Utah Jazz: Utah's defensive tactic shocks T-Mac

Tracy McGrady seemed blown away after Thursday's Game 3 that Andrei Kirilenko didn't get any help defending him.

That's in stark contrast to the first two games of the Jazz-Rockets first-round NBA playoff series, when McGrady's chief defender was getting so much help that the Houston star felt constantly double-teamed.

But circumstances, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan suggested prior to practice Friday, simply didn't allow otherwise.

"It's hard to slide over and leave people underneath the basket," Sloan said after McGrady finished with 28 points, including seven straight during a short but key final-quarter stretch in which Houston surged ahead.

"We want to try to give help, but a couple times Andrei was playing he let him go baseline. And you know we like to try to get guys in the middle, so we can have a little bit of help," Sloan added.

"But those are mistakes that everybody's trying to do the right thing. You're playing against a great player, and sometimes they'll make the play better than we can stop it. That's what makes him a great player."

Sloan's bigger concern seemed centered elsewhere.

"You're not gonna stop McGrady," he said, "but you can't give everybody else things by making defensive mistakes."

That in mind, the Jazz coach suggested he understood why the Rockets — now down 1-2 in the best-of-seven series — suddenly have a newfound confidence.

"If you do it out there on the floor, that's where you prove it," Sloan said. "They did it out there on the floor, and they have to believe after that."

HOSTILE ECHO: Prior to a sold-out Game 3, McGrady called EnergySolutions Arena, where the Jazz went an NBA-best 37-4 during the regular season, a "hostile environment."

Jazz players?

They don't necessarily think it's the absolute toughest place to play — Carlos Boozer suggested San Antonio is to Utah much like Utah may be to Houston — but they do say it's definitely one of the noisiest.

"We're loud," Matt Harpring said, "and I think the arena is set up (so) that it's a good place for the fans where when they get loud it somehow seems louder. It kind of echoes through the building."

Harpring, questioned earlier this week by a Houston reporter, compared the atmosphere to Sacramento back in the Kings' heyday.