SALT LAKE CITY -- James Harden was in the spotlight in more ways than one while leading the Houston Rockets past the Utah Jazz on Monday night.

Harden scored 30 points, and the Rockets snapped a four-game losing streak with a 93-91 win.

Harden scored 13 points in the third quarter to help the Rockets (17-19) dig out of a 15-point hole. He then scored the go-ahead bucket in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter as Houston picked up a much-needed win.

"We found something that worked offensively," Harden said. "We just stuck with it, and defensively we got stops. We just rode that wave for the entire game (after that)."

The Jazz (15-18) had a chance to tie with six seconds remaining, but shooting guard Rodney Hood missed the third of three free throws after being fouled by Harden behind the 3-point arc.

"You could feel at the beginning of the third quarter that they really turned up their physicality and they actually had a few fouls called on them early in the quarter," Jazz coach Quin Snyder said of the Rockets. "You could just feel it, and we talked about it during timeouts, and then in the fourth quarter we missed."

Rockets guard Jason Terry hit one of two free throws with three seconds left, and the Jazz were forced to throw up a desperation half-court heave by forward Gordon Hayward at the buzzer because they ran out of timeouts and couldn't advance the ball.

Houston center Dwight Howard added 16 points and 13 rebounds, and forward Trevor Ariza scored 13 points.

Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff was high on his team's second-half defense after it allowed Utah to score 37 in the second quarter.

"Defense, no doubt about it," Bickerstaff said. "They scored 19 points in the third quarter and they scored 14 points in the fourth quarter. That's what it is all about. This team will reach its potential when we reach our potential on the defensive end of the floor."

Hood, who became a father on Sunday, led the Jazz with 23 points and hit five 3-pointers for the second consecutive game.

"We held them under 100 points, which not many teams do," Hood said. "We played hard. We can't let this one deter us from getting better and have it linger on our mind. We've got to move on."

Hayward contributed 20 points and seven rebounds for the Jazz. Utah, now in the eighth spot in the West behind Houston, played again without injured starters Derrick Favors (back) and Rudy Gobert (knee) and sixth man Alec Burks (leg).

The Jazz were incensed a foul wasn't called when center Jeff Withey was hit by two different Rockets players, Harden and forward Montrezl Harrell, while he drove for a game-tying attempt with 25 seconds remaining.

Players on both teams stopped, anticipating a foul call, but the Rockets got the rebound and advanced the ball with no whistle.

Terry then gave the Jazz a chance to tie or win by missing the second of two free throws, but Hayward's shot was off.

The Jazz trailed 43-39 in the second quarter before they reeled off a 17-2 run, including 14 straight. Harden ended Utah's spurt with a last-second 3-pointer, cutting the home team's halftime lead to 58-48.

The Rockets began their comeback in the third quarter after reserve forward Chris Johnson put Utah ahead 72-57 with a 3-pointer.

Harden scored seven consecutive points, and Houston finished the quarter on a 12-5 run.

During that stretch, the game was momentarily stopped after Harden had a light flashed in his eye by a fan in the stands. Eventually, the fan was ejected from the arena and handed a one-year ban from attending NBA games.

"Some guy was lasering me," Harden said. "I saw it the first time. I thought it was just a picture being taken, so I went up to the foul line again and it happened again. The referee caught it before I did. That's the first time it ever happened to me."

Houston kept the momentum in the fourth quarter, taking the lead on a Harrell layup that capped a 10-2 run.

The teams traded the lead the rest of the way before Harden and Ariza scored to put the visitors up by four.

NOTES: The teams were missing a combined eight players, including seven regular contributors: C Rudy Gobert, F Derrick Favors, SG Alec Burks and PG Dante Exum for the Jazz, and F/C Donatas Motiejunas, PG Ty Lawson, G Marcus Thornton and F Sam Dekker for the Rockets. ... Thornton was excused from the team to attend the birth of his child. ... Jazz SG Rodney Hood was there for the delivery of their first child Sunday morning. Hood laughed about thinking his fiancee was exaggerating when she went into labor six weeks early. "I looked over to see that her water had broke," he said. "We went to the hospital and I was so scared." ... Rockets coach J.B. Bickerstaff compared the Jazz's offense to the Warriors, Spurs and Hawks "because you have to guard for 24 seconds."