"It's on me."

That was how he described the Rockets' chances and potential before the playoffs.

"It's on me."

Back then, when McGrady made his declaration, it was talk, something between brash and bold, part presumptuous and part realistic acceptance that another first round would be treated as a referendum on his career.

Then the Rockets' offense crashed, and its revival seemed to have been returned to where the series began, on McGrady.

With the Utah Jazz pressuring the Rockets ragged, much of their hopes to turn around that part of their performance fell to their most irrepressible playmaker, the trigger of their offense when it works.

"It's on me to go out and attack the basket more and create better shots for my teammates," McGrady said.

Asked how much reviving the Rockets' offense is his responsibility, McGrady said: "It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot.

"I have to not only create shots for myself, but I try to get Yao (Ming) easy baskets. Shane Battier, I try to find him in the corner or wherever he is on the perimeter. I try to find my shooters out there. When you're running pick-and-roll, it's really not a shot for myself. It's creating shots for other players."

Taken out of offense

When the Rockets made just 32.8 percent of their shots Thursday, scoring just 67 points, the fewest in franchise postseason history, McGrady started well, making six of seven shots, then missed 13 of his next 15.

The Jazz sent help in the lane and low post, and a big man on high screens. But McGrady often removed himself from the offense as much as the Jazz did.

"I think I took myself out of it," McGrady said. "Yeah, I wasn't in an attack mode like I normally was.

"I have to drive when there are one-on-one coverages."

In some ways, the Jazz have dared him to do that, with much less defensive attention than many teams play and a determination to take their chances on McGrady, while keeping defenders in position to contest outside shots around him.

"I'd like to go crazy, but you can't give (other) guys layups, easy shots, stuff like that," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "We try to play the percentages in basketball as much as you can."

The inference was the odds are McGrady and Yao won't beat Utah if the Jazz can take away the Rockets stars' perimeter help.

There is evidence to support that. Yao had produced consistently, making 52.8 percent of his shots in the regular season against the Jazz. But in many ways this season, the Rockets' offense has gone as has McGrady's.

In four regular-season games against the Jazz, the Rockets made 41.3 percent of their shots. In the two losses in which he played, McGrady made 17 of 47 (36.2 percent) of his shots. In the victory, he went 14-of-31, scoring a season-high 44 points, then marveled at the Jazz's reluctance to double-team him.

McGrady has averaged 26 points in the series, but he is shooting just 37.7 percent. The Rockets are making just 36.1 percent of their shots. In Thursday's 81-67 loss, only four players scored, the fewest in an NBA playoff game.

Other than Yao and McGrady, the Rockets are averaging a combined 30 points.

But as much as the Rockets' offense often begins with McGrady, there is a sense reviving it must, also.

Make the right decision

"Mac, I think is the premier scorer/decision-maker along with (Phoenix's Steve) Nash," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "When he's turning the corner and attacking the basket, it gives a chance for those other guys to get involved in the game, too. I don't think it's a secret we don't have a lot of guys off the dribble who are going to be super creative, and Tracy has the unique ability."

But McGrady seemed more determined than concerned.

"Just go out and play, play hard," he said. "We have to do a better job of playing with greater intensity, better focus, attention to detail and rebound the ball, score the ball."

But that might start with the guy with the ball in his hands, or as McGrady put it, "It's on me."