JAZZ -at- LAKERS - 5/15 - Thoughts and :-)) Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Win No. 7 - Holding the Line... Win or lose, this was one of those character-building games. With Kobe limited because of his back injury and the Lakers dropping their last two games -- this was a must-win. Put the war paint on. Beat the drums. Dig in and hold the line. Defend home court at all costs. And that's what the Lakers did.

With the game close and the Jazz threatening to pull off a road win, Pau Gasol stepped up with two huge scores in the final minute of the game. One was a putback score off an offensive board where he had a forearm in Mehmet Okur's back.

Some of the Jazz seemed to bite their tongues on the play by Pau. They don't want to whine about pushing off on rebounds for obvious reasons. "Sometimes that's how physical it's going to be," Boozer said. He added that the officials, "let the players play."

What are they going to say?

Sloan dodged the question about that score by Pau. "We couldn't get over the hump," he said afterward. That is the story of the road for both teams.

Kobe had just 4 field goals after the first quarter and didn't take one in the fourth. He was still able to be effective, but he did defer quite a bit, and guys like Lamar and DFish found ways to manufacture points when we needed them.

"It was better than I thought it was going to be," Kobe said of his back. He said his injury in the last game was the most pain he has ever felt. Hopefully, his back continues to improve. It's got to if we are going to take the series on the road in the next game.


Kobe -- -- If you just started watching this series, you might not have noticed the dramatic difference in Kobe's game from the beginning of the series to right now with his back hurting him. But it was significant and it limited our options. "I think the key is to know what you can and can't do," Kobe said prior to this game. "I kind of know what I can and can't do. I hope I can do what's necessary to help us win." That quote right there shows about the limitations he has to place on his game. In the first half, we didn't see Kobe work the post or attack as relentlessly off the dribble. Defensively, he gave up several easy scores. In the second half, more of the same and the Jazz caught up to us. Then, for a brief stint he got aggressive at the end of the third for some points before the Jazz went to the zone. He didn't take a field goal in the fourth quarter. Obviously the back issues were very much in play. He played a very efficient game, however, getting his 26 on just 10 shots. Kobe also seemed to struggle handling the ball tonight, as well. Phil put that on having sat out the last couple practices. LO on Kobe: "Why he is so great is that he competes against his greatness all the time," he said. We survived this game. Hopefully, Kobe's condition improves. The Stats: He scored 26 points on 6-10 shooting (1-2 from three, 13-17 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 7 assists, 2 steals, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 41 minutes. The Action: He sank a three to start the Lakers scoring. He drained a long elbow jumper. He missed a turnaround on the baseline. (Brewer had four straight scores for the Jazz, a couple in transition, a couple off bad communication.) He hit a 10-footer over Brewer in the midpost. He missed an 18-footer. He gave up another layup to Brewer. We set up a backdoor play out of a timeout and Kobe was fouled, he then missed a three off the in-bounds. He fouled Harpring after a Boozer make to give up an extra FT. He swiped a pass, pushed it out and drew FTs on Korver, he made both. He had back-to-back turnovers at the end of the quarter, the second one looked like a foul that wasn't called. Good perimeter D with Fish and Sasha to force a turnover which Kobe pushed out for FTs, he made both. He flipped a pass behind him for Sasha's three. He picked up his second foul midway through the second quarter trying to help on Deron's dribble penetration. He hit Pau with a bounce pass for a layup off the two-man game. Unforced turnover in transition throwing the ball right out of bounds, uggh. Another unforced turnover, loosing the handle out of bounds. He hit Pau on the break for an uncontested dunk. He scored a layup off the Fish steal. He had 13 points on 4-7 shooting, 3 assists, 2 steals and 4 turnovers in the first half. Second Half: Brewer got to the rim on the Jazz's first possession of the second half. Finally an aggressive attack by Kobe (against Williams), he got in the paint and drew FTs, he made both. He lost Williams and scored the uncontested layup. He hit LO under the hoop for a layup. He ball-watched under the hoop, let Brewer step right around him and tip in a miss, no effort by Kobe to block out. He couldn't finish a dunk on a foul (didn't seem to get quite the elevation we've seen..."I kind of felt like Luke Walton," Kobe said describing that play), he then missed both FTs. Nice job shading Deron to the baseline and getting him to step on it. With 2:34 left in the third, we set up an iso for Kobe to attack Brewer out of a timeout, he drew FTs and made just one this time. Another weakside iso on Harpring next trip down, he drew more FTs, he made both. He iso'd again on Harpring, blew past him and hit an And-1 in the lane, he made the FT. The Jazz went to a zone and he missed a wing three on the next possession. He drew the D and dished to Lamar for a flush over Okur. Kobe was deferring a lot of offense down the stretch. He attacked, spun and fed Lamar for a dunk. He was fouled with 10 seconds left and a 4-point lead, he made both FTs. He was fouled again after a board, he made one.

