. Instead, the second-least-experienced team in the NBA did something it has struggled to do for years: winning a close game. Houston guard James Harden led all scorers with 42 points, but forward Gordon Hayward and the Jazz spoiled his big night with an important 117-114 overtime victory over the Rockets. "This was not like a real pretty game by any means, but it's a game that we won," Utah coach Quin Snyder said. "We got a group that's learning how to do that."
