The Houston Rockets finished Sunday’s victory to start their second-round series on cruise control, largely coasting in the second half after building a 25-point halftime lead. Well, they’re not going to be able to cruise anymore. The Utah Jazz saw to that on Wednesday, punching the West’s top seed in the mouth, withstanding a hellacious comeback, and throwing another haymaker to get even in the best-of-seven set … and steal home-court advantage away from a Rockets team that spent all season rolling up the NBA’s best record to get it.

Joe Ingles scored a career-high 27 points on blistering 7-for-9 shooting from 3-point range, rookie star Donovan Mitchell dished a career-high 11 assists to go with his 17 points, and the Jazz dominated the final eight minutes to earn an impressive 116-108 win in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Wednesday night. Now knotted at 1-1, the series shifts to Utah for an awfully big Game 3 at Vivint Smart Home Arena — where the Jazz won all three games they played against the Oklahoma City Thunder in Round 1 — on Friday night.

Donovan Mitchell and the Jazz hit the gas late and left James Harden and the Rockets wondering what hit them in Game 2. (Getty) More

After struggling to score without injured starting point guard Ricky Rubio in Game 1, the Jazz looked much sharper on Wednesday, shooting 52 percent as a team and drilling 15 of their 32 3-point attempts, beating the bombs-away Rockets (10-for-37 from deep) at their own game. And save for a 30-point third quarter during which James Harden took control of the game as a table-setter, Utah’s defense — whether led by Defensive Player of the Year candidate Rudy Gobert or by power forward Derrick Favors working as a five-man in small-ball lineups — was also on point all night long.

The Jazz limited Houston to 40 percent shooting as a team, and made Harden work hard for his game-high 32 points, thanks in part to aggressive and excellent on-ball defense from X-factor reserve Dante Exum. They stuck close to Houston’s shooters on the perimeter, taking away Harden’s favored drive-and-kick options and forced inefficient outings from key Rockets guards Chris Paul and Eric Gordon (38 combined points on 35 total shots). Most importantly, they clamped down when it mattered most, holding Houston to 3-for-16 shooting with three turnovers in the last eight minutes of game time as Mitchell, Exum and Ingles carried them over the finish line.

It might seem stunning that Utah — scrappy, defense-first, underdog Utah — went into Texas and largely outclassed a 65-win juggernaut. But not if you were paying attention while the Jazz went 31-10 over the second half of the season — the second-best record in the NBA over the final 41 games, behind only these Rockets, with defensive efficiency and net rating marks that both ranked No. 1 with a bullet.

Most of that second-half surge came with Rubio in the lineup. With his barking hamstring keeping him sidelined once again, though, the Jazz needed big outings from other contributors. And man, did Utah get them.

Gobert, a virtual non-factor in Game 1, came through with 15 points, 14 rebounds, three blocks and countless other possessions altered as an interior menace when Utah’s perimeter defenders ran Houston shooters off the line and forced ball-handlers into the paint. Jae Crowder, arguably Utah’s best player in Game 1, came up big once again with 15 points, three more 3-pointers, 10 rebounds and aggressive defense, especially as a small-ball power forward when Houston downsized.

The biggest boost, though, came in the backcourt. Needing more ball-handling prowess and creative spark with Rubio unavailable and Mitchell moved from shooting guard to the lead spot, Snyder turned to Exum and Alec Burks, a pair of ex-lottery picks who’ve battled injuries and inconsistency over the years that were supposed to mold them into Utah’s backcourt of the future. The former missed all but 14 games of the regular season after shoulder surgery and frequently looked overly frenetic against OKC. The latter had played all of six minutes in Round 1 before getting dragged out of mothballs to score 11 points in the Game 6 clincher. But the big, athletic guards rewarded Snyder’s faith.