Of course, the Jazz would go into Houston and win the first two games after playing poorly away from home during the regular season.
Naturally, the Rockets would come into EnergySolutions Arena and knock off the team with the NBA's best home record.
Yeah, you saw this coming, right?
What's ahead for these teams is absolutely anybody's guess after the developments of Thursday night, when the Rockets rallied - and then held on like crazy - for a 94-92 victory.
Ultimately, it was a case of Tracy McGrady finally surfacing for Houston in a fourth quarter. Yet the Rockets escaped only after three-pointers by Kyle Korver and Mehmet Okur gave the Jazz a last chance to deliver a stunning win. They were denied when Carl Landry blocked Deron Williams' driving attempt in the last two seconds of a one-point game.
Whatever happens Saturday hardly will be the same, old story, that's for sure.
Somebody, explain this.
"I can't," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.
The latest are-you-kidding sequence came in the fourth quarter, after the Jazz seemingly had taken control of the game and tightened their grip on the best-of-seven series.
The Jazz were in nice position in the last 4 1/2 minutes, leading by three, only to go five possessions without scoring while Houston scored 10 points.
"We played with a lot of passion, lot of heart, kept our composure," McGrady said. "Down the stretch of the game, we did a great job."
The Jazz could say only some of those things, about part of the game.
The thing about the Rockets' battling all night in an effort to send the series back to Houston was not unexpected.
What was unthinkable, unfathomable and unforseen was the Jazz's losing in this building at any time during the playoffs - especially not here and now, after they had the Rockets searching for answers.
If there's any theory that the Jazz were too casual about Game 3, Andrei Kirilenko shot it down afterward. "That's not true," he said. "We're not relaxed."
If anything, that was the problem in the fourth quarter. Sloan wished the Jazz had been able to convince themselves that they were coming off a loss and summon the proper energy. If anything, they may have done too much worrying.
Like the rest of the Jazz and everybody else watching this series, Williams was not quite sure how to act with his team in a seemingly comfortable state.
The achievement of winning two games in Houston "puts a little bit of pressure on us," Williams suggested before Game 3.
If so, the Jazz did not respond well to the fourth-quarter heat, playing nervously and shakily.
The Rockets played just like the Jazz knew they would.
"They're dying for a win," Matt Harpring had said.
The issue hovering over Thursday's contest was how the Jazz would deal with the unfamiliar feeling of satisfaction as they came home to resume a playoff series. They were 15-2 all-time in Game 3s at home, but that was almost always a case of desperation.
"We'll see how we handle that," Carlos Boozer had said.
How unlikely is all of this? Consider that in 371 best-of-seven series in NBA history, the Jazz were only the 17th road team to win the first two games. Only three of those teams eventually lost the series - including Houston against Dallas in 2005.
If that development should be reassuring to the Rockets, forward Shane Battier was not comforted. "It's happened before," he said, "but history doesn't really matter at this point," he said. "You can throw out a bunch of stats and numbers; we don't care about the numbers and stats."
They do care about the scoreboard, which showed the teams tied (44-44) at halftime. It's the first time in 10 playoff games with the Rockets over two seasons that the Jazz did not lead at the half, but they were not unhappy to be tied.
They were, however, disappointed and angry at the end.
"We don't think it's over," Williams had said of the series, and he's more right than he wanted to be.
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* KURT KRAGTHORPE can be reached at kkragthorpe@sltrib.com. To write a letter about this or any sports topic, send an e-mail to sportseditor@sltrib.com.
