The Jazz Have Been Suffocated

Last night's Houston-Utah Game 5 will get little play this morning, for three reasons: 1) D'Antoni's exit is a league-rattling event; 2) Dallas's loss will lead to a league-rattling shake-up; and 3) no one cares about defense. If Tracy McGrady had dropped 49 points, or Luis Scola earned a triple double? Then we'd hear about it. But if Houston holds the league's best offense to 69 points in 90 possessions (a pro-rated offensive rating of 76.7, which is about 20 points worse than the Knicks offense), forcing the Jazz to shoot 37% from the field and 22% from three, causing 18 turnovers? We should hear about this.

Houston's defense has been unbelievable all season (it finished second in the league behind Boston); but this work is likely the Rockets' best game of the season. The Game 3 win in SLC was solid, but it didn't remind you of Houston's 22-game win streak. This one did. The offense of McGrady and Scola got the bulk of the credit for the midseason roll. In actuality, the defense sparked the streak ... and that's largely in the hands of Shane Battier (who shot 1-for-8 and was still a +12), Rafer Alston, Dikembe Mutombo, and the bench duo of Chuck Hayes and Carl Landry. (Not to diminish Mac and Scola's roles in the defense -- they do their jobs, and McGrady's man D can be downright awe-striking in moments.)

Most may shrug at Houston's Game 5 victory -- even the Associated Press game story (linked above) leads the fourth paragraph with "Now, the Jazz can end the series at home, where they went 37-4 during the regular season." What a relief, a Game 6 at home! Whew, glad we just got out of Houston alive! Earth to ... um, Earth: Houston just destroyed Utah. Let's hold off on foregone conclusions for a minute, yes?

If Houston's defense plays like that again, Utah's going down.