LAKERS -at- JAZZ - 5/8 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Long-Range Accuracy... After days of winding your way through a dense jungle river, you notice the landscape around you beginning to change. The boat makes its way through a canopy of mangroves whose leaves are covered in salt crystals. Here, sets sunken eyes watch you from the banks. They scream at any perceived insult that your very existence seems to incite.

The river opens onto a massive lake. At the far end rises a bright white structure built from bricks of salt. You step ashore crunching the white salt efflorescence that covers the ground like snow. You are greeted by a series of grotesque salt statues that remind of Lot's wife or Narnia. Looking at the statues closer, you realize you've seen these bodies and faces before...in Denver.

If the Horsemen fall to this opponent, this will be their fate.

It is apparent from the groans and screams inside the salt-brick building that the Horsemen have no intention of this happening.

Something bursts throught the roof of the building. It arches high into the clear evening sky and comes at you with perfect accuracy. An arrow lands at your feet with a thud as seven bells chime in the distance. That was a bit too close.

You cannot tell from which Death Rider the arrow came from, but attached to it is a note. DancingBarry:

"The Horsemen were here. They had much help. Tru Warier and the Man Who Can Kill You in 0.4 stood tall. They connected with devastating blows from long range.

I will continue to track them..."

Bombs away.

The Jazz dared the Lakers to beat them from outside. The Lakers obliged. Dropping 13 threes, including two in the final minute, the Lakers edged out the Jazz 111-110 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series.

Both Kobe and DFish sank the clutch threes in the final minute. Ice water has flowed in the veins of both of those two for many a year. Their heroics were nearly washed away by a bad no call and a near tip-in on a miss in the final seconds. Victory or death was hanging by a thread.

In the first half, the Lakers settled for long jumpers early and often. The guards had 42 of the Lakers 50 first half points. Just 6 points for the trio of Pau, Lamar and Bynum on 2-7 shooting.

In the second half, Ron Artest's offensive game came alive. He scored 18 points in the half, giving the Lakers a huge lift from an unexpected source.

"Kobe and the fellas, they continue to give me confidence just to move on and play the next game," Artest said. The Jazz tried to take away the interior with double teams, the Lakers beat them anyway.

No team has lost a 3-0 series lead. The Suns vs. Lakers in the Western Conference Finals now seems inevitable. One game to win first.


Kobe -- -- Hate to bring this up first, but Kobe nearly lost the game with a ball-watching final defensive stand. Matthews crashed the glass, Kobe watched Ron defend and didn't box out. Matthews missed the tip in, thank goodness. After that no-call on the other end, that tip in would have left a bad taste in fans mouths. Lucky not to get the loss. Luck, however, had no part in the Lakers closing this game on the other end behind some clutch shooting and playmaking from Kobe. He and DFish, clutch as ever, drained killer threes in the final minute. If you're an opponent, you don't want to see those two shooting in that situation. They are money. That backcourt duo and Ron combined for 10-21 three shooting for the starting lineup. Glad that didn't go to waste. Kobe came out of the gates firing. He had the Lakers first 9 points and went 4-8 shooting while the rest of the team hit only 3-16 in that first quarter. This would be the only quarter the offense floundered, scoring just 17. They seemed to settle in better after that and scored at a high clip the rest of the game. (It was still a bit too perimeter oriented and resulted in some offense the other way.) Kobe will need to try to set up his bigs a little better in the next game. Kobe defended Korver when he came in. Not a good idea as he has to stick to him like glue and not roam. "He played his butt off," Kobe said afterward. Korver got open looks on him, then Shannon and got into the zone and Ron had his hands full, as well. If Kobe is on him again when Korver comes in, he needs to smother him and keep him on ice. The Stats: He scored 35 points on 13-24 shooting (3-7 from three, 6-8 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 7 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 43 minutes. He was a +1. The Action: He missed an early offense three. He backed his man down and hit a short jumper. He missed another early offense three next time down. He attacked off the three line and hit a runner. He kicked out instead of hitting Bynum, led to a missed three. He posted up next time down an banked. He sank a wing three. He was blocked by AK who left Ron to help. He missed an early offense wing jumper out of a timeout. He had 9 points on 4-8 shooting. He gave Korver a wide open jumper for an easy two. He hit a long wing jumper. He was blocked in the post. Another three for Korver. He spun baseline and scored a layup. He kicked out to Farmar for a wide open three. He drained a long jumper off the pinch post with Pau. He tracked down a deflected pass, spun in the lane and hit a short jumper. He hit a pull-up from the left side. He was stripped on a drive and wanted the foul. He was called for an offensive foul trying to post up off the ball. He scooped up a loose ball and was fouled on the break with 4 seconds left, he made just one FT. He had 20 points on 9-14 shooting and 3 assists. Second Half: He missed a wide open three straight away. He attacked on iso and drew FTs, he made just one again. He swished a three working the high pinch post with Pau. He kicked out to Ron for three. He kicked to DFish for a three. He bullied his way past Matthews for FTs, he made both. He missed a fallaway chuck with the shotclock low. He had 6 points on 1-3 shooting and 2 assists in the third. His pass was deflected for an And-1 dunk the other way (big play with 6 minutes left to give the Jazz a 5-point lead). He attacked down the lane for a finger roll over a help defender. He missed a three. He fouled Boozer going for a steal. He missed a baseline turnaround. He iso'd, took all kinds of contact and missed while getting sandwiched (on the other end, less contact for Deron and FTs...that was a tough 4-point sequence late in the game for the Lakers to overcome). He worked the post and missed again. He drained a tough baseline fade with 1:45 left. He tied the game with 54 seconds left off a three on a high screen. He drew FTs with 7.8 seconds left up by 1, he made both clutch ones.