Gasol -- -- Pau had the play of the game -- a couple of them, really. Two scores in the final minute on key possessions with the game on the line. He's done that a lot for us. It was vital that we get some production from others as Kobe wasn't himself and couldn't manufacture offense against AK like he could early in this series. Those scores won the game. Pau's passing was also superb, several of them leading to dunks or easy scores. "I always call him a 7-1 two-guard. He's a finesse player and he loves the pass," Lamar said. Defensively, he kept Boozer to 6-16 shooting, but Pau again struggled on the defensive glass. Boozer got 6 offensive boards, while Pau, amazingly didn't have a defensive board. He did a lot of damage himself on that offensive glass, but we need to secure a few more of those boards. Great job down the stretch, though, by Gasol tonight. The Stats: He scored 21 points on 9-17 shooting (3-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards (all offensive), 8 assists, 4 blocks, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls in 44 minutes. The Action: He was blocked on a jumphook. He hit Vlad cutting down the lane for a layup. He swatted Williams drive, but couldn't handle the pass on the break for a turnover. He dunked back in a Farmar missed jumper. He swished a face-up wing jumper. He threw a pass away out of the post. He had a shot goaltended with no call, he got it back, missed, got it back and was fouled (originally by Milsap, but they changed it to Korver), he made both FTs. He missed an awkward jumphook. He drew FTs off the drive and dish from Fish, he made one. He scored a layup off the two-man sequence with Kobe out of a timeout. Uncontested dunk by Pau running the floor well. Aggressive, quick post move and he hit the turnaround jumper. He tipped in a miss by Lamar at the end of the half. Excellent second quarter by Pau. He had 15 points on 6-10 shooting, 6 assists, 4 boards and 2 blocks in the first half. Second Half: He missed a jumphook in the lane. He missed a layup under the hoop. He was getting banged in the post and missed in the lane with no call. He missed an open wing jumper. He scored a layup over Harpring with the shotclock low. He got bulldozed in the post against Boozer and was called for the foul when he tripped Boozer from the floor, weak call. Great feed to a cuttling Lamar for the And-1 dunk down the lane. He drew a travel on Boozer on the other end. He posted up and scored with his left with a minute left. Huge, huge...HUGE offensive board by Pau on our next offensive sequence and he dunked it back in with 20 seconds left to give us a 5-point lead. Jazz fans got to love the forearm in the back that Okur reacted to. Oh, sweet irony.

Lamar -- -- Great game from Lamar. I still wish he would be a little more aggressive against Boozer. He has no answer for Lamar's speed. We should have featured it more with Kobe's situation, but Lamar did take advantage a number of times. His dunks in the fourth had the crowd going. Love seeing him finish like that. Keep your foot on the gas, Lamar. Don't let up in Utah. The Stats: He scored 22 points on 8-12 shooting (6-6 from the line) to go with 11 boards, 1 assist, 2 blocks, 2 turnovers and 4 fouls in 40 minutes. The Action: He flashed to the strong side, took the pass and scored an And-1 on Boozer, he made the FT. He attacked and kicked to Vlad for three. He drew FTs in early offense, he made both. A rare attack off the dribble and he just missed a point-blank layup. He attacked Boozer after bringing the ball up and he scored a layup. He scored a layup off the bullet feed by DFish. He missed a layup with obvious contact and no call (Gasol cleaned it up). He had 9 points on 3-6 shooting and 5 boards. Second Half: He threw a pass away for a layup the other way. He attacked Boozer off the dribble and hit the runner in the lane. He took a shot to the chin on a Jazz drive and had to get a cut cleaned up. He scored a layup on the feed under the hoop from Kobe. He attacked in transition off the dribble and drew FTs, he made both. He drew a charge on Milsap trying to take him off the dribble. With Harpring on him, Lamar quickly went to the post and drew a foul. He flushed over Okur when Kobe drove and dished. He dunked off the bounce pass from Gasol and was fouled, he made the FT. He missed off an attack on Okur getting contact and no call. He dunked off the drive and dish from Kobe.

