Sunday April 27, 2008 1:43 AM


Okur's late rebound seals victory for Jazz


Game 4: Utah 86, Houston 82

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Damien Pierce
Rockets.com Staff Writer
Mehmet Okur has stretched Houston's defense throughout the postseason with his long-range shooting.

On Saturday night, Utah's big man beat the Rockets like a more traditional center -- on the glass.

Despite staging a late comeback, the Rockets couldn't overcome an offensive rebound by Okur in the waning moments as Utah snatched an 86-82 victory Saturday night in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series at EnergySolutions Arena.

Okur corralled the offensive rebound with 5.5 seconds remaining in regulation after Deron Williams missed his second straight free throw in a one-possession game. The Rockets immediately fouled Utah's center, but Okur hit both free throws to put the game out of Houston's reach.

Just like that, the Rockets are a setback away from being eliminated by Utah for the second straight postseason. With Saturday's victory, the Jazz seized a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series heading into Game 5 Tuesday night in Houston. Only eight teams in NBA history have recovered from such a deficit to win a series.

That's why that single rebound hurt so much.

"Huge," Utah forward Carlos Boozer said. "I didn't expect D-Will to miss it. Memo was right there, went back up strong, got fouled and knocked down two free throws. Big play."

With about two minutes remaining, the Jazz looked like they were going easily claim their latest win in the series.

Williams, Utah's do-everything point guard, blew past Rafer Alston on consecutive drives, giving the Jazz an 82-73 advantage with 2:04 remaining. But the Rockets didn't quit.

Following a made free throw by Luis Scola, Shane Battier and Alston drilled back-to-back three-pointers to reduce Utah's lead to 82-80 with 15.5 seconds left.

After Carl Landry answered Kyle Korver's two free throws with a dunk at the other end, the Rockets fouled Williams.

Williams missed both free throws -- only for Okur to come away with the offensive board. He made both free throws, capping off a night in which he scored 14 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.

It was the last board that hurt the most.

"We had our chances," Rockets reserve point guard Bobby Jackson said. "That's the bottom line. We didn't capitalize on, you know, at the end. (Williams) missed two free throws and we had our chances to get that, come down and get a play for Tracy. That's the way we crumble sometimes. We know they're the best offensive rebounding team on the free throw line, so we kind of kept that in mind. We fought hard and we didn't play our best basketball, but we still had a chance to win it."

The Rockets managed to hang around despite trailing throughout the second half.

Behind an opening 10-2 run to start the third quarter, the Jazz bolted to a 16-point lead. The Rockets were able to recover from that before Williams' late run pushed Utah to a nine-point advantage in the fourth quarter.

Ultimately, Houston just couldn't overcome a rough offensive night. The Rockets shot 36.7 percent.

McGrady had 23 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists to pace the Rockets. But Houston's All-Star shooting guard missed 16-of-25 attempts.

He once again had a tough time getting touches in the fourth quarter as Utah doubled him.

"Their whole game plan was to beat him up the whole game and be very physical with him," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "I really have a hard time understanding some of the things they can do to him out on the floor. That hurts us when it's that physical, but we've got to find a way to respond to it. We did it at times."

Still, the Rockets had their chances in the end. They couldn't help feeling like they let one slip away after failing to control the glass. But even though the loss puts them in a serious hole, the Rockets haven't given up.

"The thing about this team is that they don't quit," Adelman said. "They never give up. We did what we had to do. We were looking to push it up and get the first shot we could get, see if we couldn't close the gap on them. We just have to come back and regroup and get that game back in Houston."