Gasol -- -- The trio of Laker bigs didn't get the easy looks and touches they had been getting. The low-post, back-to-the-basket possessions were Pau could reall got to work few and far between. To counter that, the Lakers need to keep moving the ball with speed and timing. Pau can go quick off the post entry. If not, his versatility will always come into play. In the third quarter, Pau switched to his midrange game and started producing. He was knocking down the jumper and crashing the glass. He didn't see much of the ball in the fourth for either his post game or midrange game. When the Jazz have to send instant doubles to Pau, Bynum and Kobe, good looks are there for others. The Lakers made 13-29 from three as a result. They can't and don't want to live by the three. Instead of kicking out off the many doubles, they need to also set up their bigs coming off screens in the paint. Or attack off the three line, draw the scrambling D and set up the bigmen. Look for the Lakers to explore that much more in the next game. On the defensive end, Pau came up big with a block on Boozer with a few seconds remaining. Boozer wanted a call of some kind on Pau, but it was hard to see what on the replay. Boozer had just 14 points on 16 shots. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 6-12 shooting (2-2 from the line) to go with 17 boards (7 offensive), 3 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 1 turnover and 4 fouls in 42 minutes. He was a +4. The Action: He blocked Fesenko on help D. He missed a baseline jumper. He missed a runner across the lane. He hit a short jumphook off the repost from Fish. Poor feed trying to hit Artest in the corner instead of a cutting Shannon in the lane, it resulted in a turnover as AK swiped it. He missed a high arching baseline turnaround. He was hit trying to crash the glass and drew FTs, he made both. He had 4 points on 1-4 shooting, 7 boards and 2 assists. Second Half: He sank a short wing jumper. He sank a pull-up from the FT line. He missed a tough baseline fallaway. He was beat badly by Milsap on the baseline. He grabbed a Fish miss, missed it himself, then scored. He let Boozer bump past him for a reverse. He sank a wing jumper. He dropped Matthews on a screen, then grabbed a missed three to reset the offense. He tipped in a missed Fisher three (great effort). He had 10 points on 5-7 shooting and 6 boards in the third. He tapped out an offensive board, got it back and missed a short one in the post.

Bynum -- -- Quiet game from Drew with just 1 shot attempt and no points. "He didn't get the ball and didn't have opportunities tonight," Phil said. Phil opted for quicker, smaller lineups to also limit Drew's time. Bynum did hit a couple of cutters for scores when the doubles came, but the Lakers did a poor job in getting the ball to their bigs in places they could score. The Stats: He didn't score on 0-1 shooting, pulled down 4 boards (2 offensive), had 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block and 2 fouls in 20 minutes. He was a -6. The Action: Quiet first stint as the team largely ignored the post. He hit a cutting Brown for a score. He hit a cutting Farmar for a layup. He didn't shoot or score and had 4 boards and 2 fouls. Second Half: He deflected a pass. He was blocked on a dunk, sounded like a foul. Flat-footed and he allowed a putback. Phil would quickly go to LO after that.

