Rockets lose Game 2

Updated (quotes added)--- April 22, 6:20 a.m.

HOUSTON, TX -- The Houston Rockets fought hard; scratched and clawed; but, suffered a 90 to 84 loss to the Utah Jazz Monday night at Toyota Center. The Rockets now trail the best-of-7 series two games to zero with Games 3 and 4 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Fans and local announcers can criticize the referees in tonight's game until their blue in the face; but, the refs didn't shoot 16 for 26 from the free throw line nor did the refs miss numerous lay ups in the first half like the Rockets did.

"Trying to get me fined. You can't say anything, you can't," said Rick Adelman. "All I can say is, you look at that play and I just saw briefly. I didn't look at it very long. He (Luis Scola) put his hand on Kirilenko's shoulder. Kirilenko fell back like a truck just hit him and you're going to make that call at that time of this game with just six seconds before Luis went to the basket and he got hammered? The same guy didn't make the call. All that stuff that went on in the game, you're going to make that call at that time? I really have a hard time with that."

"I don't like to put the loss on the ref," Scola said. "I don't think that's fair. It was part of the game and sometimes they make good calls and sometimes they make mistakes just like we do. I don't think we lost because of them."

"It was a foul," Kirilenko commented. "It was a game rule violation and it was called a foul. It was the right call in my opinion. It was one of the key plays in the game but there were a number of key plays in the fourth quarter."

Tracy McGrady was spectacular in the game -- for the first three quarters. McGrady finished the game with 23 points; 13 rebounds; and nine assists; however, McGrady seemed to run of gas and he scored just one point in the fourth quarter.

"I'm pretty tired. Fourth quarter I didn't have anything. It's tough man, banging with these guys. It's a physical team but I didn't like how we came out. What really got me going was that Matt Harpring has a football mentality. He's a very physical guy and we kind of got into it down there and that kind of got me going a little bit but from that point on, my team followed me."

Deron Williams led the Jazz with 22 points. Carlos Boozer scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half. Mehmet Okur added 16 points and 16 rebounds including two cold-blooded three-point baskets at the end of the second quarter to give the Jazz a 47 to 41 lead at halftime.

Bobby Jackson scored 18 points in the game; but, Jackson's two missed free throws late in the fourth quarter added to the Rockets' woes from the charity stripe. McGrady shot 5 for 9 from the free throw line while Luis Scola made just six of his 10 foul shot attempts.

Aaron Brooks scored 11 points off the Rockets' bench. Brooks used his speed and quickness to attack and finish at the basket. Chuck Hayes pulled down 10 rebounds in 26 plus minutes off the bench.

Utah's bench outscored the Rockets reserves 26 to 15. Ronnie Price scored eight of the points including a three-point shot at the end of the third quarter to give the Jazz a 69 to 67 lead heading to the fourth period.

After Andrei Kirilenko rebounded a brick by teammate Kyle Korver, with 20 seconds left in the game, Korver put the Jazz ahead 87 to 82 as his putback attempt just beat the shot clock buzzer.

Game 3 is Thursday. Tip-off is set for 9:30pm.