[Basketball News]

HOUSTON -- Juwan Howard was struggling so much in the Rockets' first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz that his star teammate -- Tracy McGrady -- playfully suggested after Game 5 that the veteran forward was a missing person on the back of a milk carton.

The good news for the Rockets is that Howard found himself -- and his game -- on Monday night.

Howard provided the Rockets with a much-needed lift off the bench in Game 5 as he drilled all six of his shots to finish with a series-best 12 points. He added six rebounds -- four on the offensive glass -- in 25 minutes of action.

Howard is hopeful that he can continue to provide such a lift heading into Game 6 Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

"It was huge," Howard said. "It was big to give the team some type of lift. Give them another guy to apply some energy and shoot well from the field. I needed to knock them down when it counted. But it's just one game. We have another game in Utah so we've still got a lot of work ahead of us."

Notes: Howard finds shooting touch, provides boost

[MJHMarc]

Originally Posted by Basketball News

HOUSTON -- Juwan Howard was struggling so much in the Rockets' first-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz that his star teammate -- Tracy McGrady -- playfully suggested after Game 5 that the veteran forward was a missing person on the back of a milk carton.

The good news for the Rockets is that Howard found himself -- and his game -- on Monday night.

Howard provided the Rockets with a much-needed lift off the bench in Game 5 as he drilled all six of his shots to finish with a series-best 12 points. He added six rebounds -- four on the offensive glass -- in 25 minutes of action.

Howard is hopeful that he can continue to provide such a lift heading into Game 6 Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

"It was huge," Howard said. "It was big to give the team some type of lift. Give them another guy to apply some energy and shoot well from the field. I needed to knock them down when it counted. But it's just one game. We have another game in Utah so we've still got a lot of work ahead of us."

Notes: Howard finds shooting touch, provides boost

Excellent news.

How does this affect the series?

[ThePundit]

Howard has never lived up to what he was supposed to be when he came out of Michigan.