Artest -- -- Ron picked a great game to come to life from behind the arc. The Lakers needed some three shooting with all the doubles being sent to take away the interior size advantage. Ron caught fire. Between the third and fourth quarters, he helped carry the team offensively during a stretch. The DFish/Artest duo finally had both players looking like serious perimeter weapons at the same time. Nice to see for once. With just 6 seconds left and up by a point, Ron tried to inbound to Fish who was breaking open. He threw the pass as Fish was grabbed from behind and pulled down with no call. The coaches would have preferred Ron to take a timeout there, but the refs really should have called that foul. Seemed pretty obvious. "We'll have to go back to the drawing board on that one," Phil said. His D is not a main factor in this series. He covered at the PF spot some tonight, but also had to slide over to Korver and try to cool him off. That didn't happen. He took Deron on the final possession. Ron had a slight slip reacting to a cross-over. Deron decided that was his opportunity and hoisted up a jumper from three range. Not the greatest shot selection. Deron said he thought Artest would recover if he tried to drive. Ron and Kobe shared the post-game press conference together. "I was so happy coach Sloan had that defensive strategy to play off me," Artest said. There were some sequences of big threes back and forth between the Jazz and Lakers. It may have been fun for the Jazz fans, but "we don't like to make it fun for the fans," Artest said. Kobe said the press was trying to take credit for Ron's shooting performance, saying he was inspired by recent commentary on Ron's three shooting. Ron's offensive game was certainly going to be spotlighted in this series since his D isn't as vital. The hope was and is that he'd find some flow and more effectiveness on that end of the floor. Getting that to carry through to future series would be huge. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 7-13 shooting (4-7 from three, 2-2 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 39 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a wing jumper on the first attempt of the game. He missed a three on the next attempt (Kobe passed up feeding Bynum in the high post and attacking off it). Slow recovery and he gave up a three to Miles. He swatted Matthews' three out of bounds. He rattled in an open wing three (made a two after a review). He had 2 points on 1-3 shooting. Second Half: His man left him, the kickout came and Artest swung it to Fisher for the corner jumper. He swished an early offense three when his man sagged off him. He posted up, took contact, no call and missed. He drained a three next time down on a Kobe kickout. He fumbled the ball away trying to create off the dribble (Phil talked to him in a timeout about that sequence). He sank a wing three behind a Pau screen. He had 9 points on 3-4 shooting in the third. He attacked to his left and scored a layup on a drive. He sank a corner three. He attacked baseline and drew FTs, he made both. He attacked baseline off the three line and reversed around the help D. He missed a three with the shotclock low. He missed another wing three. He posted up, attacked and set up LO for FTs. He sagged to help on dribble penetration and Korver hit a big three. He missed a big corner three with 1:06 left. Fisher was held as the Artest inbounds pass came and the Lakers didn't get it with 4 seconds left (obvious foul that should have been called).

Fisher -- -- You hate to waste a game when you get 20-point outings from both Ron and DFish. The Lakers nearly did, but Kobe and DFish weren't about to let that happen. Fisher came up huge on a long three with 28 seconds left to give the Lakers a 1-point lead. "Fish is being Fish," Kobe said afterward. Big-time shot. "He's done that before. He's one of those guys that's a tough guy," Sloan said. He was splashing jumpers from all around the perimeter today. When you can erase 20 of Deron's 28 with some good shooting by DFish, you take that and run. Fish got Deron into some foul trouble in the first half, too. "Just his tenacity is a factor for us," Phil said of Derek. The Stats: He scored 20 points on 7-13 shooting (3-7 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists, 1 turnover and 5 fouls. He was a +4. The Action: He missed a wing jumper. He missed a long three, it led to a three in transition. He hit a pull-up jumper on the break. He didn't draw iron on an open three. He drew a charge on Deron. He swished a wing three on a kickout from Kobe. He drew another charge on Williams who tried to post him up. He missed another wing three, then gave up a layup in early offense. He picked up Deron's third foul on an early offense three next time down (poor shot selection, great job drawing the foul), he made all three FTs. He had 8 points on 2-6 shooting. Second Half: He just beat the shotclock with a long wing jumper. He swished a toe-on-the-three line corner jumper off the swing pass from Ron. He attacked an open lane and missed the layup, but Pau cleaned it up. He drained a wing three on a Kobe kickout. He missed a two-for-one three, but Pau tipped it in. He had 7 points on 3-5 shooting in the third. He missed a runner off the glass. He swished another foot-on-the-three line from the corner. He swished a deep three with 28 seconds left to get a 1-point lead. Totally fouled on an inbounds pass with no call and the Lakers turned it over with 4 seconds left.

