Rudy Gobert was having himself a night and, despite a noticeable limp after rolling his ankle, had just finished out the third quarter and was making his way to the bench when he was stopped by his coach. Quin Snyder gave the center a quick earful. What more did the coach want on a night when Gobert went for 19 points, 22 rebounds and four blocks? "Rudy and I, we have a great relationship," Snyder said with a grin when I asked him about the meeting. "And it's going to continue to get better the more he listens to me. He wanted … one of the best things about Rudy is he's smart. He understands the game and he wants to understand more of the game. In doing that, you get into conversations with him about things. I think he wanted us to play pick-and-roll with Book and I wanted him in pick-and-roll because they were switching one through four. So I wanted him in pick-and-roll, and eventually I got what I wanted. Those interactions with Rudy are part of the growth process. It's part of it for me coaching a young team, figuring out how to talk to guys and get them to listen. I've been as hard on Rudy lately as anybody, and he's great. He's tough-minded and he knows I want him to get better." A few more notes and thoughts: • Here's Gobert after the game, talking about his stats, his ankle and when it's time to break out the salute: • Rockets coach Kevin McHale knew his team's size without Dwight Howard could be a problem against Utah's big frontline. The Jazz out-rebounded the Rockets by 20 (57-37). Gobert had 12 of Utah's 22 offensive rebounds. • The Jazz also blocked 10 shots — four apiece from Gobert and forward Derrick Favors. "You get past Rudy, you gotta worry about me," Favors said. "You get past me, you gotta worry about Rudy." • Here's McHale's take: "We didn't move the ball very well and they blocked 10 shots. They just dominated the paint, so it didn't matter what we did. We couldn't make a jump shot for a while there and that's all we had because they just dominated the paint. Our bigs didn't move the ball very well to try to get open when Gobert was patrolling the paint and, I mean, they just beat the hell out of us. There's nothing else you can say. They dominated the glass, we had nothing for them, and they beat the hell out of us."
