Jazz down Rockets
Deron Williams scored eight of his 17 points in the fourth quarter and the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 86-82 on Saturday night in Salt Lake City to take a 3-1 series lead.
Mehmet Okur added 14 points and 18 rebounds, grabbing the biggest board of the game when Williams went 0 for 2 from the line with 7.3 seconds left and Utah only ahead by two.
The Rockets host Game 5 Tuesday and need a win to keep the series going.
Houston cut a 16-point third quarter deficit to a point and made a big push at the end after Shane Battier and Rafer Alston made 3-pointers in the final minute to get the Rockets back within two. Kyle Korver answered with two free throws for Utah to make it 84-80 with 12.5 seconds left, then after Carl Landry putback an offensive rebound, Williams had a chance to seal it for the Jazz.
He missed both attempts, but Okur was there for the offensive rebound and hit both free throws with 5.5 seconds to go. It was too much for the Rockets to overcome and Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko added an exclamatory block as the buzzer sounded and the Jazz left the court one win away from advancing.
Tracy McGrady, who is 0-6 in playoff series, scored 23 points to lead the Rockets. Only four came in the fourth quarter. He also pulled down 10 rebounds and added 8 assists.
Lakers 102, Nuggets 84: At Denver, Kobe Bryant scored 22 points and Los Angeles took a 3-0 lead in its first-round series by routing the flustered Nuggets at the Pepsi Center.
Game 4 is Monday night, and the Nuggets are going to have to get more out of their All-Star duo of Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson if they hope to take the series back to the Staples Center.
Anthony and Iverson were miserable from the floor, shooting a combined 10 for 38 and finishing with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
Los Angeles took an 83-64 lead into the fourth quarter and never looked back.
Luke Walton added 15 points off the bench for Los Angeles, and Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher each scored 14.
By the closing minutes, the Lakers’ bench was more interested in a fight in the stands that led to some belligerent fans being taken away by police officers. Even Bryant stuck a peek while teammate Jordan Farmar was shooting free throws at the other end of the court.
On his next touch, Bryant hit a 3-pointer from the right elbow for a 100-78 lead, then took a seat and acknowledged with a thumbs-up his very own cheering section that had drowned out the boo birds during the second half and continued the “MVP!” chants that serenaded him back in California.