TRACY MCGRADY disappeared again in the fourth quarter and the Utah Jazz took a commanding lead in their playoff series with the Houston Rockets.

Deron Williams shrugged off an ankle injury and scored 22 points and Mehmet Okur added 16 points and 16 rebounds as the Jazz beat the Rockets 90-84 in Houston on Monday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Game 3 is Thursday night in Utah, where the Jazz went 37-4 during the regular season.

McGrady, a seven-time All-Star who has never advanced past the first round of the playoffs, had 23 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists to just miss his first postseason triple-double. But he went 0-for-4 from the field and scored only one point in the final quarter as the Rockets lost to the Jazz for the eighth time in the last 10 meetings.

McGrady scored 20 points in Game 1, but went 0-for-3 from the field in the fourth quarter of Utah’s 93-82 victory.

The Rockets still had their chances to win this one.

Luis Scola hit two free throws with 1:21 to go to cut Utah’s lead to 85-82.

After Williams missed a driving layup, Houston’s Bobby Jackson hit a 3-pointer that would have tied the game but Scola was called for an offensive foul away from the ball when he pushed Andrei Kirilenko. Jackson rebounded from a 3-for-15 effort in Game 1 to score 18 points.

Kirilenko grabbed a key offensive rebound on Utah’s next possession and Kyle Korver flipped in a one-handed shot as the shot clock expired to put the game out of reach with 20 seconds to go.

Carlos Boozer added 13 points and Williams had five assists for the Jazz, who closed the game with a 14-8 run.

McGrady returned with 7:07 remaining and was fouled on a jumper with 6:39 left. He hit a free throw to complete the three-point play and tied the game at 76-all. Williams hit a short shot at the other end to put Utah back on top.

Kirilenko stole the ball from McGrady near the 5-minute mark and Williams made a free throw to give the Jazz an 81-76 lead. McGrady finished with five turnovers.

While the Rockets played better than they did in Game 1, they still had no answer for Williams, who hit the first three 3-pointers he attempted.

Boozer committed his second foul and went to the bench with 5:47 left in the first quarter, but the Rockets started committing careless turnovers that led to easy baskets and Utah stretched the lead to 26-17.

The Rockets will need a near-miraculous comeback in this series to win in the playoffs for the first time since the 1996-97 season. They can conjure hope from the fact that they handed Utah one of its four home losses this season — but that was at the start of the regular season.

In another NBA playoff game, LeBron James scored 30 points, Zydrunas Ilgauskas added 16, as the Cavaliers defeated the Washington Wizards in Cleveland 116-86 to take a 2-0 lead.

(SD-Agencies)