Familiar opponent for 'Glide'

HOUSTON — He stood beneath the stadium seats in the shadows, looking elegant and slim in a dark suit and soft leather shoes.

It was hard to know for sure whether he was about to broadcast a game on Houston TV, break into a graceful fox trot, or play off-guard for the Rockets.

When you're Clyde "The Glide" Drexler, you have a lot of options.

It's fair to say he could do just fine in any of the aforementioned disciplines. It just so happened that this was Saturday, prior to Game 4 of the Rockets' first-round playoff series with the Jazz. Which was a familiar place for Drexler, now a Houston TV analyst. In fact, as a player in Portland and Houston, he played in 145 playoff games.

Before Yao and T-Mac, there were The Glide and The Dream.

"Yao and Tracy are really good," said Drexler, with his trademark sly smile. "But you look at the numbers — I don't know if there was ever a year I missed the playoffs in 15 seasons (there wasn't). So you have to see what they do over their careers."

He added modestly, "I'm not making comparisons, so you can't go wrong with either."

Actually, you can. As Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming struggle to prove their vast talent can get them somewhere in the postseason, Drexler and Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon have already been there. Drexler made it to the NBA Finals with the Trail Blazers in 1990 and 1992, and won a championship with Houston in 1995.

If the Jazz win tonight in Game 5 at the Toyota Center, they will have seized control of a series that was all but over. They will not only have held serve with two home wins, tying the series at two games apiece, but broken the Rockets in their own house.

Thus it was hard not to wonder if Drexler was feeling a slight case of deja vu, watching the Jazz and Rockets. In 1997 and 1998, the Jazz eliminated the Rockets from the playoffs, en route to the NBA Finals. On the other hand, it was Glide who led the Trail Blazers to playoff wins over the Jazz in 1991 and 1992.

Drexler got in on a championship with the Rockets in 1995, when Houston eliminated the Jazz in the first round.

Hence, Drexler is well-versed in what it takes to defeat Utah. The personnel may have changed, but the coach hasn't.

"Jerry's (Sloan) team is deep and they play with a lot of pride and play hard," said Drexler. "You've got to admire that."