Carlos Boozer scored 35 points and the Utah Jazz regrouped in the final six minutes to oust the Houston Rockets from the NBA playoffs on Saturday.
After blowing a big lead, the Jazz pulled themselves together to post a 103-99 victory in game seven of the Western Conference first-round series, handing Houston superstar swingman Tracy McGrady another agonizing postseason exit.
McGrady, a seven-time All-Star, has never advanced past the first round in the NBA postseason in six attempts.
The fifth-seeded Jazz moved past the first round for the first time since 2002 and will play the surprising eighth-seeded Golden State Warriors in the conference semi-finals that begin today in Utah.
McGrady scored 29 points, matching the total of teammate Yao Ming, but he managed just one basket in the final six minutes after helping Houston rally from 16 points down to take an 88-83 lead with 6:09 to play.
With Houston trailing 75-67 after three periods, Yao led a 7-0 run to open the fourth quarter. But the Rockets could not pull even until Rafer Alston banked a 3-pointer in to tie it at 80-80 with 8:38 to play.
Four free throws by Yao and back-to-back baskets by McGrady helped the Rockets stretch the advantage to 88-83 on a short jumper and seem poised to break it open, only to see the Jazz storm back with an 8-0 run as Boozer sandwiched five points around a 3-pointer by Andrei Kirilenko for a 91-88 lead with 4:15 to go.
After Yao tied it with a three-point play, Mehmet Okur sank a 3-pointer for a 94-91 lead with 3:23 left and buried another 3-pointer from almost the identical spot to make it 99-95 with 1:16 left.
Two free throws by Yao cut the deficit to 99-97 with 57 seconds left. Okur missed consecutive 3-pointers, but the Jazz got the offensive rebound both times and it paid off when Boozer converted two foul shots with 19.9 to play.
McGrady drove for an uncontested layup with 9.9 seconds left to get the deficit to 101-99, but the Rockets inexplicably failed to foul until 1.7 seconds were left.
Kirilenko nailed both foul shots to clinch it as the home team failed to win for the first time in the series.
The Western Conference semi-finals were to get underway yesterday when the second-seeded Phoenix Suns took on the third-seeded San Antonio Spurs.
Phoenix beat the Los Angeles Lakers and the Spurs dismissed the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
Pistons 95, Bulls 69
The Detroit Pistons let the Chicago Bulls know they aren't about to be stampeded in the second round of the NBA playoffs.
Chauncey Billups scored 20 points and Richard Hamilton also had 20 as the Pistons posted a 95-69 blowout victory over the Bulls on Saturday in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Rasheed Wallace and Tayshaun Prince each had 13 points and Jason Maxiell added 12 off the bench for the Pistons, who improved to 11-0 in Eastern Conference semi-final openers dating to 1986-87.
The Pistons, who led by six after the first quarter and 13 at the end of both the second and third periods, controlled the game after several first-half bursts and the Bulls were never able to recover.
Chicago, which swept the defending NBA champion Miami Heat in four games in an Eastern Conference first-round matchup, suffered its largest playoff margin of defeat since being beaten by the Cleveland Cavaliers 107-81 in game two of the 1992 conference finals.
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