Throwback NBA Playoffs WCFR 2008.4.21 Houston Rockets at Utah Jazz G4
Tragedy. McGrady had 27 points in game three. Had seven in the final three minutes. And we talked with Tracy today about it’ll be Matumbo and Okur to tip it up at center court. And let’s watch the tempo of this game early in on his long post up isolation. There’s Skola. Luis Skola averaging close to a double double in this series. Austin second straight game he started after missing the first two games of the series with a hamstring injury he suffered at the end of the regular season with the block on stool and Williams looking to push the tempo of down the lane the first basket of the game for Utah one of the best increases in points per game from a year ago in the NBA this season Austin finds a cutting for Tumbo for the easy layup at age 41 looking pretty good on that Well, another bonus and we got to watch what happens in terms of bench production in this game, Dave. If if Houston can stay with Utah’s bench, it’s it’s a huge factor because in the first two losses, they were a double figure deficit. With his first basket, there’s Austin with Williams guarding him. Bad shot eight out of 12 from behind the three-point line. Lost the ball there and they’re jumping up Kolinko and Badier with six on the shot clock for Houston. These two guys really get after both ends of the court. Kirolinko Badier, two real warrior type guys and both both guys play with a real great enthusiasm. That’s why everybody loves watching these two guys play. Alustin a fade away. Banks it in with time running down in the shot. Now Heather Cox on the McGrady situation and Tracy coming off of a huge game. He had 28 points but did exit into the locker room early in the first quarter during warm-ups. His left knee was bothering him. So he had it taped right before the game. That tape job a little bit too tight. Went to the locker room to get it retaped. That lack of size and depth a problem for Adam. So both McGrady and now Shane Bennett not playing 100% could be an issue in this game, guys. Yeah, no question. And they they definitely need a healthy and able Tracy McGrady to have a chance here in Salt Lake City. And they’ve gotten off to a solid start with Ever Cox and Rick Car on Dave Cash. Boozer now with six points. Darren Williams, his point guard told us today they’re going to feed Boozer and obviously they’re at full strength. You see Utah, Houston, excuse me, making a play of walking that ball the court late in the shot clock and getting pretty good quality shots. He had a knock down the three. On the other end, Kireno from Darren Williams in transition finding Andre Kireno for the dunk and eight straight points for the Utah Jazz trying to go up 3-1 in this area by by staying in touch playing from in front in the first half. They win the halftime for the first time in two years against the Utah Jazz, not behind which was critical right now. The tempo is okay for for Houston, but they’ve got to be careful about getting in an up and down type of game as we mentioned. Tracy McGrady, as you see, back on the floor with that nice dish to tumbo has four points already in this game. That ends an eight nothing Utah run. Bonnie Brewer, a terrific second year after averaging less than five points per game as a rookie, up around 12 this year, the fifth largest increase in the NBA this year. And a turnover by the Rockets, their third of the first quarter. Williams finds Ber coming off a three for13 game three gets his second field goal make that third field goal he’s got six points and Utah has its largest lead of the first period yeah and that’s the second time in this game we’ve seen Our show the ball at the three-point line put it on the floor the floor like a perimeter player and be able to pull up and make a shot Houston needs those to drop that a three shooting over 70% % from three in the series. Hey Dave, I don’t believe that the Houston Rockets can win this game unless they make at least six or seven threes tonight and that’s the first one they’re going to need more. They shot 28% from three during the regular season. Alston hit a three earlier in the quarter and now Badier and then Brewer on the other end for Utah with a two and Ronnie Brewer has six points. A moment ago, Brewer went to the hole and got there and scored which gave him a little confidence. McGrady goes under the screen and then he hits the jump shot. And a good job by T-Mac at the other end. One of the curses of having great ability and skill like Tracy McGrady does and making the game look so easy is that at times people are going to call you out and say that you’re soft hall of fame player and he showed a lot of heart here. McGrady playing with that sore knee now has six points. Backto back baskets ret scoring average for his 11th year and straight out of high school. former first round pick of the Raptors. Shot clock at two. McGrady with a steal. Alustin will take it himself and it’s slotted away by Brewer, but it will stay with the Rocket. He started the first two games of the series while Rafer Alston was healing from that hamstring injury. Stole up from outside Jazz lead this series two games to one. Rockets try to even things up before they return to Houston for game five Tuesday. Nice feed by McGrady. [Applause] Nice play by Harper. Battling McGrady. What a feed to Porter from Darren Williams. [Applause] Second