Final Results: Following the finish of each game during this series, I will hand out a series of awards to give credit where credit is due. So without any further delay, here are the recipients of Game 5’s Top Performance Awards:  Player of the Game: Tracy McGrady may have been playing on a bumb knee, but it didn’t show. The Rockets needed some extra intensity on Tuesday and T-Mac played hard from start to finish, notching 29 points, five rebounds and five assists to earn Houston a Game 5 victory and force a Game 6 in Utah. Biggest Surprise: Although the Rockets took an 11-point lead into halftime, I’m sure their fans were fearing an early second-half letdown. But Louis Scola made sure that never happened. The rookie brought his “A” game in the third quarter, unloading for 11 points in the period. Biggest Disappointment: There were a number of players to choose from on Utah’s side of the ball, but when you only manage to score 69 points, I think the whole team is at fault. Utah turned the ball over 18 times and shot 36.5 percent from the field. That’s far from normal Jazz basketball. Houston better expect more out of Utah in Game 6, because there is no way the Jazz put up those numbers on their homecourt. Best Performance in a Losing Effort: No one impressed me on Tuesday in this loss. However, since I have to give it to someone, I’ll honor Jason Hart who went 1-of-1 from the field for two points in just under four minutes of action. At least he made smart decisions when on the court. Stat of the Night: 13-of-23. It’s not enough that the Jazz shot a miserable 36.5 percent from the field. No, they had to go an abysmal 56.5 percent from the charity stripe too. Yuck. Best Dressed: Mehmet Okur did tally a double-double. But his entrance into the stadium was his best effort on the night. With out a doubt, you must check out this white-shoe, Louis Vuitton-carrying outfit. Just remember it’s not a purse, it’s a European carry-all.Final: Rockets 95, Jazz 69
(Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images) Houston, we have no problem. At least on Tuesday we didn’t. The Rockets played tenacious defense for an entire game and blew the Jazz out of the building. Tracy McGrady brought in the fourth quarter, even though Houston didn’t really need it. T-Mac unloaded for eight in the final session, finishing with 29 points, five rebounds and five assists. You’d expect that Jerry Sloan would get the Jazz fired up enough to come out with a bang in the fourth quarter. Instead, Utah had a five minute stretch in the middle of the period where they went with out a field goal. I know that the Rockets are the ones in a must-win situation. But, it would have been nice to witness a better effort. More thoughts to come …End of the Third Quarter: Rockets 74, Jazz 55 We still have the fourth quarter to go, but it’s merely a formality at this point. This game is over. We’re headed back to Utah for Game 6. Mark it down. Luis Scola owned the third quarter. He poured in 11 points in the period to extend Houston’s lead to 19 points. Carlos Boozer rebounded from his tough first by scoring 10 in the period. He has 17 points and 10 rebounds to start the fourth. If the Jazz want any chance of coming back, they’ll have to take better care of the ball. They’ve turned the ball over 13 times.Halftime: Rockets 43, Jazz 32 The story of the first half could be summed up as simply as this: Houston’s bench 18 points – Utah’s bench 0 points. Although I’ve ripped Bobby Jackson in just about every way possible, the backup point guard came off the pine and erupted for nine points in the second quarter. Hopefully, he continues to take smart shots in the second half. With 6:34 left in the period, Carlos Boozer got a technical for complaining about a no-foul call. His outburst seemed to turn the tide of the game. In the playoffs, it’s all about keeping your composure and harnessing your emotions. Cool down, Carlos. His extra frustration probably resulted from his shooting struggles. Boozer went 3-of-8 from the field and also committed three turnovers. Good sign of things to come? For the first time in the series, the Rockets lead at the half.End of the First Quarter: Rockets 18, Jazz 16 For the third straight game the Rockets have a lead at the end of one. The team ahead at the end of the first quarter has won every game in this series, besides Game 4. Despite firing off six points in the first quarter, Tracy McGrady definitely looks like he is experiencing extreme discomfort in his left knee. On Monday, T-Mac hinted that the knee could require surgery after the season. Following a fast-break bucket with just under a minute to go, McGrady hobbled down the court with a wince on his face. The Jazz may be down two after the first, but Mehmet Okur’s hot hand is a good sign for Utah. He’s 2-of-2 from downtown and 3-of-4 from the floor. And just so you know, Ronnie Brewer had a chance to knot the game up at the end of one, but his shot rimmed out at the buzzer.Pregame:
