“That second group came in and was huge for us,” Adelman said. “That was a big turning point in the game. We kind of got it going there. That’s what we need, we need guys to come in the game and they have to have a positive impact.”

Late in the half, Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko fought for an uncontested rebound and lost it out of bounds, a sign of how Utah’s night was going.

Houston led 43-32 at the break without much help from McGrady, who scored 11. The Jazz mustered a season-low point total for a half after the Rockets’ bench outscored their reserves 18-0.

“They came out and they pushed us all over the building,” said Utah coach Jerry Sloan. “We played right into their hands. They’ve made up their minds to go after us and they have the last couple of games.”

McGrady hit a jumper 14 seconds into the third quarter, but then gave away two careless turnovers to help Utah cut the lead to seven. But McGrady drove for a layup and Scola converted a three-point play as Houston rebuilt a double-digit lead.

The Rockets used a 12-0 run to stretch their lead to 70-48. McGrady swished a jumper over Matt Harpring with eight seconds left in the third quarter to put Houston up 74-55. Harpring stepped out of bounds at the other end, a fitting end to another dismal quarter for Utah.

The Jazz couldn’t make a serious threat in the final quarter as they continued to miss easy shots and bobble away turnovers. Sloan benched his starters with 3:42 left and Houston ahead 87-67.

Adelman took out his starters with 2:08 left. McGrady and Alston smacked hands with their teammates as they confidently walked to the bench.

Notes: The Rockets led at halftime for the first time in 12 playoff games against Utah over the past two seasons. ... The Jazz had won their last three Game 5s when holding a 3-1 series lead. ... Mutombo had at least 10 rebounds in a playoff game for the first time since 2005. ... Boozer has double-doubles in four of the five games.

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