Jazz strength is numbers

Memo is finally thawing out. Andrei Kirilenko is chilling out. And Deron Williams? He's burning hot.

So the Jazz have figured it out: If they're going to beat the Rockets in this first-round playoff series, they'll need to throw everything at them but the kitchen sink.

But tossing a blender or maybe even a crock pot wouldn't be out of line.

Saturday night at Energy Solutions Arena, the Jazz overwhelmed Houston, 98-85, to tie the series at two games apiece. That changes everything. As the doorman to the Emerald City said when informed Dorothy was wearing ruby slippers — compliments of the Good Witch of the North: "That's a horse of a different color! Come on in!"

Now all they need to do is figure out how to win one on the road. That's not an easy task, considering they lost the first two playoff games at the Toyota Center. On the other hand, they did win once there in the regular season.

But that was then and this is for keeps.

As has been the case throughout the series, the Jazz had to play defense on Houston's Yao Ming the only way they could — by sending half the population of, well, China at him. Thus, they ran Okur, Jarron Collins and anyone else in the vicinity his direction, trying to slow him down. And they did, to a point. He finished with 20 points, two more than teammate Tracy McGrady.

Okur had his best game of the playoffs, logging 16 points. He also showed, for a second game, a defensive proficiency few knew he had, slapping the ball away from Yao in the first half to set up a Jazz score, hounding him into a traveling call, and blocking a shot. By the time the third quarter ended, the damage was done: Jazz up by 21.

Yao and McGrady, who in Thursday's loss to the Jazz took virtually all the Rockets' shots, spread things around a bit more on Saturday, with 10 players getting in the books. But a couple of those didn't score until garbage time, after the Jazz had built their lead to 25.

The Jazz have shown that if they have an advantage in this series, it's in numbers. Their bench outscored Houston's 33-21. Nine players appeared for more than 16 minutes. Similarly, the Utah bench outscored Houston 33-0 on Thursday.

Though the Jazz have played just four playoff games so far, they already have provided a number of interesting stories: Kirilenko's frustrations with playing time, his wife contacting media to tell her side of the story, Okur's shooting slump, Houston's constant shooting problems.