SALT LAKE CITY — Scoring seven points in a quarter is normally nothing for Tracy McGrady.

With his team down 2-0 in the opening round of the playoffs, it meant everything to the Houston Rockets.

McGrady scored all of those seven in the final 3:29, finally snapping out of a fourth-quarter slump and finishing with 27 to lead Houston to a 94-92 victory over the Utah Jazz last night that gave the Rockets life in a series that could have been headed for a sweep.

"This was a very emotional win for us," said McGrady, who had scored one point total in the fourth quarter of the first two games of the series. "We played like we really didn't want to go home early. We played with a lot of passion and a lot of heart."

The Rockets were trailing the best-of-seven series 2-0 and coming to Utah, where the Jazz had the best home record in the NBA. One of Utah's four losses in Salt Lake City was to Houston.

Rafer Alston added 20 points and five assists in his first game in nearly two weeks. Carl Landry had 11 rebounds and two blocks, swatting away Deron Williams' shot that could have won it for the Jazz just before the buzzer. Landry also sacrificed his left front tooth, courtesy of an elbow from Utah's Carlos Boozer in the second quarter, and had a huge gap in his post-game grin.

Landry said he was seeing double after the elbow and was bleeding from the mouth as he was led to the locker room, but was back for the second half.

"This was a big game. It doesn't matter if you've got a hurt toe or a hurt back, whatever the case may be," Landry said. "No matter what it is, football, hockey, basketball. It's part of playing sports."

Game 4 tomorrow also is in Utah, where the Jazz were 37-4 this season.

HOUSTON 27 17 26 24—94

UTAH 23 21 32 16—92

HOUSTON — Battier 4-9 2-2 12, Scola 4-13 8-10 16, Mutombo 1-1 0-0 2, Alston 8-14 0-0 20, McGrady 11-26 5-9 27, Hayes 1-2 0-0 2, Jackson 4-10 0-0 8, Landry 3-4 1-1 7, Brooks 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 36-81 16-22 94.

UTAH — Kirilenko 2-7 0-2 5, Boozer 6-11 3-8 15, Okur 3-13 4-7 12, Williams 9-17 7-8 28, Brewer 5-7 2-2 12, Millsap 0-2 1-2 1, Harpring 4-6 1-2 10, Price 1-2 2-2 4, Korver 2-5 0-0 5. Totals 32-70 20-33 92.

3-Point Goals—Houston 6-16 (Alston 4-8, Battier 2-4, Hayes 0-1, Jackson 0-3), Utah 8-17 (Williams 3-5, Okur 2-5, Harpring 1-1, Kirilenko 1-2, Korver 1-2, Brewer 0-1, Price 0-1). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Houston 52 (Landry 11), Utah 50 (Boozer 13). Assists—Houston 20 (McGrady 7), Utah 20 (Williams 12). Total Fouls—Houston 26, Utah 24. Technicals—Houston defensive three second. A—19,911 (19,911).

RAPTORS 108, MAGIC 94

TORONTO — With a quick start and quality point guard play, the Toronto Raptors turned the tables on the Orlando Magic.

T.J. Ford scored 21 points, Jose Calderon had 18 points and 13 assists, and the Raptors beat the Magic, cutting Orlando's lead to 2-1 in their first-round playoff series. Game 4 is tomorrow in Toronto.

"That was the most important game of the season so far and we played like it," Chris Bosh said. "We stepped up to the challenge."

ORLANDO 20 20 29 25— 94

TORONTO 28 33 19 28—108

ORLANDO — Turkoglu 7-12 12-13 26, Lewis 8-15 0-0 19, Howard 8-15 3-8 19, Nelson 2-8 2-3 6, Evans 0-3 0-0 0, Bogans 4-11 2-2 12, Dooling 3-5 1-1 8, Gortat 1-1 0-0 2, Arroyo 1-2 0-0 2, Redick 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-73 20-27 94.

TORONTO — Moon 5-9 0-0 11, Bosh 6-14 3-4 15, Bargnani 4-11 0-0 9, Ford 7-11 6-6 21, Parker 4-10 1-2 10, Calderon 6-11 2-2 18, Kapono 6-10 0-0 15, Delfino 3-6 0-0 7, Nesterovic 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 42-85 12-14 108.

3-Point Goals—Orlando 6-27 (Lewis 3-8, Bogans 2-7, Dooling 1-3, Redick 0-1, Arroyo 0-1, Turkoglu 0-2, Nelson 0-2, Evans 0-3), Toronto 12-34 (Calderon 4-8, Kapono 3-6, Ford 1-1, Moon 1-3, Parker 1-4, Delfino 1-4, Bargnani 1-5, Bosh 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Orlando 41 (Howard 12), Toronto 50 (Moon 10). Assists—Orlando 15 (Nelson 6), Toronto 31 (Calderon 13). Total Fouls—Orlando 21, Toronto 24. Technicals—Turkoglu, Bargnani. A—20,023 (19,800).

WIZARDS 108, CAVS 72

WASHINGTON — LeBron James went up for the shot and had the ball stripped cleanly by Caron Butler, who went the length of the court for a dunk that gave the Washington Wizards a 29-point lead.

That's right. No contact on the play. Even James couldn't call it "Hack-a-Bron." James was beaten on the play and he knew it, much the same way his Cleveland Cavaliers were beaten soundly by the Washington Wizards.

"It was a good old-fashioned behind-kicking," Cleveland coach Mike Brown said.

The Wizards cut Cleveland's lead to 2-1 in the first-round series. Washington will also host Game 4 on Sunday.

CLEVELAND 17 16 18 21— 72

WASHINGTON 21 28 28 31—108

CLEVELAND — James 10-19 2-4 22, Wallace 2-4 1-2 5, Ilgauskas 4-10 1-2 9, West 1-3 3-4 5, Szczerbiak 3-9 0-0 6, Varejao 1-2 1-4 3, Smith 4-8 0-0 8, Gibson 2-6 0-0 4, Brown 2-8 4-7 10, Dw.Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Da.Jones 0-3 0-0 0, B.Thomas 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 29-73 12-23 72.

WASHINGTON — Butler 7-14 3-3 17, Jamison 5-10 4-6 15, Haywood 5-6 4-4 14, Arenas 1-2 0-0 2, Stevenson 5-9 4-4 19, Daniels 2-4 5-7 9, Blatche 3-6 2-6 8, Songaila 2-5 0-1 4, Mason 8-14 0-0 18, Young 0-2 0-0 0, McGuire 0-0 0-0 0, Pecherov 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 38-73 24-33 108.

3-Point Goals—Cleveland 2-16 (Brown 2-4, B.Thomas 0-1, West 0-1, Da.Jones 0-3, Gibson 0-3, James 0-4), Washington 8-19 (Stevenson 5-7, Mason 2-3, Jamison 1-2, Blatche 0-1, Daniels 0-1, Arenas 0-1, Young 0-1, Butler 0-3). Fouled Out—Smith. Rebounds—Cleveland 50 (Varejao 9), Washington 49 (Jamison, Blatche 7). Assists—Cleveland 17 (Varejao, James, Szczerbiak 3), Washington 20 (Daniels 6). Total Fouls—Cleveland 30, Washington 17. Technicals—Ilgauskas, Haywood. A—20,173 (20,173).