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Thursday, May 29, 1997

Jazz aware of Rockets' comeback potential

By MICHAEL A. LUTZ / AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) - The Houston Rockets might finally have the Utah Jazz where they want them.

The Rockets will be in the familiar position of fighting off elimination Thursday night when they play host to the Jazz in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals. Houston is down 3-2 in the best-of-7 series.

The good news for Houston is that the Rockets are 11-2 in elimination games under coach Rudy Tomjanovich and expect to ward off an early vacation again this time.

"You trap a rat in the corner and he comes out fighting," guard Mario Elie said. "It's going to be guns slinging and come out fighting.

"This team has a lot of character and pride. We've been through this situation before and we know what it's like."

Tomjanovich seems to have a knack for getting the Rockets ready for such challenges.

"We're backed into a corner again and maybe this is the best situation for us," Tomjanovich said. "We seem to play better in this kind of deal. We've got to come out fighting for our lives."

The Rockets came away from Tuesday night's 96-91 loss feeling just a few plays could have won it for them. The Jazz felt the same about Game 4, when Eddie Johnson's buzzer-beating 3-pointer won for the Rockets 95-92.

"I'm encouraged after (Game 5) because that's the best we've played in the series and now we get to play at home," forward Charles Barkley said. "They have the luxury of worrying about Game 7 and we don't have that luxury."

Tomjanovich expects another clutch performance.

"To me, this is what we talked about the first day of preseason," Tomjanovich said. "I assume that's how we're going to respond. We'll be concentrating and we'll be focused on survival."

The Rockets were forced to depend heavily on Hakeem Olajuwon to stay competitive with the Jazz in Game 5 since their outside shooting was off and they hit only 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) from 3-point range.

They know they need more balance to beat the Jazz, but Tomjanovich defended his extensive use of Olajuwon.

"If people think I'm going to take the stat sheet and say 'Well, Hakeem is hurting them. He is getting guys in foul trouble. He's scoring and passing the ball out and getting us open shots and we're not making those shots so I'm going to change,' well, that's kind of dumb.

"It's ridiculous to put a negative on the effort that he put out there, opening up offensive possibilities." Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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