[Chron] Rockets give it their worst shot in Game 3 loss

67-point output sets franchise low for playoff game
McGrady slows down after fast start; bench supplies 0 points


By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

SALT LAKE CITY — The Jazz hit and the Rockets wobbled, but that was not what turned them feeble and a tight game into a rout.

The Rockets had been teasing fate since the series started, clanging shots and teetering on the brink of collapse.

Then, Thursday night, they dared the inevitable for too long. They struggled, but stayed in the game. They struggled more, but had a chance.

They kept struggling, until finally, under the weight and frustration of their own franchise-record offensive ineptitude, they broke down completely, as the Utah Jazz ran them off the floor in a 81-67 blowout to pull within 2-1 in their first-round playoff series.

"I think that in the fourth quarter they were the mentally stronger team," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "They were up and into us good. That's what they do. They responded."

The Rockets, when pressured, collapsed. But they have done little offensively in this series, making 39.1 percent of their shots in Game 1 and 36.1 percent in Game 2.

By Game 3, they shot 32.8 percent and hit their all-time rock bottom.

The Rockets scored fewer points than they ever have in the postseason, falling three short of the 70 they scored against the Jazz in the first round of the 1998playoffs. Their 21-of-64 shooting gave them fewer field goals on fewer attempts than they ever had in a playoff game. And their 25 second-half points fell four short of their fewest in a postseason game, a record set in the previous game of that 1998 series.

"We had no energy," Rockets center Yao Ming said. "I didn't see any energy on the court. I mean, the best way to get them off you is to run. But we were in a slow-down speed. We let them body us up."

By the fourth quarter, they let the Jazz do pretty much anything they wanted. But the Rockets had started with a burst from Tracy McGrady. He hit six of his first seven shots, posting up Derek Fisher, driving by Andrei Kirilenko and shooting over Gordan Giricek.

Then the Jazz changed their defense, sending double-team help inside and a big man outside. McGrady made three of his remaining 16 shots before throwing in a 3-pointer in the final seconds.

"The first half was more one-on-one," said McGrady, who finished with 24 points on 9-of-23 shooting. "I could basically get my post-ups and go one-on-one. On pick-and-rolls, they didn't blitz. I was able to come off and shoot wide-open jumpers.

"In the second half, they switched their defense. On the post-ups, they brought an extra guy over. I wasn't able to get my shot off because they had (Mehmet) Okur there, they had Fisher sinking into the lane, (Matt) Harpring sinking into the lane. They made things tough on the pick-and-rolls. Every time I came off, Okur was jumping out."

Still, the Rockets stumbled into a fourth-quarter chance.

With 7 1/2 minutes left in the game, they had scored 10 second-half points. They had missed 13 consecutive shots to end the third quarter and start the fourth.

The Jazz held a 12-point lead, their largest. The Rockets were digging into the futility section of the record book.

Then they made the briefest of moves. McGrady hit a jumper. Yao sank a turnaround on the baseline and a pair of free throws, cutting the Utah lead to six.

Then the Jazz answered and the Rockets fell apart in every way.

"That's a huge turning point for the game," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "Anytime you're on the road, especially in the playoffs, you want to give yourself a shot to win. At the six-minute mark, we had a shot, missed a couple shots and really couldn't get the stops we needed to really put the game pressure on them."

The Jazz soared to a 15-4 run, blowing open a 17-point lead before Yao put in two free throws with 3:01 left.

"We just lost concentration on the defensive end of the floor," Rockets guard Rafer Alston said. "We started fouling them. We started giving them second-chance points. If we don't foul, rebound the ball, don't let cutters cut without a bump or vision on them, we make that a nip-and-tuck game right down to the finish."

But by then, the Rockets' failures had them beaten. And the Jazz easily moved in to clean up the mess.

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

ROCKETS NOTES

By FRAN BLINEBURY and JONATHAN FEIGEN

Yao knows what to expect

While much has been made of how physical the Jazz can be, Rockets center Yao Ming said he is used to that kind of play.

"Physical contact is not a big problem," Yao said. "Every team that plays us will say, 'Play physical against Yao. Push him farther and farther and farther.' The hard part is on the defensive side I had to guard (Carlos) Boozer and on the offensive side I have (Mehmet) Okur. I have to adjust quicker. Having different-sized players in the same game is hard for me, but it's better than early in the season. We used that the first time we played them. I did not do that well."

Boozer, who had 24 points and 19 rebounds in the first game of the season, went for 41 points and 12 rebounds in Game 2 on Monday and came back with 22 points and 12 rebounds in Thursday night's Game 3.

"Wherever he goes, I'll follow," Yao said. "You can't just let him take a jump shot and score on us. You have to stop him. It bothers me. You don't feel good when the guy you're guarding scores 41 points on you.

"You know he's a great player. I do my best. I watch film. Sometimes, I really, really guard him, and he still makes his shot. I tell myself to do better next time."


Blast from the past

Utah's Deron Williams still occasionally touches his jaw and moves it around, making sure it remains in one piece after his second-half collision with Shane Battier in
Game 2.

"It's fine," he said. "Still a little sore. But it's not problem for me to play. I just thought when it happened that I broke my jaw again. That's why I sat down there for so long."

Williams came off a screen during his sophomore year at Illinois and wound up suffering a double jaw fracture in a game against Maryland-Eastern Shore. He sat out three games and then returned with his jaw wired shut and pumped in 20 points against Illinois State.

Kirilenko moves on

Despite his best efforts to put it all behind him, Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko continues to get questions about his emotional breakdown at Sunday's practice.

"I'm back at home now, spending time with my family, my wife and kids, and it's been very relaxing," Kirilenko said. "It helps to be in that atmosphere, but of course this is the playoffs and I have to concentrate on basketball. I'm taking my job too seriously right now."

Sloan: No changes in store

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan says it's a little late in the game to be matching personnel switches to keep up with the Rockets.

"I think if I changed my starting lineup, I'd have a difficult time," Sloan said. "Guys have played together all year and they get to know each other. I'm not saying that I'm right, at all. But the type of players we have, we don't have athletes that other teams have. We are a mechanical team. That's easy to defend a lot of times.

"I don't know that I'd do something that I'd consider drastic. I think of a lot of different things. But after we discuss it as a group, it doesn't sound very good. I get hammered pretty good."

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