Memo's playing defense, but his shot is still AWOL

For three straight games now, the Jazz have sacrificed starting center Mehmet Okur's offense for his out-of-character defense on fellow All-Star Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets.

Twice, it cost them dearly, as Utah quickly fell behind 0-2 in the best-of-seven first-round NBA playoff series.

During Thursday's Game 3, however, they got away with it.

The big Turk mustered only seven points and 2-of-12 shooting from the field, but he registered four blocks for a second straight game (again matching his career playoff high), recorded four steals (also matching his career postseason high) and generally flustered a certain giant of a man from China.

Yao still scored a game-high 26 points, but he had only three field goals in the second half as the Jazz won 81-67 and put themselves in position to even the series with a victory in tonight's Game 4 at EnergySolutions Arena.

"Memo has been great all series," Jazz starting point guard Deron Williams said of the 6-foot-11 Okur, who yields at least six inches to the rock-solid Yao. "He's gotten a lot of deflections, a lot of blocks. Steals. He's making Yao work. That's what we need."

"I'm telling you: I don't care how many points Memo scores," starting small forward Andrei Kirilenko added. "As long as he is playing this kind of defense, oh! I'm enjoying watching him playing. I've never seen him play like this."

Yet the elephant-sized question in the room continues to be just how much longer the Jazz can survive without the scoring of Okur, who averaged 17.6 points during the regular season but is averaging only 5.7 so far in the playoffs.

"He's definitely helping out by frustrating Yao, making him work a lot," Williams said. "But, at the same time, we're gonna need Memo offensively. It's a known fact."

Or is it?

"It worked last game. We'll see," Williams said when pressed. "But I think he'll get going."

Williams is not alone.

"I don't worry about that," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said of Okur's paltry 17.1 percent (6-of-35) series shooting from the field, which is nearly 30 percent shy of what he shot during the regular season. "He might make the next five. We've never told him not to shoot.