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Ensemble performance ignites Jazz to win
Deseret News (Salt Lake City), May 3, 2008 by Jody Genessy Deseret News
The Houston Rockets showed they can't survive on Tracy McGrady alone, while the Utah Jazz didn't have to rely on just one superstar.
In other words, Friday night was a good one for Jazz fans who prefer groups to solo acts and who would rather play Rock Band than Guitar Hero.
Sure, Deron Williams took the lead role in Utah's first-round- clinching 113-91 win over the Houston Rockets, but he got plenty of support from some sidekicks during the sold-out show at EnergySolutions Arena.
Mehmet Okur and Ronnie Brewer played the parts of Ringo Starr and George Harrison, strumming and drumming two of the more impressive accompanying performances.
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Okur racked up his fifth consecutive double-double against Houston, scoring 19 points to go with his 13 rebounds. Brewer, meanwhile, gave the Jazz another spark with 13 points and six rebounds o while also clamping down defensively on McGrady in the pivotal third quarter o in a game he wasn't sure he would play in.
"We really did a good job on offense. We really shared the ball," Okur said. "It was a nice game. It was a nice win."
Game 6 was Okur's best-shooting night by far. After only hitting 36.8 percent of his shots in the first five games, Okur finally broke out of his slump by nailing 7 of 13 field goals. One of those about brought the house and the rim down. Early in the first quarter, Okur head-faked Luis Scola and then powered in for a strong two-handed dunk.
The Jazz's starting center set the tone early from the outside by drilling a 3-pointer in the opening quarter to help soften up the ESA rims for the Utah, which had 10 threes.
Okur was a consistent workhorse on the boards in this series, averaging 12.7 rebounds in a concerted effort to crash the glass.
"I was able to get some rebounds in this series," he said. "I feel good right now."
As for Brewer, he went from being on ice to helping the Jazz ice the game and the series. As of Friday morning, his availability for Game 6 wasn't certain after he injured his right hamstring during the Game 5 loss at Houston.
Brewer felt good enough to start the game, and then he looked anything but hurt. He had two steals that led to buckets in the first quarter. He then added to the Jazz's third-quarter spurt by sinking a 3-pointer to give Utah its biggest lead at 85-65 as they regained control after McGrady got the Rockets back into the game at halftime.
Though injured, Brewer wasn't about to miss this opportunity so he toughed it out despite some tightness.
"I just have to play through the pain. I knew how important this game was," he said. "This was my first year actually being in a major role. I kind of didn't want them to be like, 'When Fish (Derek Fisher) left it was a drop off of the team.' So I just tried to give a 110 percent and provide a spark for the team and I did that tonight."
After McGrady exploded for 28 points in the first half, he took upon himself to stiffen up his defense. He tried to stay in front of McGrady and force him to take tougher shots. McGrady ended up missing all four attempts and was held scoreless in the period as Utah turned a four-point lead into 20.
"I had two fouls but it was the second half, so i knew I could be a little aggressive, be a little physical with him," Brewer said. "Fortunately he was missing and we were getting the ball and executing on offense, and we got a quick lead."
E-mail: jody@desnews.com
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