Earlier this season, Jordan Clarkson encouraged teammate Udoka Azubuike by promising him he’d buy him a Louis Vuitton bag when he scored 10 points in a game.
That happened on Feb. 4 when the 7-foot center, a 2020 first-round pick out of Kansas, scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a win over the Brooklyn Nets. Sure enough, Azubuike reminded Clarkson about the deal.
“Then he did it again and did it again. I shouldn’t have passed him the ball,” Clarkson recalled, laughing, after the Jazz’s most recent win over the Orlando Magic on Friday. “Now I might get him a Goyard or something a little more luxurious. I’ll get him something special.”
The way the 22-year-old Azubuike is producing for the Jazz, who host the Houston Rockets in Salt Lake City on Monday night, Clarkson might need to increase the requirements for any future incentives.
With Rudy Gobert having missed nine games with a left calf strain and backup Hassan Whiteside also being in and out of the lineup, Azubuike has been given a bigger opportunity on the court — and he’s taken advantage of it.
He had 12 points and seven rebounds against the Magic, posted 11 points and five rebounds vs. Golden State and swatted three shots while grabbing 14 rebounds in a win over the Knicks. The Jazz are on a five-game winning streak thanks, in part, to Azubuike’s contributions along with Whiteside’s recent impressive play.
“This is the Dok we saw at Kansas,” Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell said. “And Hassan, we’ve seen it, he’s done it. Back-to-back games with 17-plus rebounds, a plus-17 on the floor, impacting the game for us. That’s huge for us. Especially with Rudy Gobert out. Then you’ve got Dok coming into the game, continuing to be a force on both ends the floor.”
Clarkson likes that Azubuike is seeing plays and teammates’ tendencies.
“You can tell he’s been watching and learning and picking up everything,” Clarkson said. “He knows how to space the floor, he knows when to be in the paint, he’s always looking for that lob pass, and he’s got bounce.”
The Rockets come into this matchup having lost four straight and eight of nine, including a 139-120 blowout defeat to the Toronto Raptors on Thursday.
But the continued improved play of Kevin Porter Jr. is a silver lining for Houston. He had a career-high 30 against the Raptors.
“We’ve been starting games off pretty good, our energy’s been very good,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “But … the growing pains that we have are evident at (critical) points of the game.”
Neither team played on Saturday or Sunday — the Rockets also had Friday off — so they are well rested.
They’re both missing veteran players due to injuries, as Gobert and Rudy Gay have been sidelined for the Jazz while Eric Gordon has missed three consecutive contests with a foot injury.
The Rockets’ three-game, pre-All-Star-break road trip continues Wednesday in Phoenix and Thursday against the Clippers in Los Angeles. The Jazz’s Wednesday night road game against the Los Angeles Lakers is their last outing for a week and a half.
Utah crushed Houston in Texas earlier in the season 122-91, but the Rockets avenged that loss with a 116-111 victory over the Jazz in Salt Lake City in January. The Jazz were 4-12 that month but haven’t lost in February.
