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Jazz take control in second quarter to beat Rockets
Utah 105, Houston 96
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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
During his first trip of the season to Salt Lake City, Tracy McGrady didn't have any trouble beating the Utah Jazz on his own.
Five months later, the Jazz didn't let him do it again.
Behind a defense designed to slow down McGrady, the Jazz held Houston's All-Star shooting guard in check and rolled to a 105-96 victory Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena in what could have been a preview of a first-round matchup between the two teams.
Carlos Boozer paced six players in double figures with 21 points
and 11 rebounds as Utah built as much as a 21-point
advantage.
The setback dropped Houston (54-27) out of the race for the No. 1
playoff seed in the Western Conference with its second
consecutive setback.
The fifth-seeded Rockets can still begin the playoffs at home, but need some help since the Phoenix Suns and Jazz are now tied with them for the fourth-best record in the conference. With Monday's victory, the Jazz own the tiebreaker over Houston.
McGrady, who burned the Jazz for 47 points back in November, had 22 points in his return to Salt Lake City. But the
Rockets' All-Star shooting guard missed 14 of 21 shots as Utah
slowed him down by running a second defender at him.
"In the first home game, he scored 47," Utah guard Ronnie Brewer said. "So anything less than that is an improvement."
The Rockets had trouble generating any offense and were done in by a cold-shooting second quarter because of Utah's work on McGrady.
Luis Scola managed to pick up some of the slack with 22 points
and 13 rebounds. But Houston got little from its bench and
finished shooting 40 percent.
"He's the guy we look to," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said of
McGrady. "But if they're going to take things away, we have to
respond to that. He's going to make the right pass, but the other
guys have to score off of that."
The Rockets waited too long to respond.
Shortly after taking a 22-21 lead into the second quarter, the
Rockets watched the Jazz get on a roll. Utah built a 15-point
lead as Houston missed seven of its last eight shots over the
final six minutes of the period.
McGrady missed four shots in the span as the Jazz closed the
first half on a 14-3 run.
Three minutes into the second half, Utah's lead was 20 points and
growing. Ronnie Brewer came away with a steal that he dunked on
the other end to give Utah an insurmountable advantage.
Houston managed to slice that lead to seven points late in the
fourth quarter. But the damage had already been done.
"The second quarter really cost us," Adelman said. "We battled
back in the second half, but could never get back all the
way."
The Rockets finish the regular season Wednesday night against the
Los Angeles Clippers at Toyota Center.
Though Monday's setback ensured that the Rockets wouldn't earn
the West's top spot, they can still open the postseason at home this weekend.
Obviously, the Rockets would like that.
They just have other concerns after finishing a disappointing
two-game road trip.
"I told the team we were a lot better than we were (in Sunday's
loss to Denver)," Adelman said. "But we're better than this."
