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The Rockets' pursuit of the Utah Jazz is not quite the stuff of television sports movies, or screaming talk-show debates.

It's not sexy. It could, however, be a key to much that the Rockets hope to accomplish. And after falling well off the pace, the Rockets' recent surge and brief Jazz slump have put the Rockets back on Utah's heels.

"Any time that you have home-court advantage, it pretty much favors you," Rockets forward Tracy McGrady said. "That's what we're working towards. That's why we've been so focused and have been working so well. We have to continue to do that for these last (14) games.

"We don't talk about it as a unit, but I'm pretty sure it's on everybody's minds. You watch the standings. We know we're right on their coattails. We know there's a good chance to get home-court advantage. The top three seeds are pretty much set. We're working to try to get that home-court advantage."

The Rockets (43-25) trail the Jazz (44-23) by 1 1/2 games with games left against the Jazz on April 1 in Houston and April 18 in Salt Lake City in the regular-season finale. The teams split their first two games this year.

Hosts dominate first round

The advantage of home-court advantage is clear.

Since the NBA went to a best-of-seven format in the first round of the playoffs, the team with home-court advantage has won 28 of the 32 series. To a degree, that could be attributed to the team with home-court advantage being a better team.

But in the Western Conference, the edge has been too overwhelming to be dismissed as simply the better team winning the series, with 15 of the 16 series going to the team with the home-court advantage including each of the last 12.

The Rockets have lost each of the past five playoff series, all starting on the road. The last playoff series they won, in the 1997 Western Conference semifinals, they won Game 7 in Houston.

"Even if it means you'll play the same team in the playoffs, we want home court and we want to keep doing well," Rockets guard Luther Head said.

"It's always good to play at home no matter what the stakes are. Your home fans give you a definite advantage. You've got everybody on your side, and it's easier to score than in a hostile environment. Especially Utah, which is one of the toughest environments in the league."

The Jazz are 26-7 at home, the NBA's third-best home record. The Rockets are 24-10 at Toyota Center, bringing a four-game home winning streak into tonight's game against the Detroit Pistons.

In addition to games against the Rockets, the Jazz have games remaining at the Clippers, Spurs, Trail Blazers, Kings, Warriors and Mavericks, and at home against Grizzlies, Wizards, Timberwolves, SuperSonics, Nuggets, Suns and Trail Blazers.

The Rockets have games at the Hornets, Clippers, Lakers, Kings, SuperSonics and Trail Blazers, and at home against the Pistons, Bucks, Warriors, Trail Blazers, Hornets and Suns, along with the games against the Jazz.

Too early to tell

Considering the recent struggles and surges of both teams, it is probably too early for much scoreboard watching. Either could play themselves into command or out of the race. Or it could come down to the games against one another. But the third-place Spurs lead the Rockets by 4 1/2 games. The Rockets lead the sixth-place Nuggets by 7 1/2 games, making the Rockets' pursuit of home-court advantage a fairly well-defined race.

The Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy no longer displays the standings in the locker room as he did in his first season in Houston. His emphasis has been on improvement. But one can lead to the other.

"The whole point is to try to win as much as you can, be of great health and be playing as well as you can," Van Gundy said. "Everyone would rather have home-court advantage than not. In any particular year, what that amounts to, I would not know."

In the past four years, it has almost without fail amounted to a berth in the second round, a place the Rockets have not visited in a decade.