The Jazz — who have guarded McGrady like he was the president, running one agent after another in front of him, from Fisher to Williams to Giricek to Kirilenko and even Matt Harpring a time or two — may even have been guilty of thinking they had the versatile Rockets swingman figured out.

"I tried to give him as less space as possible and force him to take tough shots ... Every guy who shoots 30 balls is tough to stop. I just try to keep the percentage down," Giricek said after McGrady shot just 9-of-29 from the field in Game 2.

McGrady actually scored 31 despite the off shooting in that game, yet the Jazz seemed to have an answer for that, too.

"I've always believed that out of the 400-plus guys in this league, almost 400 of them — if they had an opportunity to shoot the ball 28, 29, 30 times a game, they could score 30 points also," Fisher said midway through the series. "And that's not to take anything away from Tracy's ability, or guys that get many attempts. But you can't stop a guy from scoring when he touches the ball 60, 70 times a game. You just have to make him work as hard as you can."

As Game 5 approached, however, it became apparent McGrady was ready to rise and perhaps even spill over.

It happened coming out of halftime Monday, his hip apparently OK, his trigger finger feeling good and his mind intent on both scoring and distributing.

McGrady scored 11 of his 26 on 5-of-7 field shooting in the third quarter.

But in dishing six more assists than he ever had previously in a playoff game, he allowed non-traditional offensive contributors like Shane Battier, who finished with 15 points and hit 5-of-7 from 3-point range, and Juwan Howard, whose 12 points came on 6-of-6 from the field, and even Luther Head, who made a couple of key fourth-quarter treys, to play a part.

"I was really trying to be aggressive," McGrady said. "I was trying to give my teammates open shots, and also attack the basket. I was really trying to get to the basket and kick the ball out. I just wanted to take advantage of the matchups I had out there."

And did he ever.

"That was an All-Star performance, a superstar type of game," Rockets point Rafer Alston said.

"Mac was taking the right shots. He was going at the basket," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy added. "He created so many shots for other guys through his penetration, and he played a tremendous game."

One that hours earlier Fisher practically predicted.

"Players of his caliber — I don't know how much the defense always has to do with it," the Jazz veteran said. "I think sometimes they just make shots, sometimes they just miss shots. It just depends on what day of the week it is."

And sometimes it doesn't matter whether it's Thursday or Monday.