The Jazz turned up the defense yesterday as they decided to change gears and play really tough against the stars of the Rockets and let everyone else try to beat them and it worked to a T last night.  Yao wound up with 20 points and 5 turnovers and T-Mac was only 6 for 18 from the floor and finished with only 18 points.  Deron Williams had an outstanding game last night with 25 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists on 10 of 14 shooting from the floor.  Matt Harpring was outstanding again off the bench with 17 points and 6 rebounds in only 25 minutes on the floor.  Mehmet Okur finally had a decent game on offense with 16 points and 6 rebounds.  Carlos Boozer also had another solid game with 15 points and 10 rebounds.  The Jazz and Rockets are now tied at 2-2 in this series.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270428026

The Jazz turned up the defense last night and that’s why they won the game.  The Jazz only allowed 4 Rockets to score last night and that send an NBA Playoff record!  The Jazz bench also had a big part of the victory for the Jazz as they outscored the Rockets bench 33-0!  The Jazz have decided that T-Mac and Yao are going to get their points and they did last night as they out 50 on the board.  But Coach Sloan decided that the Jazz defense would be concentrated on stopping everyone else on the court and that strategy worked perfectly last night.  Hopefully, the Jazz will be able to repeat that type of defense the rest of this series.  Carlos Boozer led the way for the Jazz with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 4 assists.  Matt Harpring had a solid game off of the bench with 13 points and 7 rebounds.  Deron Williams had a horrible shooting night (5 of 18) but he still wound up with 11 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists.  Gordan Giricek also was solid off of the bench with 10 points and 3 rebounds in only 22 minutes.  Mehmet Okur had another awful night on offense as he only shot 2 of 12 from the floor and wound up with 7 points and 3 rebounds.  He did play well on defense though as he had 4 steals and 4 blocked shots.  The Rockets still lead the series 2-1.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270426026

The Jazz had big problems in this basketball game.  The biggest problem was the fact that the Houston Rockets had a 38-17 edge in free throw attempts and that’s hard to deal with.  Carlos Boozer was on absolute fire as he led the way for the Jazz with 41 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists.  Deron Williams did a good job of running the Jazz’ offense with 15 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.  Matt Harpring had a solid game off of the bench with 14 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.  The Jazz held the Rockets to 36.1% from the floor but Yao and T-Mac combined for 58 points tonight.  The Rockets now lead this series 2-0.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270423010

It was looking good at halftime for the Utah Jazz as they were leading the game 42-33.  But the third quarter was a disaster as the Rockets outscored the Jazz 26-11 and the Jazz couldn’t recover.  Also a problem for the Jazz was their terrible shooting from the floor as they only hit 35.6% of their shots from the floor.  Deron Williams came to play as he scored 15 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, dished out 9 assists and stole the ball 3 times.  Derek Fisher also had a solid game with 15 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.  Matt Harpring played really well off the bench with 14 points and 8 rebounds.  Carlos Boozer scored 11 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, but, he only shot 4 for 17 from the floor.  The Rockets now lead the series 1-0.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=270421010

This should be one of the best first-round series in the NBA playoffs this season.  They have contrasting styles so it will be interesting to watch.  Watching Jerry Sloan and Jeff Van Gundy coach against each other will be like watching a chess match.  Here’s the breakdown of the matchups:

POINT GUARD:  The Jazz will look to use the size difference at point guard to their advantage in this series.  Deron Williams has become a fantastic point guard for the Utah Jazz as he can do it all.  He averaged 16.2 points, 3.3 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game.  Look for him to post up Rafer Alston if he gets the opportunity to and that will be a huge mis-match in the Jazz’ favor.  Rafer Alston of the Rockets is a speedy, shoot-first type of point guard.  He has a nice three-point stroke when he’s not selfish with the basketball.  He averaged 13.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game this season.  EDGE:  JAZZ

SHOOTING GUARD:  Tracy McGrady is determined to have the Rockets win a playoff series, because it’s something that he’s never done in his NBA career.  McGrady should be able to really go nuts on the Jazz, especially if the Jazz use Derek Fisher against him on defense.  I have a funny feeling that Andrei Kirilenko will be covering T-Mac most of the time.  It won’t matter who’s guarding him because he’s going to go off in this series.  He averaged 24.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 6.5 assists per game this season, but look for him to improve on all of those numbers in this series.  Derek Fisher did a good job for the Jazz this season as he averaged 10.1 points, 1.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.  He has a nice outside shot, but he’s likely to get shut down in this series.  EDGE:  GIGANTIC FOR THE ROCKETS

SMALL FORWARD:  Andrei Kirilenko had an off season with his offense, but his defense stayed strong.  He averaged 8.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.  Look for him to pick his game up in the playoffs because he’s a much better basketball player than he showed this season.  He will hit the boards hard in the playoffs and play his usual stellar defense.  Shane Battier of the Rockets is a good team player as he averaged 10.1 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists.  Still, Battier will have problems with the Jazz’ forwards because of their size and strength.  EDGE:  JAZZ

POWER FORWARD:  Carlos Boozer of the Jazz did his best Karl Malone imitation this season as he averaged 20.9 points, 11.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game.  Look for Boozer to have a great series against the Rockets as Chuck Hayes and Juwan Howard will have a hard time keeping Boozer away from the basket.  Young Chuck Hayes has his work cut out for him in this series.  He did play very well when he was elevated to the starting lineup in April.  He averaged 5.6 points, 6.7 rebounds and 0.6 assists this season.  He will need to do more on offense to make Boozer work on the defensive side of the court, or else Boozer will have a big series.  EDGE:  HUGE FOR THE JAZZ

CENTER:  Yao Ming is the best center in the NBA and this season he took his game to a new level.  To be a superstar you have to do it in the playoffs and he will starting tonight.  Yao averaged 25.0 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game this season as Coach Van Gundy convinced Yao to be more selfish with the basketball.  Yao will probably be guarding Carlos Boozer a lot as the Jazz’ center, Mehmet Okur likes to shoot a lot from the outside.  Okur averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  This will be an interesting matchup.  EDGE:  ROCKETS

BENCH:  The Jazz have a huge edge here.  Matt Harpring led the NBA in floorburns as he dives for every loose ball and his enthusiasm rubs off on his teammates when he’s on the court.  He averaged 11.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.  Gordan Giricek is a soft player but he’s a good outside shooter.  He averaged 7.8 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game this season.  Rookies Paul Millsap (6.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists) and Ronnie Brewer (4.6 points, 1.3 rebounds, 0.4 assists) both will give the Jazz good minutes off the bench.  Veteran Jarron Collins will provide a couple of minutes of rest for one of the big men on the Jazz, but dont’ expect much from him as he only averaged 2.5 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game.

The Rockets bench will not play much in this series with the exception of Luther Head and Juwan Howard.  Head is a great shooter and he provides instant offense off the bench.  He averaged 10.9 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game this season. Juwan Howard will be important in the paint as he averaged 9.7 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game this season.  Kirk Snyder will likely get a chance to contribute some in this series as he only averaged 4.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game this season.  The Rockets will need the minutes from Snyder that would have went to Bonzi Wells if he didn’t quit the team.  Dikembe Mutombo will replace Yao when he needs a rest.  He’s still an elite defender and a good rebounder.  He averaged 3.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game this season.  EDGE:  JAZZ

PREDICTION:  This will be a hard fought series, but the Jazz’ teamwork will prevail in 7 games.