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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Rockets try to keep optimism against Jazz
By CHRIS DUNCANHOUSTON -- Tracy McGrady tried two strategies against the Utah Jazz and neither worked. If he and the Houston Rockets don't come up with something else fast, they'll be out of the playoffs by the end of this weekend.
McGrady had 23 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in Game 2 on Monday night, but the Jazz shut him down in the fourth quarter again and won 90-84 to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven series. Game 3 is Thursday night in Utah.
McGrady scored 20 points in Game 1 and admitted on Tuesday that he was trying to conserve energy in that one. In Game 2, he was attacking the basket, grabbing rebounds and running the Rockets' offense himself from the start.
"If I try to sit back and try to be passive and not as aggressive, I don't quite know what that is going to get us," he said. "I tried that the first game, and it didn't work. I tried a different approach, coming out and being aggressive offensively, defensively, rebounding. We were there. It gave us a chance.
"Whether I can continue to play that way, from this point on, I'll give it a shot."
While the Jazz flew back to Salt Lake City on Tuesday morning and took the day off, the Rockets gathered for a meeting and a film session at the Toyota Center.
"We had a small margin of error coming into this series," Rockets forward Shane Battier said. "We have an even smaller margin of error now."
The Rockets were short-handed from the beginning after losing Yao Ming to a broken foot in February and point guard Rafer Alston to a strained hamstring a week before the playoffs began.
Houston is hoping to get Alston back for Game 3. He tested his injury in a workout on Tuesday.
Bobby Jackson, Alston's backup, scored 18 in Game 2. He may still start Game 3 because McGrady and coach Rick Adelman are skeptical of what Alston can offer after missing a week of practice time.
"We don't know, when he comes back, how effective he's going to be," McGrady said. "With two playoff games under each team's belt and the speed of the game and the physicality of it, we don't know if he's going to be ready for that when he first gets back."
Without Alston, most of the playmaking responsibilities have fallen to McGrady and in six of the eight quarters played so far, he's capably filled them, averaging 21.5 points. But the seven-time All-Star is 0-for-7 from the field with only one assist in the two fourth quarters put together.
McGrady said he was tired in the final quarter on Monday night, the effects of Utah's physical defense and the burden of carrying the team by himself.
"It's tough when you've got to rely on one guy to score the ball," McGrady said Tuesday. "That's on my shoulders every night, to go in and score and make plays. And my teammates realize that. They know I'm not out there by myself. They know they have to score, they know they have to help me out as well."
Jazz guard Deron Williams, who scored 22 in Game 2, said Utah noticed McGrady getting fatigued down the stretch on Monday. And that's when the Jazz turned up the defense, smothering him with double teams whenever he touched the ball.
"It's a pretty smart game plan," McGrady said. "Let me play 1-on-1 and be free for three quarters and throw different bodies at me and wear me down. When I come off pick and rolls in the first three quarters, I can come off and I'm free to take a jumper or drive to the basket. The fourth quarter, I'm not able to really do that."
The Jazz are naturally feeling good after opening a playoff series with two road wins for the first time in franchise history.
Now, they want the sweep. Carlos Boozer, who scored 13 points, yelled to his teammates, "We're not coming back!" as he walked off the floor on Monday night.
"That's the goal. We don't want to (come back to Houston)," Boozer said. "It's not going to be easy. They're going to be ready to play. We will be, too. That should be our goal. Our goal should be to win the two games at home."
The Rockets are gleaning hope from how competitive both games have been and their 24-17 road record, which includes a win in Utah in November.
"We were a good road team. We won at a lot of places," Adelman said. "Physically, there are things you can do, but mentally, you've got to get your mind stripped of what happened and you've got to get yourself positive for the next game, because there is no reason we can't win there.
"If we lose, we lose," Adelman said. "But we're going to go in there with the idea that this is our game to win. And if we win this game, we know we're coming back here for another one. That's the attitude we have to have."
Home sweet home for Jazz
SALT LAKE CITY -- The Utah Jazz won where they weren't expected to -- twice.
Now, the Jazz have to live up to their reputation of being one of the most difficult home teams in the NBA. Utah leads Houston 2-0 in the best-of-7 series and could end it without having to take another road trip until the next round.
Game 3 is Thursday night, when the Jazz can either move one step closer to a series sweep or allow Tracy McGrady and the Rockets a chance to pull off the same comeback Utah had a year ago against Houston.
"We go into the game knowing that both teams have seen a great deal of each other," Utah forward Carlos Boozer said. "Game 3 should be a dandy."
The Rockets and Jazz met in the first round of the playoffs last season, too. Houston won the first two games at home, then came to Utah where the Jazz won 81-67 and went on to win the series in seven games.
Now instead of worrying about avoiding a sweep, the Jazz are looking at getting through the Rockets in just four games.
"It's two different scenarios -- night and day," Boozer said. "We're already intense. It's the playoffs."
Utah's 37-4 record at home this season was the best in the NBA, but one of those four losses was to the Rockets.
"We know we can play up there, we know we can win up there," McGrady said. "The playoffs are a totally different game. We can't rely on what we did in what, November or October. It's a totally different team, playing with a different confidence."
Utah coach Jerry Sloan was his usual pessimistic self before practice Wednesday, noting that the Jazz can't expect too much of an advantage playing at home again. Sloan didn't want to talk about a possible sweep.
"I think these guys are all intelligent enough to know that we have to come and play. There's not going to be anybody that's going to give us anything," he said. "They were ready to play the other night. They came at us."
Utah's objective on defense won't change from the first two games: Stop McGrady, who is facing the added pressure of another quick exit from the playoffs.
McGrady has averaged 21.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in the two games and was one assist away from a triple-double in Game 2, but has scored just one point in the fourth quarter this series. McGrady is also in danger of getting knocked out of the playoffs in the first round -- again.
He was 0-for-6 entering this year's playoffs, still vividly remembering the way the Rockets blew a 2-0 advantage a year ago. McGrady took it out on the Jazz in Utah's home opener, when he scored 47 while leading Houston to a 106-95 win in Salt Lake City on Nov. 1.
McGrady hasn't come close to anything like that in this postseason and his teammates haven't done a lot to help as the shorthanded Rockets faded in both games after taking the lead in the second half.
"We have to find ways to help him out in the fourth quarter, get him better opportunities. They turned their defense up on him in the fourth quarter and extended it out and tried to make other people make plays," Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "Right now, we're at a disadvantage."
Although the Rockets are without 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming (foot) for the rest of the season, Houston hopes to have point guard Rafer Alston back for Thursday.
Adelman wasn't sure how effective Alston could be after missing a week with a strained right hamstring, but he would provide some depth for the Rockets and 35-year-old Bobby Jackson, who has been starting for Alston.
No matter who is playing for the Rockets, the Jazz are leery of McGrady giving Houston new life.
"We wanted to take as much away from Mac as possible because he's such a great scorer and everything goes through him," Utah guard Deron Williams said. "To get that one (win) is crucial -- and that's what we've got to try to avoid with them -- allowing them to get that first win."
Williams is still sore from a nasty fall he took on his tailbone against Denver on April 12. He re-aggravated the injury in Game 2 on Monday and said the healing progress has been slow, although not slow enough to keep him out of the series.
Williams leads the Jazz in scoring at 21 points per game and averaged 7.5 assists in the two games at Houston.
"It's getting better. If I can stop from falling on it, I'll be all right," he said.
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