Utah Jazz: Back on track — Jazz endure late scare to take 3-1 series advantage
The Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 86-82 in Game 4 on Saturday night to go up 3-1 in their first-round NBA Western Conference playoff series, marking the first time in the best-of-seven affair that the home team actually has won.
The series resumes Tuesday night at the Toyota Center in Houston, where the Northwest Division-champion Jazz have won three straight postseason games — including not only Games 1 and 2 this year, but also Game 7 of last year's first-round meeting between the same two teams.
Utah — now 38-5 at EnergySolutions Arena in 2007-08, including one loss to Houston early in the regular season and one to the Rockets in last Thursday's Game 3 of the series — got a team-high 17 points from point guard Deron Williams, an 18-rebound, 14-point double-double from center Mehmet Okur and a 14-point, 14-rebound double-double from Carlos Boozer.
Houston cut what had been a 16-point Jazz lead in the third quarter to just one early in the fourth at 68-67, and were within two at 82-80 in the final minute after point guard Rafter Alston followed Shane Battier's deep 3-pointer with one of his own.
Carl Landry's follow dunk of a Bobby Jackson miss again made it a two-point game, this time at 84-82.
But the Jazz — who missed 13 free throws in Game 3 — sealed the game at the line.
Yet it wasn't without a scare.
Williams missed a pair of freebies with 7.3 seconds left, but Okur was fouled fighting for the rebound of the second miss and hit both shots to ensure the victory with 5.5 seconds remaining.
Though a mad scramble at the end, it was a convincing-enough statement from the Jazz, who were stunned 94-92 in Game 3.
Not that Utah necessarily was out to say anything in particular with Game 4, coach Jerry Sloan suggested beforehand.
"I've never believed in statements," Sloan said, "because you can't win with statements. I've never seen one win yet. You've just got to go out and play and do what you've got to do as a team."
Which is precisely what the Jazz did Saturday, getting a little bit of something from virtually everyone offensively — and clamping down on defense as well.
Rockets star Tracy McGrady, coming off a 27-point performance in Game 3, had 11 points at the half and finished with 23, but he needed 9-for-25 field shooting to get there.
Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko, who finished with 11, both had 10 before the break.
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