HOUSTON — Who says the Utah Jazz can’t play well on the road?
Andrei Kirilenko scored 21 points, Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 16 rebounds and the Utah Jazz beat the Houston Rockets 93-82 in the opener of their first-round series Saturday night.
Deron Williams had 20 points and 10 assists as Utah, 17-24 on the road during the regular season, won its second straight playoff game in Houston. The last victory came in Game 7 last season, and that was when Houston got help from Yao Ming.
Yao is out for this series with a foot injury and the Rockets have to wonder after Game 1 how they’re going to compete with the Jazz inside. Utah had a 34-29 rebounding edge through three quarters and Boozer hit 10 of 20 shots.
Utah’s reserves also played well, outscoring Houston’s reserves 28-17.
Shane Battier scored 22 and Tracy McGrady had 20 points for Houston, which shot 37 percent (29 of 79).
The Rockets are also playing without starting point guard Rafer Alston, who strained his right hamstring late in the season. His backup, Bobby Jackson, scored seven points on 3-for-15 shooting.
As Yao watched from the Rockets’ bench, Utah outrebounded Houston 12-5 in the first quarter and led 23-18. Without the 7-foot-6 Yao to guard him, Boozer was a handful for Houston, grabbing seven rebounds and scoring six points in the quarter.
Houston coach Rick Adelman had three rookies on the floor to start the second quarter — point guard Aaron Brooks and forwards Carl Landry and Mike Harris. Even with McGrady still in the game, Utah took advantage, stretching the lead to 30-20 and forcing Adelman to call time out.
The Rockets outrebounded the Jazz 9-3 over the last five minutes of the half and trailed only 47-41.
Houston opened the second half with a 12-4 burst and McGrady had a hand in every point, with either a basket or an assist. He found Luis Scola open for a layup, then scored on a drive of his own to put the Rockets up 53-51, their first lead since the opening minutes.
Boozer scored on three straight Utah possessions, but picked up his fourth foul with 6:30 left in the third quarter and was replaced by Paul Millsap. Scola, guarded by Boozer most of the game, promptly scored inside to cut Houston’s deficit to 57-55.
But Kyle Korver sank a pair of 3-pointers in the final 2:29 of the third quarter and the Jazz led 68-60. The Rockets hurt themselves further by going 6-for-12 from the free-throw line in the quarter.
Williams sank a 3-pointer with 9:29 left to extend Utah’s lead into double digits again. The Rockets never made a serious threat after that.
Boozer put back an offensive rebound then scored on a drive on back-to-back possessions as the lead swelled to 79-64.
The public-address system played the “Rocky” theme during a time out with 5:51 remaining, but the Rockets couldn’t muster an inspiring comeback. McGrady didn’t score in the final quarter and a half and Houston’s reserves played the final four minutes.
The Rockets won the first two games of last year’s series with Utah, then lost four of the last five games. Now, they’ll have to win a game in Utah, where the Jazz had an NBA-best 37-4 record during the regular season.
Houston won its season opener in Salt Lake City, but the Rockets have lost the last three times they’ve met Utah in the playoffs.
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