Rafer Alston.

The return of Houston's point guard is probably the biggest reason the Rockets are hanging around for Friday's Game 6 with the Utah Jazz. He doesn't play the first two games and Utah wins twice in the Toyota Center. He returns, hits big 3-pointers to jump start Houston in Game 3 and 5, and suddenly the Jazz are clawing to survive.

Alston and his shot — Utah's kryptonite.

It wasn't always that deadly, according to Alston's coach at Fresno Community College, former BYU coach Steve Cleveland. FCC got Alston and Larry Abney, two players from the streets of New York, to stop off in his junior college program on their way to Jerry Tarkanian and Fresno State.

That's when I first saw Alston, Cleveland's starting point guard. My paper sent me to scout out BYU's newly hired coach in 1997 during the California State Championships on the campus of San Jose State. Fresno City College ended up losing in the semifinals to L.A. City College, but not before it etched out an impressive 32-2 record.

Also on that team were a pair of BYU recruits, Ron Selleaze — who ended up playing one season for the Cougars — and Michael Garrett, a player who came to Provo but left before he became eligible.

Abney's playing in Australia these days. And Alston's stuck in Utah's craw.

"I always blame myself for that loss," Cleveland said. "I was leaving the program and, as much as I didn't want it to be a distraction, it was a distraction and we had a horrible night shooting the ball in that game."

Cleveland keeps in contact with Alston and noted his familiar intensity and intelligence on a postgame interview on TNT after Game 3.

Alston's bombs in Game 3, his quick start shooting in Tuesday's Game 5, and his presence in the lineup has allowed the Rockets greater flexibility, something which was missing on both ends of the court when Alston missed games at the end of the regular season and the first two playoff contests with the Jazz.

With Alston back, backup point guard Bobby Jackson has come off the bench like the Incredible Hulk, fresh enough to play tougher defense and disrupt Utah's set plays.

Alston may be Utah's biggest nightmare in this series.

"When Rafer was playing for me, he always had an intense competitiveness about him and had very, very high expectations for himself and those he was playing with in terms of effort and degree of intelligence," Cleveland said.

Since his days in Fresno, Alston has elevated his range from dud to deadly.

"He's a much better 3-point shooter now than he was when he played with us," Cleveland said. "He's made himself into a very good shooter, but back then he was inconsistent from the perimeter. He could always pass it and run the team, but shooting from the outside wasn't exactly his strength."