Lamar -- -- He seemed to be sleep-walking a bit through parts of this game. While DFish and Kobe will get a lot of credit for clutch makes, LO came up with a couple FTs and a three with 2:25 left. Those were big points at a critical juncture. Lamar had some foul issues that limited his time in the first half. You hate seeing Bynum with just 20 minutes and Lamar with only 26 in the same game. That's a lot of impact minutes sitting on the bench. Phil had Ron come in as back-up PF in the first half when Lamar picked up the foul trouble. In the fourth, he had Pau start for Bynum. So, that's a big chunk of where those guys minutes disappeared. Just mixing up some of those bench units. Lamar defended AK on some stretches while Ron battled Milsap. The Stats: He scored 8 points on 2-6 shooting (1-3 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 8 boards (4 offensive) and 4 fouls in 26 minutes. He was a +6. The Action: He missed a jumphook, not getting set well. He missed a three from the top of the arc. He posted up Milsap, spun away from a double and hit the turnaround. He swatted Boozer. He picked up two quick fouls at the end of the first. He had 2 points on 1-3 shooting and 4 boards in 8 minutes. Second Half: He missed a three out of a timeout. He was blocked on a drive. He left Boozer alone under the hoop (just staring at him for a moment as the pass came) and Phil called a timeout to yell at him. He got Milsap to dribble out of bounds on a drive. He drew FTs on a drive from Ron, he made one. He couldn't secure a missed FT. He drew FTs grabbing a missed Kobe shot under the hoop with 2:48, he made both. He swished a wing three next time down to give the Lakers a 1-point lead.

Brown -- -- I'll give Shannon a little credit for trying to attack off the three line on one or two occasions. That's what Phil wants to see more of. Shannon tried to mix up his game some in that regard, but it wasn't enough. If the kickout comes and it's early in the clock, repost or attack. When the ball goes into the post, cut down the lane more. There are different ways to beat the post double teams than settling for three, and Shannon is one of the guys with the skills to consistently take advantage of it. Shannon got off as many shot attempts as Pau in this game in half the minutes. He (and the other guys) need to do a better job occupying their man to allow the bigs more room to work. The Stats: He scored 9 points on 4-12 shooting (1-3 from three) to go with 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -1. The Action: He missed a 19-footer right after entering the game. Then he missed a layup on a drive. He missed a two-for-one jumper. He missed a layup on a drive. He cut and took a pass from Bynum for a layup. He swished a baseline jumper. He gathered a sloppy pass from Farmar on the break and worked his way to the rim for a layup. He traveled while attacking off the three. He sank a wing three, measuring it for a couple seconds. He missed a three on a kickout (wide open lane to cut on that play). Bogus call as Deron used his off hand to fend off Brown, only contact on the play, and Brown was called for the foul. Great D to help force a turnover and bust out for Kobe. He had 9 points on 4-9 shooting. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He missed a wide open sideline three at the end of the third. He missed a pull-up on the break, then didn't man-up on Korver to give up a three.

Farmar -- -- Phil really switched up the second unit that starts the fourth quarter. He left three impact players in, but this time it was Pau, Lamar and Artest for the first 3 minutes. After an 8-0 run for the Jazz, followed by a 5-0 counter for the Lakers, Phil then brought in Kobe for Shannon and had four impact players with Farmar. So after giving up momentum in both home games during this key stretch, these second units had some sketchy moments, but held the line slightly better...simply by not being so much of a second unit. A lot less on Farmar's shoulders. The Stats: He had 5 points on 2-6 shooting (1-2 from three) to go with 1 board and 2 fouls in 12 minutes. He was a -3. The Action: He gave up an And-1 to Matthews in the post. He missed an easy floater in the lane. He missed a wing three, then fouled in transition. He cut off the Bynum double and scored a layup. He sank a wide open corner three off the Kobe kickout. He had 5 points on 2-4 shooting. Second Half: He should have dropped to the corner to help on Korver on a kickout, they gave up an open three. He missed a baseline jumper after letting a man fly by.

Powell -- -- Brief stint for Powell at the end of the half. With Bynum and Lamar both with a couple of fouls, Phil looked to protect them. Artest stole some minutes at the PF spot which also reduced opportunity for Powell in this one. The Stats: He didn't shoot in 1 minute of action and was a +1. The Action: Not enough size to secure a defensive board against Fesenko without boxing out and we gave up a possession. Second Half: He did not play in the second half.

