Rockets Force Game 6

It's amazing how badly the Utah Jazz look when the Houston Rockets disrupt Utah's rhythm with physical play.

The Rockets routed the Jazz 95 to 69 in Game 5 Wednesday night to send the best-of-seven series back to Utah for Game 6 on Friday night.

Both teams shot poorly in the first quarter; but, the Rockets led 18 to 16 at the end of the game's first 12 minutes.
The Rockets limited the Jazz to 16 more points in the second quarter while Houston's bench players scored 18 points in second stanza alone. Bobby Jackson scored nine of those points.

The Rockets led the Jazz 43 to 32 at halftime.

The third quarter was much of the same as the Rockets outscored the Jazz 31 to 23.

Tracy McGrady finished the game with 29 points; five rebounds; and five assists. Luis Scola scored 18 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Rafer Alston scored 14 points and Carl Landry added eight points and five rebounds.

The Rockets out rebounded the Jazz 46 to 38 in the game. Dikembe Mutombo helped Scola on the glass by pulling down 10 boards.

The Jazz shot a pedestrian 27 for 74 (36.5%) from the field for the game and a sorry 13 for 23 (56.5%) from the foul line.