Jazz rookie forward Paul Millsap is like many of his teammates: He's never been completely through an NBA playoff series, never been in a Game 7.

"This is a real important game for us," he said of tonight's seventh game of the first-round series against the Rockets in Houston's Toyota Center.

"I've never had a really big game like this, but I kind of know what to expect. It's all or nothing for this last game. You've got to go out there and just lay everything on the table."

In that respect, Game 7 tonight won't be a lot different from the games Millsap already has played. He doesn't always play a lot of minutes, but he bursts onto the court and doesn't let up until coach Jerry Sloan brings him out.

"Just working hard, just trying to run the floor as much as possible, try to cut hard to the basket, try to get rebounds, things like that," is how Millsap describes his play.

Millsap said he didn't seek any advice from veterans for tonight.

"I believe your best preparation is to just get your rest and just go out there and continue to do what you've been doing, not to try to do anything uncharacteristic that you haven't been doing," he said Friday. "That's my main thing."

Millsap is coming off his second straight strong Thursday-night playoff performance.

On April 26 in EnergySolutions Arena, he made all four of his shots, a free throw and had four rebounds. Two days ago in ESA, he was 4-for-4 with three rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot, all but one rebound coming in a 6 1/2-minute stretch to start the second quarter that helped the Jazz stay competitive with the Rockets in a game they eventually won 94-82 to even the series at 3-3.

Another made basket by Millsap was taken away on a charging call, but Millsap helped get the points right back when he blocked Juwan Howard's shot to start a fast break and three-point play for Carlos Boozer, who knotted the score at 33.

During Millsap's 9 1/2 minutes in that second quarter, 7-foot-6 Yao Ming made a baseline layin and got one rebound, but that was about all. Yao had 23 points the rest of the game.

"It's a tough job for anybody to guard him," the 6-foot-8 Millsap said. "That's how he is and how strong he is, but I believe you just work hard and try to get the job done, just do the best you can."

Whether it's Millsap, Mehmet Okur, Boozer or Jarron Collins guarding Yao, the Jazz's philosophy is to keep him out of the paint, though it's not an easy one to implement.

"Just try to fight for position because he's real good once he catches around 8 or 10 feet (from the basket)," Millsap said. "That's money all day, so try to get him out as far as possible."