Fisher -- -- The freethrows by Fish in the fourth quarter were huge. He picked up a couple trips to the line working off the ball. That was so big for the team with Kobe not himself and the team needing to manufacture points. It may seem minor, but those were big. Defensively, another scrappy effort from Fish, leading the team in steals yet again. Deron Williams is a tough, tough cover, but DFish is giving it a heck of an effort. A few uncharacteristic turnovers from Fish, but we cleaned that up in the second half as a team. The Stats: He scored 14 points on 3-7 shooting (1-2 from three, 7-8 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 5 assists, 4 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 37 minutes. The Action: He dribbled into a crowd and had it taken away for a dunk. He swished a three next time down the court. He lost a dribble out of bounds. He attacked the lane off the dribble and drew FTs, he made both FTs. He dove on top of Boozer to take a loose ball. He swished a wing jumper on the pinch post with Pau. He attacked the lane with speed, drew the D and set up Gasol for FTs. He threaded a needle to Lamar for a layup. He swiped the ball from Deron and hit Kobe for a transition score. He had 7 points on 2-2 shooting, 3 assists and 4 steals in the first half. Second Half: He missed a wing jumper. He sank a 20-footer on the next possession. He threw a ball away trying to hit Kobe. He missed a top-of-the-key jumper. He drew FTs setting a pick off the ball, he made both. He missed a tough corner three. He drew FTs away from the ball on a baseline cut with 2:43 left, he made both. He rebounded a Williams miss and was fouled with 15 seconds left and a 5-point lead, he made one.

Radmanovic -- -- Phil iced Vlad in this game. Vlad had the hot hand early and we called a timeout, then shortly later subbed in Luke on our rotations. That hurt us and Vlad couldn't pick it back up. I liked the change in rotation by Phil by getting Vlad on the floor to help out that fourth-quarter second-unit. That's kind of what you wanted to see Phil do in the first half when Vlad was stroking it. Oh, well. Hopefully, Vlad can string some games together now. We need that three ball of his on the road. I think the home crowd probably had more to do with Vlad's success than the subtle jab by Phil in the press about Ariza possibly being in the mix soon. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-11 shooting (3-5 from three) to go with 2 boards, 3 assists and 2 fouls in 21 minutes. The Action: He hit an 18-footer after setting a screen and bouncing out to the high elbow. He cut off Pau, took the pass and scored the layup. He missed a corner three. He jab stepped and swished a three with the shotclock low. He swished a corner three in transition the next time down. After a hot start for Vlad, Phil called a timeout, then subbed Vlad out shortly later for Luke. He had 10 points on 4-5 shooting in that stint. Second Half: He missed a corner three. He missed a baseline jumper. He attacked off the dribble and finger rolled a layup. He posted up and missed a turnaround. Starting the fourth, he drained a three on our first possession with the shotclock low. He missed with his left in the post over AK (don't like him in the post on that match up).

Luke -- -- He had a poor first stint, but I thought he came up with a couple big plays in the fourth before sitting. A great effort on an offensive board and somehow getting FTs on one possession with the shotclock low were both key plays. Still, Luke needs to step it up. He's been hurting us in the past few games. Maybe Phil should use the Ariza threat for Luke, too. The Stats: He scored 1 points on 0-1 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-2 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 1 steal, 1 turnover and 2 fouls in 13 minutes. The Action: He threw a pass away when Kobe tried to hit him on the baseline, it resulted in a transition three for Korver. Luke returned the pass to Kobe a possession later with a similar resulting turnover. Second Half: He missed a three over the zone. He drew a foul on Harpring with 2 on the shotclock on a fade, he made one FT. He tapped out a Sasha missed three with a great effort and it got us another possession.

Turiaf -- -- Not much action for Ronny tonight. He had some off-and-on minutes and compiled a team-low -7. Some aggressive perimeter D by Ronny, but no hard-fouling lane patrol in this one. The Stats: He didn't score, didn't take a shot, had 1 offensive board, 1 block an 1 foul in 9 minutes. The Action: He blocked a jumper. Second Half: He had to come in for Lamar early who was cut on the chin.

