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Mehmet Okur can expect to get something nice from teammate Deron Williams.

Okur bailed out Williams when he missed two free throws with 7.3 seconds left, then Okur made two from the line to seal an 86-82 win over the Houston Rockets on Saturday that put the Jazz up 3-1 in the best-of-7 series.

"Memo saved my butt. I ought to give him something. I ought to buy him a car or something,'' Williams said.

Okur had 18 rebounds, Carlos Boozer added 14 and the Jazz made up for some dismal outside shooting by controlling the lane.

"I tried to get myself going, stay active and mix my game up a little bit,'' Okur said. "The ball didn't fall for us, especially from the 3-point line tonight, but we were able to get the rebounds and get to the free throw line.''

Williams scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter, starting an 8-0 run after Houston had trimmed a 16-point lead to just one with 10:39 left.

In the final minute, the Rockets did it again, with Shane Battier and Rafer Alston hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to cut an eight point lead to two.

Houston got another break when Williams, one of Utah's better free throw shooters, missed both attempts, but Okur was there when the ball bounced off the rim and pulled down the biggest board of the night. Okur drew a foul, then sealed it with two from the line with 5.5 seconds to go.

The Jazz didn't make a 3-pointer - going 0-for-14 from beyond the arc. But they did play better inside than Game 3, which the Rockets dominated inside while cutting the series lead to 2-1, and can wrap up the series with a win Tuesday in Houston.

"We matched them on the inside play. That mattered a great deal more than what happened on the 3-point line,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

Tracy McGrady, who is 0-6 in playoff series, scored 23 points to lead the Rockets. McGrady was taunted with the chant "Over-Rated!'' when he went to the foul line late in the game. He scored just four points in another quiet final quarter.

Through four games, he has scored a total of 12 points in the final quarter - and seven of those came in a 94-92 win in Game 3 that revived the Rockets' hopes of going back to Houston with a possible 2-2 tie. Instead, it's a 3-1 deficit against a Utah team which won the first two games at the Toyota Center.

"It was more physical in this game. They were bodying me up and that's their game plan. I was still pushing through it, getting my shot,'' McGrady said. "We put ourselves in a great position in the fourth quarter.''

After Allston's 3-pointer cut the lead to two, Kyle Korver answered with two free throws for Utah to make it 84-80 with 12.5 seconds left. Then after Carl Landry put back an offensive rebound, Williams had a chance to seal it for the Jazz.

After his first miss, he still had a chance to put Utah back up by three. But he missed again, seeming to surprising everyone but Okur.

"That was huge. That was the play of the game right there,'' Utah's Matt Harpring said.

Andrei Kirilenko added an exclamatory block as the buzzer sounded and the Jazz left the court one win away from advancing. Kirilenko scored 11 and Ronnie Brewer had 12 points and two blocks as all five Utah starters scored in double figures.

After falling behind by 16 early in the third, Houston rallied to get within five points at the end of the period and continued to push early in the fourth to almost completely erase Utah's lead. Bobby Jackson and Landry hit two free throws each and Alston took a steal in all alone for a layup to cut the lead down to 68-67 with 10:39 left in the game.

"The one thing about this team is that they don't quit. They never give up,'' Houston coach Rick Adelman said. "It was a tough game. We just have to come back and regroup and get that game back in Houston.''

Williams took control for Utah by driving for two layups to start an 8-0 run. Harpring knocked the ball out of McGrady's hands, Williams bounced a pass to Boozer in the lane for an easy basket, then Korver made a 19-footer that put Utah back ahead 76-67 with 6 minutes left.

McGrady didn't score in the fourth until his layup over Boozer got Houston within 76-69 with 5:40 remaining. He had a chance to get the Rockets within two, but went 1-for-2 from the foul line twice.

McGrady also led Houston with eight assists and 10 rebounds, but the Rockets were outrebounded 48-41.

Notes: Jazz G Jason Hart missed the game with the stomach flu. ... The Rockets closed the first quarter on a 12-3 run to take a 23-21 lead into the second. ... After missing 13 free throws in Game 3, the Jazz improved Saturday by going 24-for-31 from the line. ... Battier scored 10 and Landry added 13 points for Houston.