straight year these two teams have been in the first round. Utah won last year in seven games. Winning game seven in Houston. Williams gets inside. Unbelievable. Magic Johnson like one-handed off the dribble fullcourt laser to Kyle Corver. And then we’re going to see him off what we call the UCLA cut. Not a good job by Houston. He lays it in. And we’ll be back in Houston after this. This series, Utah leads two to one after Houston stole game three here in Salt Lake City. The only team to win this season, regular season and postseason. Obviously, only team to win twice here. And that time, it was a one-on-one situation. Took his time, rose up over Harper and hit the shot. Jackson with a steal. Jackson will drive on Darren Williams and score. Now they’re out there together along with McGrady in the back court. Williams with a kick out. His foot was on the line. That’s a two. So now he can get him a little bit of a rest. Rest him through the timeout and then get it back into the game. Corver hits a two with two on the shot clock. Great pick up from Philadelphia who did give him some trouble in game three. Badier from the corner off the mark from three-point line. Great board and outlet by Boozer Williams to AK47. Pero with the stop. Here comes Williams. That’s another good possession though. They use a lot of clock and I look for Rick Adler to go back to the Brady here shortly. And a hard foul by Jerry Sloan wants a flagrant but won’t get it. And Carolinko will go to the line. That’s the first on Badier. Third on the Rockets in the quarter. Well, this is what playoff basketball is about. No layups. You’re not trying to hurt anybody, but if somebody comes in there, it’s both teams missing layups. A great he finds Landry. Great block by Boozer. Williams bumped by Skola and that’s the first on Skola. Fourth on the layup. Great pass by McGrady. Boozer recovers and that’s a clean block and that’s a very difficult play to make defensively. Jordan is much more comfortable coaching the team without Gilbert even though he’s a dynamic talent. He knows the rest of that team and how the moving parts fit and function and they played at a high level without Gilbert. Speaking of dynamic talents, Andre Kolinko, first rushing player ever drafted in the first round. Much better season this year all around after really struggling last year. Some runins with Jerry Sloan is active early and it looked like it early on this first quarter really going inside and Heather so far Boozer is perfect at the free throw line by 44 just two of eight from the field. eight points as Williams fouls McGrady. That time he had Darren Williams guard him. He’s got a length advantage able to go up and get a clean look. Held to seven. Remember Houston led for a good part of the first period. Shot clock at six. Williams beautiful drive. Karolinko there to take it home. Attacking before the half court set and more movement on offense. Things to look for guys in the second half here. and better three-point shooting for Houston as well. Heather just two of 10 from behind the line and again a lowscoring affair tonight. Utah was fit in the NBA in scoring in the regular season. Brady with a block on Carolinko and Mumbo hands it back to him. It really hurt Houston getting into the penalty early in that second quarter. Mumbo with a rebound. Shot clock down to three. Can’t stick it back in. Austin had the air ball. He’s gone cold after a good start. at five points in the first couple of minutes for the Rockets. Hasn’t scored since. Well, and this is the problem with Houston. They’re playing the kind of game they want to play, but they have just this inability. Austin has missed his last six from the field. McGrady has gone cold as well. He’s now five of 14 for the game. And the Rockets settling for jumpers here in the early third. The one guy that may be able to give the Rockets some energy. We haven’t seen much from Ray Austin tonight. Not sure how that hamstring problem is affecting him, but we’ve seen two phenomenal drives and finishes by Ronnie Brewer. A little change of direction. Attacks McGrady. Unbelievable hang time. Able to change direction in midair. Seemingly double header on ABC tomorrow and on TNT as well tomorrow. That NBA TV Monday, Toronto, Orlando. Cleveland, Washington kicks us off tomorrow on ABC followed by San Antonio and Phoenix. Another inside basket for the Utah Jazz. Those scoring problems, you know, are are once again becoming not only a symptom, but a major problem here tonight for Houston. Okur from outside. He’s held the leading scoreer for Utah with 40 seconds going back to the end of the second quarter without a made shot from the field. Try it. You got to get to the hole. You got to make something happen. Get to the free throw line. Instead of three-point try, finally something goes down. Badier hits the triple. We got three guys out without a field goal for the Rockets. Back within 13. Cruiser on Matumbbo. A nice defense by Rafer Alustin. Really a self-made player. Started out in the CBO with Idaho. Alston did finds McGrady in transition. McGrady loves having Austin. Says he’s much more comfortable off the ball. One out of two. Utah’s lead is 11 here in game four of this first round playoff series. The home team has yet to win a game. Austin cuts it to single digits. The Rockets trying to even the series in the first quarter. Yeah. And and