Utah Jazz: Homecourt tragic — Rockets stun Jazz as home teams are still winless
The Houston Rockets brushed back into a first-round NBA Western Conference playoff series with the Jazz, rallying from six points down at the start of the fourth quarter Thursday night to beat Utah 94-92 at EnergySolutions Arena.
The No. 5 seed Rockets, who got a team-high 27 points from seven-time All-Star Tracy McGrady, cut Utah's advantage in the best-of-seven series to 2-1 and forced at least a Game 5 that will be played Tuesday in Houston.
McGrady — who hadn't hit a field goal in the final quarter of the series' first two games — scored seven straight points as Houston took the lead late in the fourth on Thursday, including a key 20-foot jumper with one minute and 42 seconds remaining.
"I was just waiting for the right time," said McGrady, who shouldered the blame for Houston's two losses.
"I was just trying to be passive early in the fourth quarter," he added, "and I felt like if we were able to keep it close, I was waiting until the right time to really insert myself on the offensive end."
The plan, if it really was that, worked to perfection.
McGrady, who also hit two free throws to put the Rockets ahead to stay at 88-86 with 2:50 to go, was free on the game-changing play because defender Andrei Kirilenko got tangled with pick-setter Carl Landry.
"He mixed it up, which side he was coming off to get the ball, and he was very patient with Kirilenko," Houston coach Rick Adelman said of McGrady's fourth-quarter scoring binge.
"That's huge," Adelman added. "He's the guy. He's the guy that we need down the stretch — whether it's a pass, or whether it's a shot."
The No. 4 seed Jazz answered Houston's unconventional three-point play with two 3-pointers, one from Kyle Korver and one from Mehmet Okur, to get to within one with 37.4 seconds left.
McGrady missed a jumper on Houston's ensuing possession, but the Jazz's hopes were squashed when point guard Deron Williams — who got the ball back from a well-guarded Korver — drove to the basket, only to be blocked by Landry in the final three seconds.
"He (Jazz coach Jerry Sloan) said that he wanted to plan a timeout," Williams said, "but once we got the ball and I looked up there were only 15 seconds left, and the play he wanted, it would have been hard to get off with 15 seconds, so we kind of scrambled."
Houston's Luis Scola added another free throw with 0.2 seconds left, leaving the Jazz — who missed 13 of their 33 free-throw attempts, including four misses on six tries in the fourth quarter — to regroup before Saturday night's Game 4.
Recent comments
I agree with you. The Jazz were tired, or whatever. They lost the...
Where is Memo.. | April 26, 2008 at 1:53 a.m.
This series is going at least six games now. It's funny how...
RMW | April 25, 2008 at 10:53 p.m.
I love these Rocket fans coming in running their mouths. Seriously...
Anonymous | April 25, 2008 at 8:13 p.m.
