HOUSTON'S DIKEMBE MUTOMBO, LEFT, AND UTAH'S MEHMET OKUR battle for a loose ball. The Jazz won, 94-82, Thursday in Salt Lake City to force a Game 7 in their Western Conference playoff series.

Salt Lake City ? Andrei Kirilenko shadowed Tracy McGrady all night. Now he’ll be following McGrady back to Houston, too.

Kirilenko easily had his best game of the first round with 14 points and five blocks to lead the Utah Jazz to a 94-82 victory over the Rockets on Thursday night, tying the series and forcing a Game 7 Saturday in Houston.

“We kept it alive,” said Kirilenko, who hadn’t scored more than eight in the first five games. “I think it’s a great performance by everybody.”

Carlos Boozer scored 22 and Mehmet Okur added 19 points as he finally started hitting his 3-point shots, making four and matching his total for the first five games.

“I don’t give up. If I’m open I’m going to take it,” Okur said.

Kirilenko was exhausted after trying to keep up with McGrady. The Rockets’ superstar still scored 26 points, but nine came from the foul line as Kirilenko and the rest of the Jazz pretty much shut down every route to the basket.

Utah didn’t let McGrady get much easy scoring and the Rockets fell to 0-3 in playoff road games. Yao Ming added 25 points, but he also had eight turnovers – two more than his rebound total – as Okur and rookie Paul Millsap constantly pressured the 7-foot-6 center. The rest of the Rockets besides McGrady and Yao combined for 31 points. Houston finished with 19 turnovers.

“Our guys were fighting for our lives,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said.

McGrady has never made it to the second round of the playoffs. After Houston won the first two games of the series, the Rockets appeared on their way there, but have not been able to find their way out of Utah with a victory.

The home team has won every game in the series, which bodes well for the Rockets. That was about all the solace Houston had after cutting an 11-point lead to one twice but never quite completing the rally.

“It was right there for us, man. Down to one point,” McGrady said. “We put ourselves in great position to pull this game out, but things went the other direction.”

Deron Williams had 15 points and eight assists and rookie Paul Millsap scored all of his eight points in the second quarter, as the Jazz took control and then held off several rallies by the Rockets down the stretch.

The home team has won every game in the series, which bodes well for the Rockets as they prepare for Game 7 Saturday night at home.

“They just put a lot of pressure on us and just made everything tough,” McGrady said.