[Salt Lake Tribune] Utah aims to force McGrady into jumpers

article link

Jazz Notes
Utah Jazz: Utah aims to force McGrady into jumpers
By Ross Siler
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 04/19/2008 03:11:20 AM MDT

They tried to disrupt him with long-armed defenders Andrei Kirilenko and Ronnie Brewer. They ran a second defender in his direction whenever he caught and held the ball. They rotated to cover his teammates as sharply and smartly as they could after that.
As they prepare to open the playoffs against Houston tonight, the Jazz appeared to tip their hand for how they will try to slow Tracy McGrady in Monday's 105-96 victory over the Rockets, a game in which McGrady scored 22 points but hit 7 of 21 shots from the field.
"I definitely think we've got to pay a lot of attention to T-Mac and not letting him get in the lane,'' Deron Williams said.
"We made him settle for a lot of jumpers just because we used some long guys on him. We brought help and then we rotated pretty well. We gave up a couple threes, but we tried to limit those."
Whether it's the product of his recent shoulder injury or not, McGrady has struggled with his shooting in recent games. He made 37.5 percent of his shots in April and went 14-for-50 in the Rockets' final three regular-season games.

Williams update

Williams reported improvement in his bruised backside Friday and is expected to play regular minutes against the Rockets. He sat out the second half of Wednesday's loss to San Antonio to not aggravate the injury. "I can't feel it when I'm just walking around,'' Williams said. "It doesn't hurt when I walk around. It's when I cut and stuff."
He struggled to keep up with Tony Parker in Wednesday's game and Houston's Bobby Jackson before that.

Tough crowd

Both Williams and Carlos Boozer were asked about radio comments ESPN's Ric Bucher made describing the Jazz's Mormon fans as "vicious" because they have to "smile and be happy" the rest of the time.
"I'm glad they're mean for whatever reason they're mean for," Williams said.
The Jazz were an NBA-best 37-4 at home this season.

rsiler@sltrib.com