[deseret news] Lost Opportunity

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660216650,00.html

Lost opportunity — Jazz lose halftime lead for third time in series

By Tim Buckley
Deseret Morning News

HOUSTON — Matt Harpring sat covered in ice, one sore body part colder than the next.

Utah's Carlos Boozer, left, and Paul Millsap watch as Houston's Yao Ming and Chuck Hayes celebrate the win over the Jazz Monday night.

The real chill, though, was in Harpring's voice, each word more haunting than the next as he described the hurt of opportunity squandered with the Jazz's 96-92 loss to Houston on Monday night in Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series.

"I'm disappointed," the Jazz's veteran small forward said after Utah pulled to one point of the Rockets twice in the game's final two minutes, then failed to score on its final three trips down the floor at the sold-out Toyota Center. "I'm very disappointed.

"It's tough. There won't be a lot of sleep," Harpring added. "I mean, it's anger. It's a lot of emotions. But the bottom line is the world goes on, and we've got a Game 6 on Thursday."

The Jazz head back to EnergySolutions Arena for Thursday's next outing in the best-of-seven Western Conference series down only 3-2, yet shuddering over the reality that they could just as easily be up by a game.
Or more.

"Every game we've played here we've had a chance to win," point guard Deron Williams said. "That's what's disappointing about it. We've been right there. We've done all the right things. It's just one little stretch, two little stretches, where they're able to get confidence going and take over."

This time, the most painful stretch for the Jazz followed a 6-0 Utah burst that started with two jumpers Harpring hit from virtually the same spot on the left side of the court.

Harpring's second 20-footer allowed the Jazz to trim what had been a seven-point Houston lead to three at 91-88, and one Utah possession later team-high 26-pointer Carlos Boozer made it a one-point game by going to his left hand to swoop a shot around 7-foot-6 Rockets center Yao Ming.

Yao — who finished with 21 points, but had only 12 through three quarters — answered by backing down Jazz center Mehmet Okur.

Houston's Tracy McGrady flies to the hoop between Utah's Andrei Kirilenko and Carlos Boozer Monday night. Houston leads, 3-2.

"I could have done a better job on him," said Okur, who also failed to reach double-digit scoring for the fourth time in five series games.

That was not the Jazz's only admission of personal failure.

After Boozer cut to the basket on a give-and-go play with Andrei Kirilenko that made it 93-92 Rockets with 1:12 to go, Yao was called for bulling his shoulder into Okur.

And that's when so much went so wrong in so short a time for Utah.
First, an Okur trey try rimmed out. Kirilenko got the rebound, but Harpring wound up short on a 16-footer near the same left-side baseline where his two earlier shots were taken.

"I thought the shot clock was going out," said Harpring, who actually had about eight seconds to shoot. "So I hurried it."

Rockets point Rafer Alston hit 1-of-2 free throws on the other end to put Houston up by two, and again the Jazz had a chance to take advantage.
This time, though, veteran guard Derek Fisher was tagged for a charge in the lane on Rockets power forward Chuck Hayes.

"I'm still pretty stunned and confused," said Fisher, who reacted to the foul call with a look of amazement.
"Until I see the play, I won't be able to really make an accurate assessment of it. But I really felt like the two guys that were chasing me, I was definitely by them. And as I went into a shooting-type motion, I don't think Hayes was there. But that's my opinion.

"There is no excuse," Fisher added. "The ball was in my hands. It counts as a turnover, and that's a tough spot in the game to turn the ball over. So I'm disappointed, and I'll take the blame on the play. You can't change it now."

Nor could the Jazz, as it turned out, change the outcome as — after Yao hit 2-of-2 freebies to put Houston ahead by the final margin of four points — Williams missed on successive 3-point attempts.

One was blocked by Hayes, the other came up short just before time expired.

"You can't always make plays," Williams said. "Can't always have the game go the way you want to."

Yet the Jazz also seemed to sense they could have just as easily left here with things indeed having gone their way.

They led, after all, by one point at the break — the fifth straight time in the series they were up heading into the second half.

They flustered Yao for most of three quarters, and held him to 21 or fewer points for the second straight time after he opened with at least 26 in the first three series games.

And they really didn't allow Rockets All-Star Tracy McGrady, whose team-high 26 points matched those by Boozer, to get going until the third quarter, when he scored 11 on 5-of-7 field shooting.

Not that any of that was of much consolation to the Jazz, who headed home thinking mostly about what they did not accomplish down the stretch.

"It doesn't matter," said Harpring, his ice bags still frozen. "We lost the game."