Had the Utah Jazz not won this game, it might have meant my death as a sports fan.

I mean, I don’t think I would have been able to handle it. To have outplayed the Rockets for the fifth (arguably the sixth) time in this series, and to still not have won, would have broken my psyche. I’m just not equipped to handle this much torture. This team has given me way too much of a roller-coaster this season. The youth and inexperience has made for great drama and interesting storylines, but it has also made for a whole lot of emotional stress on us Jazz fans.

Fortunately for our collective sanity, the Jazz pulled out an excellent road win (their nemesis all season) by shooting the ball well, and playing one of the grittiest fourth quarters I’ve ever seen. Boozer again played “out of his mind,” according to D-Will, who himself managed the game like a seasoned veteran. Memo hit big threes, and again provided rock-solid defense against Yao (which is the least-talked about, most significant story of this series). Gira produced well off the bench, Harpring was his usual efficient self.

Everything came together in that fourth quarter, including The Redemption Of Andrei Kirilenko, who atoned for his Game 1 tears and poor play with two solid performances when it mattered most. That’s a topic worthy of its own post.

To be honest, I sort of feel for Tracy McGrady. Here’s a mostly likable, fairly quiet, amazingly talented player who has never really had the supporting cast (or the polish on his own game) to get it done in the playoffs, until this year. With the series lead Houston had, the Jazz really have no right to be celebrating tonight (even though I think Utah is the better team overall, and showed it tonight). Watching McGrady in the post-game press conference, his voice thick with emotion and disappointed clearly evident in his eyes, definitely stirred some pity (as did his post-game hug with Fish, who appeared to be trying to console him a bit). He, like Kevin Garnett, deserves a better career than he has had thus far.

But tonight is not a time for pity. We rejoice tonight, and tomorrow we try to figure out how to stop Baron Davis and his 300-style beard from run-and-gunning us to death (”Our 3-pointers will blot out the sun!”). Enjoy this one, Jazz faithful. We deserve it.

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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.