NBA Playoffs Schedule for 26.04.2008

Toronto Raptors - Orlando Magic. Orlando leads 2-1

Denver Nuggets - Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers leads 2-0

Atlanda Hawks - Boston Celtics. Boston leads 2-0

Utah Jazz - Houston Rockets. Jazz leads 2-1

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan spoke of his team's need to be more physical and aggressive in Game 4, sparking surprise among the Rockets.

"To sum it short and sweet, he's coaching though the media," Rockets guard Tracy McGrady said. "That's all he's doing. I had a coach (Jeff Van Gundy) who did the same thing.

"Like I said before this series started, this is one of the most physical teams in our league. If you are not physical with them, they're going to run you out of the gym."

Hearing about Sloan's comments, Rockets coach Rick Adelman expected Utah to be even more physical than before.

"We're tough and they're not?" Adelman said. "It sounds to me like they're going to try and be Goliath (today). We'd better be ready for it. We already talked about that. They're going to throw their best effort at us and try to keep their home-court advantage. That's not untypical. We said the same things after the first two games."

'Always a bridesmaid'
Rockets forward Shane Battier was second to Suns forward Grant Hill in the voting for the 2007-08 NBA Sportsmanship Award.

"Always a bridesmaid," Battier said. "If it wasn't Grant, I would be a little more upset, but Grant is a good guy.

"At this point in my life, any award is a good award. I don't care if I win the D-flight for the championship of my golf club."

Making them earn it
Early in the fourth quarter Thursday, Shane Battier fouled Utah's Paul Millsap to deny a clean look at the basket, the sort of foul that was much of a lifetime in the making.

"I grew up in the '80s with the Bad Boys and the Pistons," Battier said. "They talked about hard fouls.

"We allowed them to get a lot of free movement and easy layups in the first two games. In the playoffs, you're going to have to earn points in the paint. We were on the floor a lot. They were putting us on the floor. Any time we get a chance to have a nice, clean, hard foul, you've got to take those opportunities."

Give defense some credit
After scoring 20 points in the series opener, Utah's leading scorer Carlos Boozer has been limited to 13 and 15 points by the Rockets.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan was asked how to get Boozer more involved in the offense.

"Tell them not to guard us?" he said. "Would that help? (Carl) Landry and those guys just went at us. They just knocked us around. If you can't stand up to it, you've got to go home.

"They get up and play him. (Dikembe) Mutombo's a tough guy to play against. We played against him when he was in Denver and Karl Malone was here. He's a tough matchup. You don't always get what you want, because he's so long and can block shots. When he plays, you've got to shoot over him."

Free-throw woes
Kyle Korver said much of the Jazz offensive difficulties came from their miserable 20-of-33 shooting of free throws Thursday.

"We weren't making free throws, and that kind of killed our offensive flow," Korver said. "I don't think we need to make any big adjustments. I don't think they will, either. Now it's just about playing."

Boozer open on last play
Replays showed a missed opportunity for the Jazz on Deron Williams' final drive to the hoop in Game 3 on Thursday. Just before Williams put up the shot that was blocked by Carl Landry, Carlos Boozer was open under the basket.

But Boozer wasn't complaining.

"No. I thought the time was running out and he had a good shot at the basket," Boozer said. "I didn't expect Landry to block it. I don't think (Williams) did, either. I thought he was going to make it and we go to overtime. My teammates told me I was wide-open. But if he could have got it to me, he would have. We know that."

Scoring seven points in a quarter is normally nothing for Tracy McGrady.With his team down 2-0 in the opening round of the playoffs, it meant everything to the Houston Rockets.

McGrady scored all of those seven in the final 3:29, finally snapping out of a fourth-quarter slump and finishing with 27 to lead Houston to a 94-92 victory over the Utah Jazz on Thursday night that gave the Rockets life in a series that could have been headed for a sweep.

"This was a very emotional win for us,'' said McGrady, who had scored one point total in the fourth quarter of the first two games of the series. "We played like we really didn't want to go home early. We played with a lot of passion and a lot of heart.''

The Rockets were trailing the best-of-seven series 2-0 and coming to Utah, where the Jazz had the best home record in the NBA. One of Utah's four losses in Salt Lake City was to Houston, which won the Jazz's home opener and did it again when it mattered much, much more.

