The only other seven-game series involving the Jazz was 1988, when Utah was still a relatively young NBA organization. It appeared going into the final game that the Jazz were about to get Kareemed by the lordly Los Angeles Lakers. Yet the feisty, ambitious Jazz took the series to seven games before losing.

Hence, the Jazz are 0-2 in Game 7s when they're on the road.

But if it seems the Jazz are incapable of winning under such circumstances, consider this: They won twice during the regular season at Phoenix. They also won at Detroit, Toronto and, yes, Houston. In fact, they won 20 times on the road. That's certainly not phenomenal, but it's a road record surpassed by only six other teams.

Beyond that, the Jazz are finally getting something from their EuroWorld threesome of Gordan Giricek, Mehmet Okur and Kirilenko.

So even if the odds are against the Jazz, and even if they are winless in Houston in this year's playoffs, they can always tell themselves this: It really is only one game. They've won a series when they were one game from elimination eight times in their history.

You know that shopworn sports phrase about taking 'em one game at a time?

In this case, what other choice do they have?

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E-mail: rock@desnews.com