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 Deron Williams shrugged off a late injury and scored 22 points and Mehmet Okur added 16 points and 16 rebounds as the Jazz beat the Rockets 90-84 on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Game 3 is Thursday night in Utah, where the Jazz went 37-4 during the regular season.
McGrady, a seven-time All-Star who has never advanced past the first round of the playoffs, had 23 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists to just miss his first postseason triple-double. But he went 0-for-4 from the field and scored only one point in the final quarter as the Rockets lost to the Jazz for the eighth time in the last 10 meetings.
McGrady scored 20 points in Game 1, but went 0-for-3 from the field in the fourth quarter of Utah's 93-82 victory.
The Rockets still had their chances to win this one.
Luis Scola hit two free throws with 1:21 to go to cut Utah's lead to 85-82.
After Williams missed a driving layup, Houston's Bobby Jackson hit a 3-pointer that would have tied the game but Scola was called for an offensive foul away from the ball when he pushed Andrei Kirilenko. Jackson rebounded from a 3-for-15 effort in Game 1 to score 18 points.
Kirilenko grabbed a key offensive rebound on Utah's next possession and Kyle Korver flipped in a one-handed shot as the shot clock expired to put the game out of reach with 20 seconds to go.
Carlos Boozer added 13 points and Williams had five assists for the Jazz, who closed the game with a 14-8 run.
The Jazz led most of the way and were up 64-61 when Williams appeared to twist his left ankle with 1:47 remaining in the third quarter. He limped to the locker room with a trainer.
Williams said he didn't hurt his ankle, but re-aggravated a bruised tailbone that has bothered him for a week.
Ronnie Price, Williams' replacement, hit a 3-pointer just before the quarter ended to give Utah a 69-67 lead. Williams returned to the bench before the final quarter began.
He was back on the court with 9:18 left in the game, after Aaron Brooks blew by Price for a game-tying layup. McGrady went out for a rest when Williams came back and Williams drove for a layup with 7:41 left to put the Jazz up 76-74.
McGrady returned with 7:07 remaining and was fouled on a jumper with 6:39 left. He hit a free throw to complete the three-point play and tied the game at 76-all. Williams hit a short shot at the other end to put Utah back on top.
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Kirilenko stole the ball from McGrady near the 5-minute mark and Williams made a free throw to give the Jazz an 81-76 lead. McGrady finished with five turnovers.
While the Rockets played better than they did in Game 1, they still had no answer for Williams, who hit the first three 3-pointers he attempted.
Boozer committed his second foul and went to the bench with 5:47 left in the first quarter, but the Rockets started committing careless turnovers that led to easy baskets and Utah stretched the lead to 26-17.
Houston shot and rebounded better than it did in the first half of Game 1, but trailed by exactly the same score at the break, 47-41. Okur, who scored only four points in the opener, had 10 in the first half on Monday, including two 3-pointers in the final 35 seconds.
The Rockets scored mostly inside in the first half, but went 0-for-7 from 3-point range.
McGrady had 16 points in the first half, then had six points and five assists in the third quarter.
The Rockets will need a near-miraculous comeback in this series to win in the playoffs for the first time since the 1996-97 season. They can conjure hope from the fact that they handed Utah one of its four home losses this season
-- but that was at the start of the regular season.
Notes: The Jazz have led at halftime in all nine playoff games with Houston dating to last season. ... Houston has lost its last four playoff series after dropping the first game. They haven't won a series after losing Game 1 since the second round in 1995, their second championship season, when they rallied past Phoenix in seven games. ... Reserve Chuck Hayes grabbed 10 rebounds for Houston.
[Associated Press; By CHRIS DUNCAN]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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