Just a thought or two on tonight’s destruction of the Rockets in Game 4:

1) We were the aggressors in the paint tonight, hence the added free throws (although I’m not completely blinded by my fandom — we did get the benefit of the doubt a few times on calls). D-Will led the charge in getting to the rim, as did Matt Harpring. It definitely had an impact.

2) We took care of the basketball, especially after a slightly sloppy first quarter. Conversely, we again forced Yao into five turnovers and caused tons of deflections that won’t show up in the box score, but are just as significant. Then there was Fisher’s sublime 2-on-1 steal and dish to Gira, who nailed that 3-pointer to end the third quarter. I think “joy” pretty much describes my feeling when that shot went in.

3) Welcome back, Mehmet Okur. 16 points, 7-12 shooting, another solid defensive game (arguably a better one than Game 3, because Yao scored fewer points). If he shoots like that in Houston, we’re going to be wrapping this thing up in six.

I’ll post some thoughts about how to keep the momentum going in Game 5 tomorrow. For now, enjoy this, Jazz fans. But not too much. We’re out of the hole. Now it’s time to get on top.

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Layton Shumway is the copy chief for Brigham Young University’s Daily Universe. You can reach him at lss83@byu.net.