Jazz come up with clutch plays in Game 7 Charley Rosen / FOXSports.com Posted: 6 hours ago Seventh games are always a gas! And they are especially memorable when they come down to the waning moments ─ like Utah's pulse-pounding 103-99 win in Houston that grounded the Rockets and vaulted the Jazz into the second round. The enormous pressure of the win-or-go-fishing seventh games has varying effects on players. Some become sparkling diamonds. Some become inert lumps of coal. And some remain prisoners of their own strengths and weaknesses. Let's take a closer look at the key participants and see how they fared under the bright lights. HOUSTON Tracy McGrady started the game in a semi-funk, as though he couldn't decide if this was really the most important game of his career or not. He seemed quite passive until he finally scored his first hoop (at 4:10 of the first). From then on, T-Mac was mostly on his game. He was quick enough to turn the corner, even though the Jazz tried to double him on high screen/rolls. Then, when the defense ganged up on him once more as he entered the lane, McGrady started dropping dimes on all his teammates. Later on, once the Jazz were forced to stretch their defense to cover Houston's perimeter shooters, McGrady simply took the ball to the hole and was totally unstoppable. For example: Early in the fourth quarter, McGrady was playing one-on-one with Andrei Kirilenko atop the foul circle, and went through a series of dazzling fakes that spun AK like a top. By the time Kirilenko had recovered his equilibrium, all he could do was foul McGrady. But that's not all T-Mac did. A back-door cut led to a dunk. A dive-cut earned him a trip to the foul line. And for most of the game, every offensive play ran through him. That's a huge responsibility for any player, no matter how talented he might be. But the true test of how McGrady responded was his somewhat dismal performance in the last two minutes. Forget about the dunk he scored with less than ten seconds remaining and the Jazz up by four points. Utah's defense parted like the Red Sea and gave McGrady a free pass. What was more important, and more damning, were the two jumpers T-Mac had previously missed. There he was, shredding Utah's defense with tricky drives time and time again. Buckets, assists, free throws ─ all good things came to him when he attacked the rim. But then, with the game and the season on the line, he stepped back and lofted 20-foot jumpers. It was the easy way. The safe way. A short-cut that led to nowhere. McGrady had several other bummed-out moments. Like shooting only 5-for-9 from the stripe. Like getting posted and stamped by Kirilenko, Matt Harpring, and generally being used on defense. Like going 0-for-4 from beyond the bonus line, even though the Jazz went under several S/Rs and granted him plenty of time and space to get his stroke geared up. So, cheers for T-Mac's 29 points and his 13 assists. But a razz-berry for his failure to take over when the game was up for grabs. Yao Ming tooketh and Yao Ming gaveth. He started the game by making several relatively quick-release, no-dribble shots that were designed to limit the effectiveness of Utah's double-downs that had plagued him all series long. A terrific idea. And as the game wore on, Yao occasionally maneuvered himself into dunking position under the basket, knocked down some of his turn-around-lifters (he doesn't really jump), and made his free throws. On the down-side, Yao had three of his shots blocked, bobbled innumerable passes, was routinely beaten to rebounds, and was absolutely destroyed by Carlos Boozer. Indeed, Utah's aggressive attacks at both ends of the court always made Yao look slow, and often made him look clumsy. Like McGrady, Yao wound up with 29 points, but his six rebounds weren't enough. And his defensive deficiencies were the primary reason why the Rockets went under. Here's the one play that characterized Rafer Alston's performance. In the opening quarter, Deron Williams posted Alston and scored on an easy flip-shot. Alston responded as though he was playing a pickup game in a schoolyard: He grabbed the subsequent in-bounds pass, then rushed the ball across the time-line and tossed up a wild 3-pointer that was way off the mark. Seventh games are no place to play the revenge of Macho Man. And no place to shoot 3-11 overall, and 2-8 from downtown (including a banker from straightaway that was more of an accident than a design). Shane Battier played with grace under pressure. Hitting clutch triples to rally his team both early and late in the game. Helping on defense. Blocking shots. Denying entry passes to whomever he was guarding. And playing like the winner he is. Unfortunately, Battier is a role player and an afterthought on offense, who's seldom put in make-or-break situations. Too bad for Houston. Juwan Howard was a mess. Missing both of his free throws and two of his three field goal attempts (including a gimme 10-footer from the baseline). Chuck Hayes was usually on the inside looking out. His normally rugged defense was ragged. And in 28 minutes, he was expected to capture more than two rebounds. Dikembe Mutombo played a terrific three minutes. Scoring on a tip-dunk, making his only free throw, snatching three rebounds, and even blocking a shot. He definitely should have played more, especially since Yao was getting chumped by Boozer. UTAH Carlos Boozer was The Man ─ 35 points, 14 rebounds, and five assists. What did he do in the clutch? Come down with two crucial offensive rebounds, and shoot 2-2 from the stripe. Give Boozer the Ernest Hemingway Grace-Under-Pressure Award. Deron Williams was more aggressive with the ball than he had been in recent games. Driving, shooting, assisting (14), and running the offense with a sure hand. To say nothing of his lock-down defense on Alston. Except for a few sloppy passes, Williams played a near-perfect game. Derek Fisher did a fairly good job in defense of T-Mac ─ using his body and lower center of gravity to frequently lock up McGrady's legs and hips. On offense, he made several important shots (in seventh games, all made shots are important), moved the ball, and avoided making mistakes. Andrei Kirilenko had difficulty staying with T-Mac (who didn't?), and generally scurried around on defense as is his wont. If he only came up with one blocked shot, he menaced at least four others. But AK gets a big kiss from Jerry Sloan for taking and making a gutsy 3-ball that knotted the game late in the fourth quarter. Mehmet Okur pushed, pulled, banged, floored, and fouled Yao Ming, and also latched on to eleven rebounds. In general, Okur's offense was much sharper than it had been in the previous games. And his game glittered for the pair of immensely critical treys that he hit late in the fourth quarter. As ever, Matt Haring hustled and bustled. If his shot was slightly out of synch, he made up for all of his failings by managing a last-minute offensive rebound that helped break the Rockets' back. Gordan Giricek had a turn at guarding T-Mac and hit enough shots (3-for-5, including a big 3) to trump McGrady's less than stellar defense. What did the game come down to? Utah's coming off the mark with more intensity than Houston and not folding when the Rockets made their move late. Utah also maintained its discipline when Houston likewise stepped up the defensive pressure. The clutch triples by Kirilenko and Okur. Boozer's big-time shot-making. Williams' poise. Wearing McGrady down by alternating his defenders. Exposing Yao's flat-footed flaws. And those three huge offensive rebounds at the end. Maturity. Self-knowledge. Confidence. Mutual trust. Playing hard and playing smart. That's what the Utah Jazz are all about. http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/6778402 --

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