(Bill Baptist/NBAE/Getty Images) For the first time in the series the Rockets face a literal must-win game. Unless they can bring it for a full four quarters in Houston, the Rockets will never make it back to Utah for Game 6 on Friday. Hey, at least it’s a short trip home. In order to take Game 5, there are a few adjustments they need to make. Here they are in order of importance. Slow down Deron. It’s easier said than done, but they have to keep Deron Williams from driving to the basket and racking up the easy points. Bump out Bobby. No matter what happens, please do not insert Bobby Jackson into the lineup tonight. Houston can not afford another wild 1-of-10 or 3-of-15 performance from its backup point guard. Keep T-Mac fresh. The Rockets will need a fully energized Tracy McGrady down the stretch in order to take down the Jazz. If he gives another one-point final frame, Houston will have a major problem. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images) I’ve already mentioned several times throughout this blog the endless debates that occur daily at the Newsdesk. As I sit here right now, I’m trying to think of one night during my entire stint here, where a heated discussion didn’t go down. Can’t do it. But I can, however, add some more fuel to the fire. One of the most common arguments that usually results in someone taking their ball and going home is when we do a mock draft between two teams that are currently going head-to-head. If you read Josh Cohen’s blog about the Cavs and Wizards, you would have seen round one of this discussion. Well here’s round two. But, first let me give you a breakdown of the rules. The following is stolen directly from Josh, because he did such an eloquent job of detailing the competition. Josh and I, decided to hold a mock draft (not fantasy-based) among players currently on the Rockets and Jazz. Our constructed squads, moreover, would exist just for one season (not a franchise). In addition, all picks are made with the understanding that every player on each team is 100 percent healthy. Of course, currently some of these players are not even available because of injury. We flipped a coin as to who would select first, and subsequently kept rotating (in other words, after the first pick, we kept having back-to-back picks like a snake draft). It went 10 rounds. Here were the results and please reply with your I-can’t-believe-you-picked-him-before-him comments. That would be greatly appreciated. As you can see, Dan is a psychic at predicting coin flips (he’s totally dead on with this and to add to his frustration, I nailed the flip again) so he goes first. The numbers next to the player names are the exact numbered pick that they were selected. As a result, you can follow the snake draft format.
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| Final Thoughts Following the finish of each game during this series, I will hand out a series of awards to give credit where credit is due. So without any further delay, here are the recipients of Game 4’s Top Performance Awards: Player of the Game: You could say that Mehmet Okur is going from blog zero to hero. After he was named ‘Most Disappointing Player’ in Game 3, Okur did just about everything right in Game 4. Along with notching his third straight double-double, Okur grabbed a crucial offensive rebound on a Deron Williams’ miss that probably saved the game for the Jazz. His two free throws following the rebound, sealed a win and gave Utah a 3-1 series lead. Biggest Surprise: Carlos Boozer missed two clutch free throws in Game 3 that he felt cost his team the game. As a result, he didn’t get much sleep before Game 4 – he tends to dwell on things – and showed up hours early to practice to work on his shots from the charity stripe. The extra work paid dividends as he went 8-of-8 from the free throw line and notched 14 points and 14 rebounds for a great overall effort. Biggest Disappointment: Bobby Jackson, what do I have to do to get through to you. I hoped that Rafer Alston’s return would mean you be relegated to bench-warming duties, but for some reason Rick Adelman thinks you deserve some time in the lineup. Let’s hope for you, me, Rockets’ fan everywhere and the game of basketball in general that you pay for your poor shot selection in Game 5. Jackson went a horrific 1-of-10 from the field and 0-of-4 from downtown as continued to fire off wild treys at will. T-Mac said before the game that he was much happier with Rafer running the point. I think we all see why. Best Performance in a Losing Effort: Tracy McGrady may have flirted with a triple-double while battling an injury, but I am going to have to give the nod to Carl Landry. The kid gives non-stop hustle and is a model basketball player for rookies everywhere. He demonstrates daily that if you give your all, you will crack the lineup and get on the court. Landry tallied 13 points – including a clutch putback on a Jackson miss – and six rebounds on the night. Stat of the Night: 0-14. Believe it or not, that’s Utah’s stat line from downtown. Despite not making a single 3-pointer, they found a way to win. Best Dressed: Just take a look.Final: Jazz 86, Rockets 82
(Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images) It wasn’t quite as easy as Jerry Sloan would have liked, but the Jazz showed physical and mental toughness down the stretch to hold off the Rockets and take a 3-1 series lead. Rafer Alston did his best to deliver for the Rockets in the clutch. With 15.5 ticks left, Alston drilled an amazing off-balanced trey to bring Houston within two. But Kyle Korver, fouled on the corresponding inbounds pass, hit both of his free throws to keep it a two possession game.Bobby Jackson then got it on the other end and although he missed a layup, Carl Landry came up with the putback slam. Deron Williams was fouled right after and missed two free throws. But Mehmet Okur came up huge on the offensive glass, grabbing the board and getting fouled with 5.5 seconds left. He sank both shots from the charity stripe to seal the deal. Deron said after the game that Mehmet’s big board “saved his life.” More thoughts to come … End of the Third Quarter: Jazz 66, Rockets 61 Carl Landry still hasn’t stopped hustling. Landry battled Carlos Boozer for a T-Mac miss with 43.4 seconds left in the quarter and converted a three-point play after receiving the hoop and the harm. The Rockets have to stay hot if they want a chance to pull out this one in Utah. After missing nine straight shots, Houston went on a 13-3 run late in the quarter to bring itself back into the ballgame. With a doubt, you can call Mehmet Okur the ‘Stat Sheet Stuffer’ of this series. Utah’s big man has his third straight double-double of the series, notching 12 points and 13 boards through three. Tracy McGrady has had some rough fourth quarters, but this upcoming period could be his hardest yet. His knee is causing him obvious discomfort and he even needed a shot at halftime to ease the pain. Despite the injection, he’s still hobbling around. Hopefully, he can bear it.Halftime: Jazz 46, Rockets 38 It’s no surprise that the Jazz are up by eight at halftime, when you look at the way they’re spreading the ball around. Utah is at its best when going to a variety of offensive options and thus far it’s doing exactly that. The Jazz have five players with five points or more, while the Rockets only have two. According to ESPN, Carlos Boozer went to practice early to work on his free throw shooting after a disappointing Game 3, where he missed two crucial shots from the charity stripe down the stretch. So far it’s working. He’s 6-of-6 from the line at the half. Got to love the dedication. Houston didn’t exactly have its shooting touch in the second quarter. The Rockets went an abysmal 5-of-20 from the field and were on the wrong end of a 17-7 run that closed that half. AK-47 was the difference in the period, pouring in eight points for the Jazz.End of the First Quarter: Rockets 23, Jazz 21 For the second straight game the Rockets have a lead at the end of one. The team ahead at the end of the first quarter has won every game in this series. Sloppy end to the first. Bobby Jackson committed a stupid foul on Ronnie Price with 1.8 seconds left, but then the Jazz fouled Shane Battier with 1.3 remaining to return the favor. Both players made one of two. One major factor in this game will be the health of Tracy McGrady. He had his knee taped before the game and had to leave in the first quarter, because it was wrapped too tight. Deron Williams is continuing to develop as great transition player. His alley-oop to Andrei Kirilenko at 4:24, brought Utah’s crowd into the game. After a disappointing Game 3, Mehmet Okur went 3-of-3 from the floor in the first on his way to six points.Pregame:
(Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images) The Rockets may have dropped the first two games of their first-round playoff series with the Jazz, but that does not mean they can’t come back. After looking like they were left for dead, the Rockets rebounded on the road in Game 3 to tighten the series 2-1. With another victory in Utah tonight, Houston would be back in the driver seat in this best-of-seven series. Some quick things to pay attention to: Rafer Alston scored eight of the Rockets’ first 10 points in Game 3. For a team that was unable to get off to hot starts in the first two contests, his presence was pivotal in turning the tide of the series. Houston will once again have to quickly jump out of the gate, in order to keep the Utah crowd silent. On the other hand, if I am the Jazz, I send Deron Williams to the basket early and often to get some easy buckets, some potential three-point plays and the Utah faithful involved in the action. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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(Melissa Majchrzak/NBAE/Getty Images) With Game 4 just around the corner, let’s take a look at the top five questions heading into the contest to keep you busy until tipoff. 5. After tossing around the Rockets in Games 1 and 2, the Jazz found themselves on the receiving end of a physical beatdown in Game 3. Jerry Sloan hopes to switch the tables in Game 4. But will Utah respond to his request? 4. The Rockets came out to slow starts in the first two games, but set the tone early in Game 3. Can they do the same in Game 4? 3. Rafer Alston’s return made all the difference for Houston in the last go-around. Will he be able to boost the Rockets to another road win? 2. After losing a tooth early in Game 3, Carl Landry came back and busted the Jazz in the mouth with a game-saving block on Deron Williams. His energy will crucial down the stretch. Can the rookie continue to be a true Houston hero? 1. The Jazz only lost four games at home during the entire regular season. Is it possible for them to drop two straight playoff games in Utah to the Rockets? | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rabu, 30 April 2008
Rockets Surge Past Jazz for Game 5 Win
Diposting oleh NBA News Indonesia di 04.16
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