Jazz-Rockets, Game Two: A Knock-Down Drag-Out War

Game 2 Jazz-Rockets was the epitome of playoff basketball. The physicality was brutal—screens were set with malicious intent, cutters were obliterated on their paths, and each and every layup attempt was fraught with punishing body blows by the defense. And with the intensity ratcheted up, each side had its share of heroic players and moments.

Tracy McGrady was spectacular for the first three quarters of the game. Utah singled him with various defenders except when he posted up and Utah was forced to send an extra man. Still, McGrady had tremendous scoring success against Brewer (5-8 FG 11 PTS), Matt Harpring (0-0 FG, 2 PTS), Andrei Kirilenko (2-3 FG, 5 PTS), and Kyle Korver (1-2 FG, 2 PTS).

McGrady also consistently made plays for his teammates (9 AST) by drawing and kicking or posting and passing. Most impressive was all was how T-Mac set the physical tone for his teammates to follow by challenging every loose ball (10 REB), aggressively posting and spinning past Kyle Korver for a monster left-hand dunk, and by fighting through screens to keep contact with every Jazz cutter.

McGrady even outfought Matt Harpring in the post and deflected an entry pass for a steal, blocked a Harpring hook, and blocked a Carlos Boozer hook. Wow!

His total numbers for the first three quarters were dazzling (9-18 FG, 10 REB, 9 AST, 3 STL, 2 BLK, 22 PTS), especially as he was the only player who was consistently able to set up both himself and his teammates.

Chuck Hayes and Shane Battier roughed up every Jazz cutter trying to plough through the lane. The duo also fought on the offensive glass, tallying five offensive boards combined.

Dikembe Mutombo swallowed up Carlos Boozer in the post and used his long arms to take away Boozer’s jump shot. For the first half, Boozer only tallied two points.

Luis Scola was fearless and always looked to attack the hoop.

Bobby Jackson and Aaron Brooks were able to take some pressure off of McGrady by getting to the rim off the bounce.

Mehmet Okur stamped his name on the backboards, corralling 16 total rebounds.

Ronnie Price (3-6 FG, 2-3 3FG, 8 PTS) hit some backbreaking threes to give the Jazz an offensive lift.

Despite not having any success at the rim, Kirilenko hustled his way to four offensive rebounds, including a huge one in the final minute, and scanned the floor for four assists.

Ronnie Brewer (5-9 FG, 10 PTS) hit the majority of his jumpers after Houston sagged off him to help defend the paint.

Carlos Boozer hit a pair of critical hoops down the stretch.

After hitting the side of the backboard with a rushed jumper, Korver nailed a spine-breaking 17-foot set shot with the shot clock expiring that sent the Rockets to the grave.

Each team made multiple exemplary defensive rotations turning open layups into contested misses.

Each team competed with maximum intensity.

Deron Williams was the ultimate hero though, making three crucial baskets in crunch time, assisting on one other, and breaking a Rockets press resulting in another.

Indeed, after the Rockets cut the lead to 81-80 with three minutes to go, Williams was able to blow by Bobby Jackson and beat Chuck Hayes’ help for a layup, then Williams contested a Bobby Jackson missed jumper before driving and dishing to Carlos Boozer to put the game away.

Whereas McGrady was spectacular for three quarters, Williams took over when it mattered most.

The referres should also be noted for a heroic effort in calling the game. Despite the cringing contact, the referees allowed each team the chance to maul each other at the basket without interruption. Fouls were called only when players were caught with their hands in the cookie jar (such as when Bobby Jackson tried to grab Deron Williams’ jersey while chasing him through a screen) or when contact was deemed to give a player an unfair advantage.

Here’s to the hope Bennett Salvatore, Mike Callahan, and Tony Brothers are assigned to cover more games as the playoffs progressed.

Despite so many valiant efforts, the game was not without its share of villains.

The Rockets missed, by my very unofficial count, seven makeable layups in the first half, the majority by Scola and Hayes.

Scola tried and tried but was simply too unathletic to make contested shots in the vicinity of the basket. Just as damning, he showed but failed to recover on at least three Jazz baskets and those six points wound up as the difference in the ball game. Plus Scola committed a terrible offensive foul late in the game with the Rockets only down three. Those transgressions cost Houston dearly.

Bobby Jackson couldn’t run the Rockets offense and looked for his own shot more than his teammates. Plus three of his attempts were blocked, two by Williams, and one by Korver. Understandably, Jackson is a spark plug sixth man by nature and running an offense isn’t his forte. Still, Houston’s inability to house a true distributor on their bench may be their undoing.

With McGrady, Battier, and Hayes matching his physicality, Harpring’s fullback-like charges to the end zone were stuffed at the goal line.

Andrei Kirilenko (1-8 FG) couldn’t buy a shot from near—two missed layups—or far—0-2 3FG.

After doing whatever he wanted for the first three quarters, Tracy McGrady disappeared in the fourth. Instead of slashing and posting, each of his four attempts was a missed jumper. And because he stopped looking to get to the rim, McGrady’s assist total from the first three quarters was never increased.

Sure, with Yao Ming and Rafer Alston out, McGrady had to completely shoulder the scoring and playmaking load for Houston and he looked worn down by the end of the game.

Fine, but how does that justify his paltry 5-9 from the free throw line? Or his two itchy-fingered three-balls with no rhyme or reason to the situation? Or his decision to fade away with an open 18-footer throwing off the shot?

Perhaps T-Mac could have made just one or two more courageous drives into traffic to set up a teammate, or to find a seam and finish strong. Or perhaps, the Rockets gave their best effort and still couldn’t solve the Jazz.

A Jazz sweep, and McGrady’s 0-7 record in the first round of playoff series, is inevitable.