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Utah Jazz: Utah rockets home — Team effort sparks Jazz to 2-0 lead

I got to hand it to T-MAC, he did make a great effort tonight but once again we shut him down in the 4th quarter.

Very nice effort as a team. Different guys stepping up when the others are not playing well, love it. Deron Williams is the only player playing at a high CONSISTENT level at the moment.

Now in ESA, it will be a totally different story. Some of us is use to seeing them score over 100 points, that should happen. Don't forget, Houston DEF is one of the tops in NBA this year.

What a rivarly it will be in the next round JAZZ/LAKERS!

I'll be cheering for the JAZZ and Dad will be cheering for the L.A. FLAKERS... CAN'T WAIT

T-MAC? No heart and no guts and once again, out in the first round. Predictable. Once the series is over, I'm sure that the classless McGrady will once again throw his teammates under the bus. Pathetic!

McGrady played like a champion! The Jazz played like a winning team!

I don't understand why Adelman is unhappy, there was so much physical play that was not called last night that you can't call out one particular play and say it wasn't fair.

Another great game for the Jazz. Jimmy would like to point out that the real difference between the 2 teams in both games so far has been the bench play, with the Jazz bench helping the Jazz pull away or sustain leads with their superior play.

Jimmy doesn't want to talk about the Lakers yet, this Jazz team still needs to prove they can close out in anything but do or die games.

When did we ever hear Michael Jordan use the excuse of "I ran out of gas in the 4th quarter"?

The blame needs to go on Rick Adelman. Adelman gambled and didn't give T-Mac the rest he needed to step it up in the fourth. T-Mac said he was tired and he had a fresh Kirilenko on him in the 4th. The reason AK is fresh is that Sloan gives him a breather a few times a game. So to me Adelman is to blame.

I�m glad the Jazz could make twice in a row. Now that we�re back at Salt Lake I suppose the players will try to do their best in order to secure another back-to-back wins in front of thousands of the league loudest arena!
One thing that I�m happy with is the play of Okur agiants the Rockets. If during the game 1 he managed only a couple of buckets he still cleared the glass and produced some effective deffense. In game 2 he did the same by grabbing 16 rebounds and helpd Williams and Boozer on the offensive end.
KUDOS TO OKUR!

To talk of the Lakers is very premature. Let's focus on the Rockets. The Jazz need to come back to Salt Lake and make sure they don't get over confident. They have won the two games but they have not looked overly impressive doing so.

Good game by McGrady but it takes more than one player to win a game. The press and some of the fans like to focus on just one guy but one guy is not enough.

It kills me that all the talk has been TMac not having gas left in the tank or the questionable foul at the end. When are people, besides Charles Barkley, going to give the Jazz credit? The Jazz are superior and it needs to be said more. Please!

who cares that houston is without yao and alston? they wouldn't beat the jazz in this series if they were playing. the jazz are on a roll right now and are hitting the big shots when they need to. i think if the jazz close out this series, they should activate Fezz and put Hart inactive. that gives them 6 more fouls to hack away at pau and the rest of the lakers. i hope dwill schools that low life fisher

I love how the Rockets are whining about a "questionable" call at the end. What about the play where Deron Williams got layed out right in front of the ref, and there was no call? What about all those drives in the lane by the Jazz and nary a foul call? Stop your whining, rockets....you got your home court advantage....Now its our turn

I don't know how Adelman can complain, since their guy clotheslined Deron earlier in the game and no foul was called.

I agree with No Respect. This Jazz team is awesome. We have the strongest bench out there. So many teams depend on the one "all-star" to pull them through but the Jazz have so many great players on the bench that we have the ability to put them on the floor, give our starters the rest and still pull through.
Loved Sloan�s comments about Williams last night. Kudos for giving him the respect he deserves. Williams is an extremely smart player and like Sloan said, (and I'm paraphrasing so please don't ditch on me) but he does play more like a veteran. He's tough and reliable! AK and Memo have really stepped it up. Price, Brewer, Millsap. It is great! I think this is one of the first years we have really been able to say it is a true team effort. They play great together!
Our team is incredible and I thank all of them for the terrific season they have given us! Looking forward to the rest of it. Go Jazz!! You ROCK!!!

Barkley is not one who gets whitewashed into loving and believing in what is popular. He needs to teach seminars to all of ESPN and all networks about how to look at team without any goggles on.

It's not premature to talk about the Lakers as fans. We aren't the players who need to focus, and it's clearly over, everyone knows it. Sit back and relax and hope that Denver can wear them out while the Jazz can rest.

I am proud of the Jazz for not settling for a split. I think they look really focused to finish out the series in four games.

One thing that's bugging me is how the announcers and even Rick Adelman seem to be making excuses for Houston, that they're depleted and Utah is too physical (or too flopping). Well, this "depleted" Houston team somehow won 22 straight games during the season without Yao, and we can't honestly believe that injury to Rafer Alston is only reason they're not beating the Jazz in this series. I think they had Rafer Alston in the two losses to the Jazz during the regular season. So what was the excuse then?

Oh, and they had Yao last year in the playoffs, and somehow the Jazz won. What was the excuse last year?

Oh well ... Finish 'em out, and bring on the Lakers!
I can never imagine Jerry Sloan using injury to a starter as an excuse. We've won games without Boozer, AK and Kirilenko. It's the mark of a tough team to compete regardless of the circumstances.

T-Mac did all he could...it`s almost 1 against 5,the rest of the Rocket`s are not even starters on most good teams...Go Jazz

I am so sick of T-MAC! The Jazz are good, and I am so sick of how the media gives them no credit. The stories are always about how T-MAC has never been past the first round yada yada yada! The Jazz are going to surprise some people, I guess it shows how fast people forget last years run by the jazz.

To DH:

If the Jazz had played the last half of the fourth quarter in game 1 as they had played the rest of the game, that would have been a 20 point win. They completely dominated all but about 6 minutes of that game. So in game 1, they actually just dominated.

In game two, they played about as badly as they could play, and Houston as presently constituted played about as well as they could play, and the Jazz still won. Taking the other teams best shot, not playing your best and winning is the mark of great teams.

It's funny to hear T-Mac and the rockets complain about AK flopping. T-Mac is one of the bigget floppers in the world. He gets every homer call. It's not quite as bad as Kobe, but they're both on the all-NBA first team in flopping. The clear out was similar to when D-Will got leveled (where there was no call). When someone is setting up to shoot, you can't "push" the defense out of the way so the shooter can get the shot off. Good call, good game, and good riddens to T-Mac and the Houston floppers.