Rafer Alston added 20 points and five assists in his first game in nearly two weeks. Carl Landry had 11 rebounds and two blocks, swatting away Deron Williams' shot that could have won it for the Jazz just before the buzzer. Landry also sacrificed his left front tooth, courtesy of an elbow from Utah's Carlos Boozer in the second quarter, and had a huge gap in his post-game grin.

Landry said he was seeing double after the elbow and was bleeding from the mouth as he was led to the locker room, but was back for the second half.

"This was a big game. It doesn't matter if you've got a hurt toe or a hurt back, whatever the case may be,'' Landry said. "No matter what it is, football, hockey, basketball. It's part of playing sports.''

Game 4 is Saturday back in Utah, where the Jazz were 37-4 this season. Instead of playing for a sweep, the Jazz will try to avoid doing the same thing Houston did in last year's opening round against Utah. The Rockets won the first two games of that series, then lost the next two and eventually the series in seven games.

The Rockets, who are without 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming, outscored Utah in the paint 40-26.

"They showed how much they wanted to win a ballgame,'' Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "They scored 40 points in the paint. I thought they brought it to us all night long.''

Williams had 28 points and 12 assists.

Carlos Boozer had 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Mehmet Okur scored 12 and pulled down 11 boards for the Jazz, whose poor free throw shooting caught up with them in the fourth quarter when McGrady started scoring.

The Jazz went 20-for-33 from the foul line, getting 11 more chances than Houston (16-for-22) but failing to capitalize.

"Free throws definitely hurt us. You lose a game by two points and you miss 13 free throws, it's definitely frustrating,'' Williams said.

The poor shooting from the line and the resurgence of McGrady were enough to guarantee the Rockets will be hosting a Game 5 next week.

"No one thought we could win in Utah. I don't like the term 'stole' because that implies that we didn't play well,'' said Houston's Shane Battier, who scored 12. "We finally did a good job of executing our game plan. We took away what we wanted to take away.''

McGrady tied the game at 86 on a foul shot with 3:29 left, then gave the Rockets the lead with two more from the line with 2:50 remaining. He added a 19-foot jumper with 2:16 to go - his first fourth-quarter field goal of the series - then followed with a 20-footer to give the Rockets a 92-86 lead.

As he was shooting, Landry was drawing a foul on Andrei Kirilenko away from the ball. The basket counted and Landry made the free throw to convert the unusual three-point play and give Houston a 93-86 lead.

But the Jazz weren't done.

Kyle Korver hit a 3-pointer, McGrady was called for an offensive foul and Okur hit another 3 to draw the Jazz within 93-92 with 37 seconds left. McGrady missed at the other end and the Jazz had a chance to win, but Landry blocked Williams' shot from the lane and the rebound went to Luis Scola, who was fouled and went 1-for-2 from the line with 0.2 seconds left.

After a timeout, the Jazz threw away the inbounds pass.

Scola had 16 points and 10 rebounds.

Ronnie Brewer scored 12 and Matt Harpring added 10 points for the Jazz.

Notes: Alston returned after missing four games with a strained right hamstring and made his first five shots, including three 3-pointers. ... After opening the game 9-for-29, the Jazz closed the second quarter on a 6-for-9 stretch to tie it at 44. ... Houston held Utah without a field goal for the first 5:07 of the second quarter. ... Thursday was the first time in the series Houston did not trail at halftime. ... The Jazz were 10-for-17 (59 percent) from the foul line in the first half.
Copyright 2007 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

Win or go home. Actually, win or go on the road and face steep odds that could result in you going home. And not playing again until next season. Or something like that.

Faced with the possibility of going to Salt Lake City down 2-0 to the Jazz, the Rockets produce a better effort than in Game One, but still lose 90-84. While the team is hopefully just thinking about one game at a time, others are readying their brooms, preparing for what they believe will be a sweep. [HoopsVibe]

Tracy McGrady bent over in exhaustion as the final seconds ticked away of another playoff loss.

The seven-time All-Star had 23 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists, but faltered again in the fourth quarter as the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 90-84 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Deron Williams, who briefly left the game with an injury, finished with 22 points and Mehmet Okur added 16 points and 16 rebounds for the Jazz, who have won eight of the last 10 meetings with Houston.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Utah, where the Jazz went 37-4 during the regular season.