Farmar -- -- This was a vital game for Farmar. The home floor gave him a chance to boost his confidence. It looked like he used it and pushed through some of his struggles. He came in with a 6-point lead on his first stint and led by 5 when he sat. We were up by 4 when he entered in the second half. We had a 4-point lead when he sat. That's holding the line much better. I fear for him on the road, but am hopeful he can build something...anything...off this game. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 2-5 shooting (1-2 from three, 1-1 from the line) to go with 1 board and 2 fouls in 11 minutes. The Action: He missed a sideline jumper. He drained a wing three off the pitch out from Pau. Second Half: Price blew right past him for a layup. He missed an open three at the end of the third. Williams blew past him for a layup on the D end, Farmar then attacked him with a cross-over on the other end and hit an And-1 off the glass, big make, he knocked down the FT.

Vujacic -- -- Can you imagine if Farmar shot 1-11 tonight like Sasha? Or was whistled for a tech in the last two minutes (absurd call in the playoffs, by the way)? He'd be roasted, for sure. The thing about Sasha is he's putting in a good effort on D, as well...and he ended up with a +11 on the night. Sasha could have buried the Jazz a number of times in that fourth had the Machine functioned properly. He just missed...and missed...and missed... Better get someone to make some calibrations on the Machine for the next one. The Stats: He scored 6 points on 1-11 shooting (1-8 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 2 boards, 2 steals, 1 block and 1 foul in 24 minutes. The Action: He missed an early-offense three. He drew a foul away from the ball on Korver, his third and Korver had to sit. He drained a three on a back pass from Kobe. He missed a catch-and-shoot 21-footer. He drew FTs on a perimeter pumpfake, he made one. He missed back-to-back jumpers. He had 4 points on 1-5 shooting. Second Half: He missed a wing three. He missed a wing jumper badly. He swatted Boozer from behind, then drew a foul on AK in transition to go to the line, he made both. He missed a three set up out of a timeout. He missed another wing three. He somehow drew a tech with 2:41 left, weak call by the refs...can't believe they called that with a couple players just yapping at each other on the way down court. He missed another three, Pau rebounded it. He missed another three, Pau rebounded it and dunked.

Phil -- -- We went out to an 15-8 lead, forcing the Jazz into 5 turnovers midway through the first quarter before Sloan called timeout... We led 25-18 after Vlad drained a series of shots. Phil called a timeout, though, after we gave up another easy score off a turnover... Vlad was on fire until Phil chilled him with a timeout and then benching him for Walton. Luke came in and was involved in a couple turnovers. Momentum shift with that sub... We led 29-26 after the Jazz ended the quarter on a 10-4 run. Too many Laker turnovers, too many careless possessions. Defensively, we were sloppy... The Lakers picked up the intensity with some aggressive D, forcing the Jazz to rush things in the second quarter. We led 45-35 before a timeout... We had an 11-point lead then gave the ball away on several trips in a row and the Jazz got easy scores. They cut the lead to 5. Out of the timeout, we threw the ball away. Jazz cut it to 3... We led 61-54 on 55 percent shooting, 9 steals and 11 turnovers in the first half. The Jazz had 13 turnovers in the first half. They had 2 more offensive boards than us at that point... The Jazz started the second half by getting to the rim. We settled for jumpers. The Jazz tied it up at 69-69... With 2:34 left in the third, we started to feature Kobe on iso. He attacked and scored several times. At the end of the quarter, Sloan switched up to a zone and we missed a couple of threes, settling. We finished tied 81-81 after three... Phil at the interview between quarters talking about Kobe's issues: "It's more his ballhandling skills right now than his stamina," he said in regards to any effects of Kobe's taking the last couple days off to recover... Phil started a Pau, Vlad, Luke, Sasha, Farmar line up to begin the fourth. First time we've seen that... We got in the bonus 5 minutes into the fourth... We had a 97-91 lead when the timeout came with 6 minutes left. We tried to set up a three for Sasha out of the timeout and we missed... Our offense started to stall as we got sucked into more threes and no aggressiveness from Kobe. We had a 99-94 lead with 3 minutes left... Sasha got a T. "That's a very unusual call," Phil said of the tech called by Sasha. He also said Sasha's got to be more careful... No FG attempts from Kobe in the fourth. Only 3 turnovers in the second half by the Lakers. Great job holding those turnovers down after the poor first half... We ended up shooting just 47 percent for the game. The Jazz shot 46 percent. They outrebounded us 17-11 on the offensive boards...