Austin is probably Houston’s most charismatic player. So if he can get into it here and give them a spark, just give them a huge boost confidence-wise. But Darren Williams so tough. Bounces right back with a jump shot giving him nine points. He’s only taken five shots from the field in this game. Utah back up 11. [Applause] McGrady a great dish to Matumbbo for the dunk. Six assists per game in the regular season. Brewer for three. No mumbo tried to give it to a teammate but it ends up back in the hands of Caroleno on the drive and Bier comes over for the swap. On the defensive end makes a great play. Well, not the most athletic guy at the three position but great timing. sniffs it out, goes up, but you know that foot is throbbing and he makes a phenomenal block and then gets a little hit on occur on the way down. You love that. First round draft pick of Memphis. He was traded to Houston for Stromile Swift and Rudy Gay who had a terrific season with Memphis. Austin with the three. Three shots from the field. [Music] Nils posting up scores over Landry from 1973 with the Chicago Bulls. [Applause] Grady off there. He wanted a foul. He’s now six of 19 for the game. Approaching the two-minute mark here in the third quarter. Brewer has been terrific all night long. Brady is 15. Olen is 10. Shot clock down to five. McGrady got it blocked. Got it back and sticks it home for the Rockets. What a block out. McGrady on Brewer able to knock down the jumper and Rockets within five. And Utah utilizes those are the best matchup and the Utah Jazz are moving the ball and a lot of guys are touching it and making shots. Great hustle by Lundry. counted and the foul after the McGrady miss. I mean, this is the best. But I tell you what, you talk about strength and again the persistence to hang in there. Look at that smile. Three minutes to help his team win game three. And if you’re Houston, where is the scoring going to come from? No. McGrady as CER hits the shot. Get good looks at the basket. We’ll see how they do it. Six points now for Carver. Houston has not turned the ball over most. Only one giveaway in the last 23 minutes is Bobby Jackson is fouled on the way to the goal. Three minute gone by here in the fourth. Williams off the screen. Austin with a great pick. Austin comes up with the ball and late for Austin to the basket. Cuts the Utah lead to one into the 9minute mark and we have the next timeout. Rest him through the timeout and get him back. If this group keeps going like this, he may buy some more rest. How many people thought this was going to be a sweep as Williams scores after Utah won the first? Boozer on the floor. He’s not scored in the second half. Williams so strong and quick. Throws by two defenders and gets to the rim. Continues tomorrow. Grayson stripped on the floor for the first time in the fourth quarter. Got it taken away by Harper. And loser back on the floor for Utah as well. Jazz lead by five trying to go up three to one in this best of seven first round series. Here’s Boozer. His first points of the second half. Utah by seven. A point for Houston after cutting the Utah lead to one. Midway through the fourth. Jazz by seven. Horver off the bounce. Kyle Corver. This is a very interesting matchup. And the crowd on its feet here in Salt Lake City. McGrady blows by Harper. Scores on Boozer. 21 for T-Mac. He set out the first three minutes of this quarter and this play’s obviously going to involve him. Great job of drawing the foul on Harper in Beijing. [Applause] Rockets of course he’ll be uh ready to go for the 2008 2009 season as Landry comes up with a steal. Houston ball under five to go. Down six to Utah. Five turnovers in the quarter for the Jazz. McGrady can’t score but he’s fouled by Harper. That was a two-point attempt by McGrady. Fifth foul on Heartbreak. Horver picks up Teamac. 10 to shoot. McGrady off his foot. McGrady on the baseline finds Landry. Great move by Carl Landry, the rookie out of Purdue. Oh, the position. Can they find a way? Darren Williams blows right by Austin and throws it down over camp on a game. Wow. A permanent one. Linko with the great defensive play and how about out of a timeout no less. Darren Williams just blows by Austin and stuffs it through Utah by seven and they clear it out for Williams again on Austin and he gets past him again and scores again. A guy pronouncing that he is the best player on the floor. Darren Williams tonight at key times has made the big play. You saw the one dunk able to look off the defender. That’s a tough finish. All attempts in the fourth quarter and Houston down eight with a minute to go. Good play by Badier to knock it away from Karoleno who’s still down. Five on four for the Rockets if they hurry. Badier from way out for Rocket. Shot clock at eight. Kolinko Horbert for three. and Houston or make that Utah now 0 for 14 from three. Here’s McGrady with the Rockets down five. Austin 12 to shoot. Hol’s three. Got it. It’s a two-point game. Now they got a foul. Trapped first and then fouled. And they grab. Here’s Jackson. Drives on Corver. He blew the layup, but Landry throws it down to get Houston within two. Under 8 seconds to go. Inbound to Williams and he’s fouled by Austin and Williams is shaken up. Quick. Inbound to Jackson from the corner. Missed the three. Rebound by Landry. Carol blocks it. Game over. Utah wins it by four and lead this best of seven
