Utah Jazz: Rockets boosted — Houston hammers Jazz, sends series here
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, however, isn't buying it.
Not after McGrady scored a game-high 29 points Tuesday night at the sold-out Toyota Center to lead the Houston Rockets past the Jazz 95-69 in Game 5 of their first-round NBA playoff series.
"He must have had surgery, is probably what happened," Sloan said.
That wasn't actually the case.
But it was McGrady who clearly was holding the knife Tuesday, shooting 13-of-26 from the field and scoring 18 of his points in the second half in what was clearly his most-productive game of the series.
The result of his effective execution:
Houston trimmed Utah's lead in the best-of-seven series to 3-2, forcing an ESPN-televised Game 6 scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Friday at EnergySolutions Arena.
"He definitely hit some tough shots, but that's what he does," Jazz point guard Deron Williams said. "He played great. ... He got to the basket, he was patient, he passed the ball well."
"He is a great player," added Jazz small forward Andrei Kirilenko, who has spent much of the series guarding McGrady. "It's impossible to shut him down (totally). You need to really pay attention to him for 48 minutes, because he can get hot for five minutes and that's enough for the whole game."
The Jazz never got to within closer than 15 in the fourth quarter, prompting them afterward to bemoan opportunity squandered.
"They came out and they pushed us all over the building," said Sloan, whose club produced the third-lowest offensive in the Jazz's postseason history.
"Our offense, they had it stretched out all over the floor," he added after Utah found itself down by 17 late in the second quarter. "Right at the beginning, we started taking outside shots and quick shots, and it played right into their hands."
Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer, who scored a team-high 19 points but shot just 8-of-18 from the field, suggested the quick-trigger shots were a result of the big deficit.
"It's tough when you get down by as much as we did," he said.
"You feel like you've got to try to come back all in one play, as opposed to doing it possession by possession," Boozer added. "Sometimes you get a little rushed, and want to hit the home run with one shot."
Sloan, though, felt the Jazz's troubles started much earlier than that.
The evidence: Houston, up 43-32 at the break, led at halftime for the first time in 12 playoff games between the Jazz and Rockets this year and last.
Recent comments
Do any fans wonder why AK doesn't oerform so well as often as...
Bigjazzfan | May 1, 2008 at 4:57 p.m.
I would take Scola for AK, but not Boozer. And if the Jazz had Battier...
re:heck | May 1, 2008 at 12:50 p.m.
I'd take Scola.
A big man with a presence.
Trade for...
heck . . . | May 1, 2008 at 11:14 a.m.
