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Sunday April 29, 2007 1:57 AM




Jazz cruise past Rockets to even first round series


Game 4: Utah 98, Houston 85


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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer

During the days leading up to the Rockets' first round matchup against the Utah Jazz, Jeff Van Gundy respectfully referred to several members of Utah's bench as the Bully Brothers.

He could have applied that moniker to just about anyone wearing a Jazz jersey on Saturday night.

The Bully Brothers, err Jazz, pushed around the Rockets from start to finish and muscled their way to a relatively easy 98-85 victory over the Rockets in Game 4 of the first round playoff series at EnergySolutions Arena.

The Jazz evened the series at 2-2 and moved halfway home to becoming the 12th team in NBA playoffs history to recover from a 2-0 deficit in a best-of-seven series.

"They're making it a heck of a lot harder on us than we're making it on them," Van Gundy said. "They're paying a higher price to win."

Besides squandering much of the momentum that they gained by winning the first two games of the series, the Rockets return home for Game 5 Monday night seeking a response to back-to-back double-digit losses in Salt Lake City.

On Saturday night, the Rockets were simply outhustled and outworked.

The Jazz leaned on their defense to frustrate the Rockets, limiting Houston to 42.1 percent shooting and forcing their opponent to miss 14 of 20 shots from beyond the arc.

Tracy McGrady and Yao Ming, two players that were giving the Jazz fits in the early stages of the series, struggled to get into a groove against Utah's physical defense. They combined to score a series-low 38 points in Game 4. Yao had 20 points and nine rebounds with McGrady adding 18 points.

The rest of the Rockets didn't have any more luck matching Utah's intensity.

"It's plain and simple," Rockets point guard Rafer Alston said. "We're getting our (butts) kicked. We've got to find a way to stop them. We've got to find a way to rebound the ball. We've got to find a way to hang tough and when they go on long runs and make it tough for us to score, we've got to hang tough and continue to play the game."

The Rockets spent much of Friday reviewing film from their Game 3 setback after scoring a franchise-low 67 points in a playoff game.

On Saturday, the Rockets had good reason to wonder if they were watching a replay of that performance.

Just as they had done two days earlier, the Rockets stumbled after halftime. They missed their first five shots and allowed Utah to open the third period on a 13-4 run. Jazz point guard Deron Williams, who made 10 of 14 shots to finish with a game-high 25 points, got to the basket to either draw a foul or convert a layup on four possessions over the run.

The Rockets never recovered.

Before the third quarter was finished, Luther Head threw away a pass to Derek Fisher. Fisher lobbed the ball ahead to Gordan Giricek just in time for the sharpshooter to nail a three-pointer at the buzzer. The shot capped off a quarter in which the Jazz outscored the Rockets 33-17.

Utah eventually built as large as a 25-point lead and ended up shooting 46.1 percent from the field.

"They're doing a great job of putting pressure on us," McGrady said. "Taking us out of our comfort zone on the offensive end, extending us out on the post and making post entries tough. They're playing harder than us."

The Rockets are well aware that needs to change if they're going to play beyond the first round.

"Just because the venue changes, the results don't change unless we pay a higher price," Van Gundy said.