3 Utah Jazz Players Who Must Step Up for Rockets NBA Cup Matchup

The 1-11 Utah Jazz are desperately looking to climb out of their current 10-game losing streak that they've fallen into early this season on Friday night, as they'll be tasked with a road meeting against the 9-3 Houston Rockets.

It certainly won't be any easy assignment for the Jazz to face. Houston has been one of the best teams in the West through the early parts of this season, while Utah has had multiple of their own problems to fix that have dropped them to the bottom of the conference themselves.

But what might the Jazz need for an upset victory against the Rockets to swing in their favor? Who would need to step up on Utah's end in order for them to take care of business on the road in Houston, and thus end their 10-game losing streak with it?

Again, it won't be easy for the Jazz. Yet, if they want any hopes of claiming their second win of the year on Friday against the Rockets, these three players need to come out and have a big individual performance for one reason or another:

Ace Bailey

The assignment for Ace Bailey against the Rockets is a pretty hefty one, as he'll have some notable responsibilities to take on for both sides of the floor, and especially so knowing how depleted the Jazz's frontcourt is without guys like Lauri Markkanen, Jaren Jackson Jr., and Jusuf Nurkic.

For one, Bailey will have to take on a bigger scoring load, which he proved to be more than capable of in the Jazz's last two games against the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic, considering he's scored a combined 41 points in 66 total minutes. The task could also be tougher against the Rockets' seventh-best defense in terms of defensive rating.

But for the Jazz's own defense, Bailey will also be due to matchup with Kevin Durant on the defensive side for a good portion of the night. And against a Hall of Fame-level assignment like that, it means Bailey will have his hands full trying to limit him from having an explosive night. We'll see if he's prepared for it.

Svi Mykhailiuk

The Jazz have not gotten the usual sharpshooting, off-ball threat out of Svi Mykhailiuk like they saw all of last season. He's been averaging just 2.8 points per game on some career low shooting of 28.8% from the field and 21.6% from three.

There's no telling if this game against the Rockets will present the opportunity for Mykhailiuk to finally get his shooting splits on track. But especially in this matchup against a strong defensive team like Houston has been all throughout the season, it would make for pretty good timing.

The Rockets currently allow the sixth-least three-point makes to opponents, while also ranking second for three-point percentage allowed at just 31.5%. In a game where multiple younger players may struggle to counter that stout perimeter defense, it creates a perfect opportunity for the more experienced veteran, Mykhailiuk, to step up to the plate for a strong performance.

Jaxson Hayes

Jaxson Hayes' role in the Jazz's frontcourt has been expanded ever since they've been dealing with injuries to both Jackson Jr. and Nurkic. However, against a matchup like the Rockets, his presence becomes even more important.

And that's largely because of the rebounding mismatch the Rockets can present to a team like the Jazz.

While Houston's work on the offensive glass has been middle-of-the-road (ranking 10th in the NBA), their opposing rebounding numbers have been eye-catching. Houston allows the second-lowest opposing defensive rebounding numbers in the NBA (28.7), and third-lowest opposing total rebounds per game (40.7).

That means for someone like Hayes, who's been Utah's primary starting center who also averages upwards of six rebounds per game, his performance could have a major impact on the possession battle; a frequent issue that the Jazz have faced throughout the start of this season.

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