Phil -- -- The Lakers hoisted up jumper after jumper to start the game instead of working the ball inside. Kobe seemed to prefer setting up the shooters versus the bigmen. They trailed 8-2 early... AK came in midway through the quarter with the Jazz up 7... Kobe had the Lakers first 9 points... Down 15-9 Phil brought in Lamar for Bynum... He then had to sit Lamar for Bynum when LO picked up two fouls with a minute left... The Lakers shot 7-24 in the first. Kobe was 4-8, the rest of the team 3-16... The Jazz led 22-17... Although we didn't feed the post as much as we should, when we did, it was being doubled. "Our guys have to get the ball out quick and we have to penetrate," Phil said. Lots of cuts/drives available if the Lakers don't want to settle for three... Phil started a Bynum, Artest, Kobe, Shannon, Farmar unit with Lamar in foul trouble... Poor offensive execution killing the Lakers early on. They quickly fell behind by double digits... They started to pick it up, but their D was equally soft. Still, they chipped away with a couple mini-runs... Phil sat Lamar for Powell with a minute left... The Lakers cut the 13-point Utah lead to just 54-50 at halftime. The Laker guards had 42 of the 50 points for the Lakers. The Lakers shot 46.5 percent (20-43, 4-13 from three, 6-7 from the line). The Jazz shot 46.2 percent (18-39, 5-11 from three, 13-15 from the line). Just 3 turnovers for the Lakers... The coaches wanted the Lakers to move the ball better in order to get the post entries to the bigmen in scoring positions... The Lakers won the first few minutes to take a 60-59 lead and force a Jazz timeout... L.A. was quickly in the penalty after that timeout... Phil called a timeout with the score tied 70-70. We seemed to set up a Lamar three out of that. He missed... The Lakers were 5-9 from three in the third... The Lakers led 82-80 heading into the fourth... Phil started a Pau, Lamar, Ron, Shannon, Farmar line up... The Jazz have taken momentum from the Lakers against this fourth-quarter second unit every game. Phil switched things up a a bit... Phil sat Shannon for Kobe after 3 minutes... No timeouts down the stretch, big threes by Kobe and DFish in the final minute... With 7.8 left up by 3, the Lakers needed to protect against the three. Switch and challenge or take a foul. Fish took a foul with 6.1 left. Rare call by Phil. The Jazz made both, L.A. up by 1... They had 3 timeouts left. They moved the ball with one unable to get it in cleanly in the backcourt... Then came the non-call that nearly cost the Lakers... Just 8 turnovers for the Lakers all game... The Lakers made 16-19 from the line. The Jazz made 26-31...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Ron had 18 points on 6-10 shooting in the second half, 9 in each quarter. More points than anyone else on the floor in the half.

[mhan00]

awesome game that was almost tragic.

[Omar Little]

1 more
_________________
“We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” ― Elie Wiesel

[Cutheon]

Good write up. Thanks for the hard work, DB!

[JTS1]

wow, 7 bells and counting.
_________________
'How many kids can say growing up that they'll turn pro and play for their favorite team in the world and spend your entire career there? IT'S BEEN A DREAM!'-Kobe Bryant 11.29.15

[thurloly]

Thanks DB!

The day of basketball is completed for me, now, I can go to sleep happily.

[Siguy]

It was cosmic justice that the final Jazz tip-in missed. That no call on the fisher inbound foul was inexcusable.

Great game though, and a better win.

[limchrc]

Glad we are lucky enough to escape with a win.

[A Mad Chinaman]

Again, a BIG AMEN for your great work - DB!

For those who were wondering why Phil has faith DFish, this game provided some tangible evidence.

Phil is starting to find a way to utilize Farmar's existing skills, don't place too many responsibilities or expectations on his shoulders. With Phil running him with three impact players, Farmar is buying time for the starters while hoping that his PT doesn't result in losing much of the Lakers' lead.

It is a good thing that RonRon/DFish were productive while waiting for LO to show up in the game.

[Texas_Pete]

Thanks DB.

Dare I say Fish played DWill to a standstill tonight? If you take out DWill's 14 FTAs, Fish's 7/13 > DWill's 6/13 and he drew like 3 offensive fouls on him. Shoot, give Fish 14 FTAs and he probably drops a career high 34 on the Jazz! Seriously though, if we lost because they swallowed the whistle on that last play I would have went off. How could you not make that call?

Both Fish and Artest were vindicated tonight (at least for one game). Tough night for Drew - I'm confident that he will bounce back. Loved his defensive presence out there when was playing.

Time to close them out...

[Klone_dd]

Tis better to be lucky than good, and if you're both - watch out!

