Williams then missed a layin, but after five Okur points, he hit another right-angle three at 8:10, then one at 5:22 and another at 4:35 as Utah slid the lead up to 77-59.

"It felt good to put the team back up 15 points. It kind of takes a lot of their momentum away that they had up to that point," he said. "You know, they made a nice comeback, and getting their confidence back — and to take that away from them was a good feeling."

Williams' big third was likely helped some when Houston lost its point guard, Rafer Alston, to a badly sprained ankle in the second period, leaving Bobby Jackson and Aaron Brooks to guard him.

Williams' scoring wasn't needed in the fourth period, but he hit the record-setting fifth three of a half with just under two minutes left in the game from the top of the key to give him 25 points for the game.

The Jazz for the game had 10 3-pointers out of 22 taken.

In the six games against the Rockets, Williams scored 25, 13, 17, 28, 22 and 20 points and totaled 51 assists.

He finished with 9-for-17 shooting, nine assists and six boards and only two fouls as the Jazz easily moved on — after that second-period scare — to the second round of the playoffs starting Sunday at the Los Angeles Lakers.

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E-MAIL: lham@desnews.com