Tim Buckley reports on Utah's win over Houston.

"Perhaps they didn't want to be embarrassed the night their still-kicking point guard turned 40. Or maybe they just didn't want to endure another tail-kicking.

Houston's Steve Francis and Kelvin Cato watch Birthday Boy John Stockton, who turned 40 on Tuesday, sky - OK, lean in -for a layup.

Whatever the case, the Jazz on Tuesday displayed rare resiliency: Utah beat Houston 109-105 at the Delta Center, twice rallying from rather large deficits.
     
Down 16 in the opening quarter, the Jazz briefly led late in the second. Down 15 in the third, they again clawed back, then hung on, barely, by hitting 9-of-10 final-minute free throws.
     
"You've got to give the Jazz credit," said Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who expressed what two of his disgruntled top contributors would not. "They did a helluva job gutting this one out."
     
And, oh, did they ever need to."