The perimeter game has been lacking of late so there was no doubt that the Ute would pack it in and force the Lakers to beat them from the outside. Against OKC, the Lakers got into their offense late in the clock and wound up shooting contested 3s. Tonight, they weren't up against the clock and shot 3s within the offense.

Memo to NBA - Kobe's not over the hill in case anyone's thinking that. The man can still carry a team as he did in the 1st half and he can certainly close out games. Thankfully, him stopping to ball watch on the last play didn't cost the game.

Fish - has been an unsung hero in this series. Maybe it's because of his familiarity with the Utah system. But he's done a very respectable job against DWill. Billups was torched nightly. Fish has held his own and somewhat thwarted DWill.

RonRon - I still wince when you shoot the ball. Way to come alive, though.

LO was MIA thru most of the game, but his 5 point spurt in the 4th was critical.

[PopcornMachine]

Ok, of course I'm very happy the Lakers won but I have a question about the ending of the game.

The Lakers are down 100-98 and with 2:34 left in the 4th, Boozer boots the ball out of bounds. All on his own. Something you never see him do. I say, "that's a gift, Lakers better not waste it".

Well, Lamar takes a quick 3 and makes it 2:25. Was expecting them to be little bit more cautious. There's plenty of time, why not work for a good shot? But it goes in, so everytihgs OK.

Next there's a Millsap layup as they actually ran a play, followed by a Bryant jumper.
At 1:23 Korver makes a 3 and the Lakers are down 2 at 105-103. Still plenty of time, yet we get a Kobe 3 at 0:54, a Williams 18-footer at 0:42, followed by a Fisher 3 at 0:28. At least they moved the ball a bit on that last one.

So why stop running your offense with 2:34 left in the game? From then on they mostly rolled the dice on 3 pointers. Fortunately they all went in. Miss any one of them and Lakers probably lose the game.

After running an offense the whole game, that you've practiced the whole season, why just start flinging up 3s at the end? I don't get it. Pau Gasol got no shots in the final minutes of the game. You'd think they'd try at least once.

It's like playing roulette.

Very, very, very lucky win.

_________________

I'm with COCO!

[Fleur-de-Lis]

Thanks DB.

Lakers are ready to contend for a title, no doubt, they find way to win grind it out, fast paced, inside, outside, they will find a way to kill you.

[terrafirma]

It looked like Boozer got stripped by Fisher more than blocked by Pau. Fish looked like he got a hand in there and the ball came out as Boozer was going up and it hit the rim. I don't think Pau even touched it or him. I think Boozer was looking for a foul call on Fisher's strip.
_________________
MagicBouncePass: "Kobe is definitely not going to shutdown Westbrook."

[DancingBarry]

[All Net]

these threads are beyond awesome...

[TooMuchMajicBuss]

Thanks again DB! I'm liking our odds this series!!!

Wow I just hate long-distance shooting contests. On the other hand, the Lakers winning this takes the edge off a bit. It's good to see Ron hitting from outside and inside, very nice second half. Maybe other teams will think twice about sagging off him.

Interesting new twist in the NBA; tackles from behind are now legal on in-bounds plays with the clock winding down! Will pads and helmets come next?

[Gallofa]

Thanks!

We are balling now!

Kobe is playing great, Fisher and Artest are looking better and Gasol is killing it!

Gasol is averaging 20 pts / 15 rbs / 3 ast / 3 blks in the series, whilst shooting 58% and nearly 90% from the charity line

[Rick12322]

Thanks, DB.

We're showing the heart of champions.

[prisma8slg]

thanks DB.

big plays by LO, Fish and Kobe down the stretch. it was great to see Artest's offensive game come to life.
_________________
"I define success by championships, by winning..." Kobe Bryant

"I've seen it all. Sasha dunked on somebody," Kobe Bryant said. "I'm ready to retire now."

[LakerFan1972]

Another great write up.

[davidse]

thanks


just a great great great basketball game.

reminded me just how awsome an nba playoff game can be.

been a while since i enjoyed a playoff game this much.

[RVCdesigns]

HUGE GAME FROM FISH AND RON

[Luca Brasi]

Pop makes a good point regarding the offense, it would seem that in a tight ball game you would rely on the greatest offensive system in the history of basketball, but instead the players stop thinking and start improvising. i would liken it to a person throwing you a life vest in choppy waters and you denying it because you would rather try to swim ashore by yourself.
_________________
"i was born down in the valley where the sun refused to shine, but i'm climbin' up to the highlands, goin' to make that mountain mine" ~ Lakers, 2011

[DancingBarry]