"It's great for us to come out the way we did and not settle for the one victory," said Williams, who re-aggravated a tailbone injury. "We wanted to get both of them, get greedy. We've just got to go back now and take care of business."

McGrady, who has never advanced past the first round of the playoffs, fell just short of his first postseason triple-double, but he went 0-for-4 from the field and scored only one point in the final quarter. He scored 20 points in Game 1, but went 0-for-3 from the field in the fourth quarter of Utah's 93-82 victory.

McGrady played 43 minutes and said he was tired at the end of Monday night's game, a combination of Utah's physical defense and his efforts to carry his team.

"I had no legs. I was on empty," McGrady said. "Banging with Matt Harpring, trying to rebound, trying to make plays for my team, trying to score, playing 43 minutes. That's a lot."

The Rockets still had their chances to win.

Luis Scola hit two free throws with 1:21 to go to cut Utah's lead to 85-82.

After Williams missed a driving layup, Houston's Bobby Jackson hit a 3-pointer that would have tied the game but Scola was called for an offensive foul away from the ball when he pushed Andrei Kirilenko.

McGrady blasted official Tony Brothers for the call and accused Kirilenko of exaggerating the contact.

"You can't call that," he said. "I like Tony Brothers, but that was a bad call. Very, very bad call. Three points down, crucial point in the game and Kirilenko flops. He flops and you call a foul on that? It was a bad call."

Kirilenko grabbed an offensive rebound on Utah's next possession and Kyle Korver flipped in a one-handed shot as the shot clock expired to put the game out of reach with 20 seconds to go.

Carlos Boozer added 13 points and Williams had five assists for the Jazz, who closed the game with a 14-8 run. Utah went only 17-24 on the road during the regular season, but the Jazz have won four straight playoff games in Houston, including the last two games at the Toyota Center in the first round last year.

"It's big for us," Boozer said. "We came in here trying to get Game 1. That was a tough task, but we accomplished it. And then Game 2 was tough, but we held our composure down the stretch and got a win."

Jackson bounced back from a 3-for-15 performance in Game 1 to score 18 points.

The Jazz led most of the way and were up 64-61 with 1:47 left in the third quarter when Williams limped to the locker room with a trainer after re-aggravating the injury that has bothered him for a week.

Ronnie Price, Williams' replacement, hit a 3-pointer just before the quarter ended to give Utah a 69-67 lead. Williams returned to the bench before the final quarter began.

He was back on the court with 9:18 left in the game, after Aaron Brooks blew by Price for a game-tying layup. McGrady went out for a rest when Williams came back and Williams drove for a layup with 7:41 left to put the Jazz up 76-74.

McGrady returned with 7:07 remaining and was fouled on a jumper with 6:39 left. He hit a free throw to tie the game at 76-all. Williams hit a short shot at the other end to put Utah back on top.

Kirilenko stole the ball from McGrady near the 5-minute mark and Williams made a free throw to give the Jazz an 81-76 lead. McGrady finished with five turnovers.

While the Rockets played better than they did in Game 1, they still had no answer for Williams, who hit the first three 3-pointers he attempted.

Boozer committed his second foul and went to the bench with 5:47 left in the first quarter, but the Rockets started committing careless turnovers that led to easy baskets and Utah stretched the lead.

Houston shot and rebounded better than it did in the first half of Game 1, but trailed by exactly the same score at the break, 47-41. Okur, who scored only four points in the opener, had 10 in the first half on Monday, including two 3-pointers in the final 35 seconds.

"My teammates created open shots for me and I felt real good," Okur said. "I was focused and I hit my shots."

Houston scored mostly inside in the first half, but went 0-for-7 from 3-point range.

The Rockets will need a near-miraculous comeback to win in the playoffs for the first time since the 1996-97 season. They can conjure hope from the fact that they handed Utah one of its four home losses this season -- but that was at the start of the regular season.

"It's not over yet," Okur said. "We're very happy to get two wins in Houston. We have to do the same things in Utah that we did in Houston and be ready to go after them at home."

Game notes
The Jazz have led at halftime in all nine playoff games with Houston dating to last season. ... Houston has lost its last four playoff series after dropping the first game. They haven't won a series after losing Game 1 since the second round in 1995, their second championship season, when they rallied past Phoenix in seven games. ... Reserve Chuck Hayes grabbed 10 rebounds for Houston.