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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah: The Utah Jazz eliminated the
Houston Rockets from the National Basketball Association playoffs on
Friday, closing out their Western Conference first-round series with
a 113-91 victory.
Deron Williams collected 25
points and nine assists and Mehmet Okur added 19 and 13 rebounds for
the Jazz, who completed a 4-2 victory in the best-of-7 series and
booked a second-round clash with the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers,
who swept Denver in four games.
That series will open on Sunday
in Los Angeles, while the other Western Conference semifinal series,
San Antonio against New Orleans, starts on Saturday.
“It feels good,” Utah center
Okur said. “It has been a good challenge for us. They did such a
good job. They are some basketball team, I’ll tell you that. They
came out there and tried to win every game.”
The Jazz, who led by 4 points at
halftime, took control in the third period when they outscored the
Rockets 27-11.
By the fourth quarter Utah’s
home fans were already chanting “Beat L.A.”
Carlos Boozer had 15 points and
10 rebounds for the Jazz, while Rockets superstar Tracy McGrady had
40 points and 10 rebounds.
Even that wasn’t enough for
McGrady to break his run of playoff futility. He has never made it
out of the opening round in his 11-year career.
“It’s tough, it’s really
tough any time you have a lot of confidence in your teammates and
your team and have chances,” said McGrady, who remained winless in
seven career playoff series.
“It’s a hell of a ballclub
over there. But I thought we did some great things to put ourselves
in a great situation and to try to make this a series.”
The Rockets had rebounded from
two home defeats, but still couldn’t close out the series.
Houston erased an early 19-point
deficit with a rally late in the first half, but they couldn’t
stay on terms after the interval.
--AFP
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