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The Jazz won another game, this one on Tuesday night against a hot Rockets team at Vivint Smart Home Arena by the count of 120-101. It was a home game for the Jazz, but coming on the second night of a back-to-back, flying in from Minnesota while Houston rested here, compromised their advantage.
They nailed their fourth straight victory, anyway.
"We made shots," Quin Snyder said. "Sometimes, it's as simple as that."
He added this: "Tonight, we played both ends of the floor pretty well."
And that: "We're seeing some more maturity."
This journey the Jazz are traveling is a fascinating one, because it hooks observers on which they love to be hooked — the possibility of a high ceiling. That's true for teams in all of sports, but it's especially true in the NBA, where expectations for teams often can be scripted before the season starts.
Everybody knew the Warriors were going to be good, and they are. Same with the Cavs, the Spurs and the Clippers. Those teams have established stars, following the general formula for success: Get a generational player or a couple of superstars and surround him/them with enough talent to ascend toward contention.
The Jazz are different in a couple of ways, and they proved it again against the Rockets.
There were suspicions that they were going to be better this season, given the progress of some of their younger players, bolstered now by the addition of useful veterans. But nobody was — or is — quite sure where the Jazz will end up. They are breaking into new territory, breathing air that has not been breathed around here for a while.
Moreover, they have no established star. They may have one of the NBA's broadest collections of good players, but, based on a combo-pack of age, stage of career and past performance, there are no set preeminent talents on this team.
Not yet. But there might be some evolving. That adds to the mystery as to what Snyder is fashioning with this group. How far beyond what it has done in the past can it go now?
Tuesday night was a two-fer Tuesday, when the Jazz outshot the Rockets 55.4 percent to 40.7 percent, which speaks to their two-way effort.
Not only is there the guessing about how much better Rudy Gobert — 16 points, 14 boards, a thousand altered shots — and Gordon Hayward — 31 points, seven assists — and Rodney Hood — 19 points — and Trey Lyles — 13 points — can become, there's another component. How much better can the veterans get?
George Hill, for example, has always been a solid player, averaging 11 points and three assists per game over his career, but this season, as the Jazz's main rudder, he's become something more. The numbers are impressive — 21 points, four assists — but they don't reveal the entirety of how important he's become, the transformation he's undergone in a new environment, all of which was clear even on an off night Tuesday (eight points).
It's accurate to say that Hill, who came to Utah via a trade for the No. 12 pick in the draft and who has this year left on his contract, has become a most significant player. Along with Gobert, his influence on the outcomes of games is unmistakable.
If the Jazz make the postseason, there will be Hill to pay. And to praise.
He has a calming effect on a team that transcends his numbers, an effect the Jazz haven't had in recent seasons. That's why they blew so many close games last year. They couldn't close, not because they panicked on offense, but because the defense fell apart, too.
Not anymore. Hill organizes at both ends, and exudes the kind of contagious confidence necessary to grind out wins in the brutal undulations of an NBA schedule.
Snyder seemed almost pleased to point out that Tuesday night's performance was not perfect. But he had to work at it. "I don't want to use too many superlatives," he said.
But there were plenty to be used. Positive trends are emerging here. Slowly, the Jazz are coming together — "connecting," as Snyder said it.
Their upward trajectory can be seen without much magnification, even through the clouds of some subpar performances bound to cover their progress on some nights.
Where that climb will lead them is unknown. But for the first time in the better part of a decade, the Jazz make you wonder if maybe this season is taking them to a high point. Perhaps that star or two will emerge, bringing the outfit in line with the established formula. Even if they don't, you wonder what the yet-unfinished, unformed collective will be. You can see Gobert improving, and Hayward, and Hood, and Lyles. You can see Hill improving. You can see confidence growing.
To what end, to what distance, to what level … well, that determination will come.
But encouraging hints are evident and everywhere, adding much more intrigue to an ascending road whose end is shrouded — and anything but dead, which is to say very much alive — still.
GORDON MONSON hosts "The Big Show" with Spence Checketts weekdays from 3-7 p.m. on the Zone Sports Network, 97.5 FM and 1280 AM. Twitter: @GordonMonson.