Mission accomplished — Jazz advance to 2nd round with gritty road win against Rockets

HOUSTON — Maybe that whole homecourt advantage thing is overrated anyway.

The Jazz won its first-ever Game 7 road playoff game on Houston's home floor Saturday night, advancing to face Golden State in second round of the NBA Western Conference playoffs by beating the Rockets 103-99 behind Carlos Boozer's 35-point, 14-rebound double-double and Mehmet Okur's two better-late-than-never 3-pointers.

The Jazz — who blew homecourt edge in the series by fading late in the regular season, and who had lost their first three series games that were played in Houston — became just the 19th team in league history to win a Game 7 as a visiting team.

They did it largely with heart, hustle and a whole lot of late-game poise after blowing an early 16-point lead but rebounding to overcome a Rockets fourth-quarter advantage of four points.

"We stayed composed instead of breaking down as we did in the previous games here in Houston," said Boozer, whose double-double was his fifth of the series. "Guys took the experience from before, and ... (stayed) focused."

The Jazz, in other words, did a lot of learning along the way during their first postseason appearance since 2003.

"It's a great win for our young guys," said coach Jerry Sloan, who guided a team with seven players who have never previously appeared in the NBA postseason to the franchise's first playoff series victory since John Stockton and Karl Malone helped the Jazz defeat Seattle in the opening round of 2000. "I couldn't be happier.

"Our offense executed very well," added Sloan, whose Jazz shot a series-best 51.3 percent (40-of-78) from the field, including 45 percent (9-for-20) in the final quarter. "We had some great shots."

Perhaps the biggest were two fourth-period treys from Okur, who struggled terrifically with his shooting during the first five games of the series.

The first of those two came with three minutes and 23 seconds remaining, and snapped a 91-91 tie after Utah — which had led by as many as 12 points early in the third quarter — allowed Houston to go up 84-80 with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining in the fourth.

The Rockets pulled back to within one when a Chuck Hayes layup made it 95-95 with 1:46 left, but Okur answered yet again.