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McGrady, Alston help Rockets grab huge win in Utah

Fri 25th, April 2008

Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Carl Landry lost a tooth from a collision in the second quarter, but came back and had a huge block in the final seconds to help Houston preserve a 94-92 win over Utah in Game 3 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Tracy McGrady scored 27 points and Rafer Alston tallied 20 in his return to the lineup for the Rockets, who lost twice at home to begin the series. Luis Scola ended with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Shane Battier scored 12 for the Rockets.

"This was the biggest win of the season," McGrady said. "We played like we really didn't want to go home. We played with a lot of passion, a lot of heart."

Landry, who finished with seven points, 11 rebounds and two blocks, was forced to leave the game with 2:42 left in the second quarter after receiving an elbow from Utah's Carlos Boozer. However, Landry then helped the Rockets stave off what could have been a devastating loss against the team that had the best home record this season.

The Rockets were ahead 93-86, but Kyle Korver hit a three-pointer with 1:05 remaining. After a McGrady offensive foul, Mehmet Okur nailed a three from the left wing with 37.4 seconds left for a one-point margin.

McGrady then missed poorly on a jumper, but Utah chose to run a play right away instead of calling a timeout. Deron Williams drove to his left to the lane, but Landry came over and swatted the ball away.

Scola made one free throw with 0.2 seconds left and the Jazz failed on a desperation pass at the end, ensuring the series will go back to Houston for a fifth game.

"He [Coach Sloan] said that he wanted to plan a timeout, but once we got the ball and I looked up there was only 15 seconds left, and the play he wanted it would have been hard to get it off with 15 seconds, so we kind of scrambled," Williams said. "I ended up throwing it to Kyle, I didn't see Shane on him. There were so many people down there. I got it back with about six seconds left and tried to drive, and Landry made a great play."

Williams had 28 points and 12 assists, while Boozer ended with 15 points and 13 rebounds in the loss. Okur had 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Jazz, who went an NBA-best 37-4 at home during the regular season, but one of those defeats came to the Rockets.

"They came out and executed their game plan, especially in the second half" Williams said. "We were getting easy baskets in the first half, but we weren't able to get those same baskets. They did a great job down the stretch."

Game 4 is scheduled for Saturday in Utah.

Alston, who had missed the first two games of the series due to a hamstring injury, went 8-for-14 from the field.

"To come back in this game and put up 20 points, five assists and one turnover is unbelievable," McGrady said. "We missed him a lot."

McGrady, who had been 0-for-7 from the field in the fourth quarter the previous two games, finally hit his first shot in a final period in the series on a fadeaway jumper to give Houston a 90-86 lead with 2:16 left. He then hit another shot from the left corner, and a foul away from the ball allowed Landry to hit one free throw for the seven-point margin with 1:42 remaining, capping 10 consecutive Houston points.

Houston led 27-23 after one quarter and led by as many as eight in the second, but the Jazz tied it at 44 at the break. Matt Harpring hit a three-pointer in the final minute and nailed a free throw with a second left to forge the tie.

Utah pushed ahead 68-61 with 2 1/2 minutes left in the third and was in front 76-70 going to the fourth.

Game Notes

Ronnie Brewer scored 12 and Korver 10 for the Jazz, who went 20-of-33 at the foul line...McGrady went 11-of-26 from the field, while Okur struggled at 3-of-13.

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