HOUSTON, May 3 -- The Houston Rockets could go for a little repeat of history right about now. Karl Malone scored 32 points and grabbed 19 rebounds Wednesday night, leading the Utah Jazz to a 95-82 victory over the Rockets and a 2-1 lead in their first round Western Conference playoff series. Malone hit two jumpers to spark a decisive 12-0 fourth quarter run which opened a 93-78 lead for the Jazz. Houston had managed to steal the home-court advantage with a win in Game 2 last Sunday, but couldn't manage to keep it upon returning to The Summit. Game 4 in the best-of-5 series is scheduled for Friday night in Houston. 'We've been down before,' Houston guard Mario Elie said. 'If we want it, we can win Friday.' What the Rockets really would like is to have some of last year's luck rub off on them. In their second-round series against Phoenix last spring, the Rockets lost the first two games on their home floor before roaring back to win four of the next five. They used that momentum to carry through to the NBA title. 'Teams backed into a corner have to scratch and claw,' Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. 'They tend to play harder. I like what we do when we're backed into a corner, but I don't like being backed into a corner. You can only go to the well so many times.' After a layup by Clyde Drexler pulled the Rockets within 81-78 with six minutes left, Houston failed to score for more than five minutes while the Jazz went on their 12-0 spurt.
After the two baskets by Malone, Antoine Carr hit a jumper with 2 minutes left to give Houston an 87-78 advantage. 'The key was our defense in the fourth quarter,' Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. 'You're not going to have a chance to win if you don't play good defense. This was by far our best defensive performance in this series.' Malone scored 21 of his 32 points in the second half. Hakeem Olajuwon led the Rockets with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Houston hit only 41 percent of its field-goal attempts and converted just 7 of 17 shots from three-point range. It was a sharp contrast to Game 2, when the Rockets shot 60 percent from the floor and made 19 of 28 three-pointers in Saturday's 140-126 win over the Jazz. 'We looked at the film and saw how bad we played in Game 2,' Jazz guard Jeff Hornacek said. 'More specifically, we got suckered into three-point shooting. You can't play that game with those guys.' David Benoit had 14 points and 10 rebounds and Hornacek also finished with 14 points for the Jazz. Carr wound up with 12 points and John Stockton added 11 points and 13 assists. Kenny Smith scored 20 points and Drexler added 17 for the Rockets. A 16-3 run helped Utah build a 38-30 lead in the second quarter, capped by a Hornacek jumper with 4:25 left before intermission. The Jazz held a 46-41 halftime advantage. Houston pulled within50-47 early in the third quarter, but the Jazz scored nine straight points to open a 59-47 advantage. Utah pushed its lead to 69-55, but the Rockets scored the next 10 points to pull within 69-65.