Game Flow -- LINK -- Nice 10-4 mini run by our second unit to start the fourth. Phil highlighted that as a key to the win. We got 18 points from Pau, Lamar and Fish in the fourth.

[DK]

First?

First!

Now that I had a chance to read, great recap as always DB. More Highlights on Friday please!

[City_Dawg]

Thanks DB

Hopefully Kobe's back improves enough so that he can be aggressive. I doubt he can have this type of game over in Utah and still Win
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*sighs*

!...

[D-Dogg]

Big freaking win.

Let's beat them in Utah now, please. No more putzing around.
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17 on the horizon.

[jsi106]

Thanks for the recap.
I was waiting for your verdict on Pau's last offensive rebound. Well put, it is play off intensity basketball
Another question: do you think Pau got away with a charge around the 9 min mark in 4th quarter, where he drove to the basket for that lay up?

[DancingBarry]

^ I thought that might be a charge, but it happened so fast and they didn't replay it, so I never got a great look at it.

[Laker_Leo]

Great as always DB

[Siguy]

Great recap.

I thought the refs were real bad in this game. The play before Boozer got called on the travel, Boozer completely lowered his shoulder into Pau and got a bail out nonsense foul. The ref said "he tripped over Pau's foot" ... Yeah genius, Pau's foot which was planted firmly on the ground and didn't move during the entire play!

The technical on Sasha was also idiotic. That's a warning at most. If you have to give that T, you give it in the first half to say "this is what I'm not going to tolerate." You don't just spring it unannounced.

Good to see Vlad score some points. I think the reason he got taken out is that Phil had already played him extended minutes with two-plus fouls in the first quarter.

Vlad also screwed up the offense in the second half. He kept following the cutter into the paint and clogging up the middle by bringing Kirilenko there with him. Sometimes he needs to understand that when someone else is driving, his job is to be the outlet at the three point line to space the court, not to follow in for an offensive board he's never gonna get in a million years.

My Grand Unified Theory of Why the Jazz are Horrible Team:
They foul. They foul and foul and foul. They're hackers and defensive thugs who get away with endless BS because they have tough guy reputations ... BUT that's not why I hate them. That's one thing. That's 80s basketball and you can sort of respect it. What I can't respect is being both thugs and hideous floppers and whiners on the other end.

Harpring pretends to get fouled on every single offensive possession. He shouts and throws his arms up. Korver hooks sasha on half his screens. They push off, they flop, they flail, they whine, and they cry. You can't have it both ways. Either you're super tough football players who hard foul every time or you're softie wusses who flop and fall over everytime wimps like Luke Walton breathe on you. It's disgusting and I'm sick of them getting away with this crap.

[8750]

thanks, DB
the vujacic story is very appealing... until last season i personally thought that selecting him over chris duhon was a huge mistake, then he showed great passion and will and at this point i'm forgiving him everything (ok, almost everything)...
this series is weird... we are definitely superior, but something is always missing: giving them so many offensive rebounds, foolish turnovers, some softness... game six, all the pressure will be on them...

[sec 110]

If Boozer didn't called for shoving Fish to the ground at the end of last game then Pau shouldn't get called for this.

Kobe - 26 points on 10 attempts? Ridiculous.

I think we are exposing the Jazz as a one man team and we'll take it in Utah.

[lakefan24]

Gasol did it again. now to finish off those Jazzholez. lol

[jbjb]

I'm glad Sasha got this game out of his system in a win. I'm looking for him to his over 50% of his threes on Friday.

Great write-up as usual DB. I really look forward to them. Thanks.

[A Mad Chinaman]

DB

Do you think that Kareem was accurate when he stated that the younger Lakers (playoff-wise) were intimated by the Utah crowd? Could that be the reason why they missed so many free throws and other mistakes?

How do you think these Lakers will react in Utah and what do you feel are the keys to closing the series?

[DancingBarry]

[Critical Beatdown]

As allsome excellent.
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!
Per 100 possessions, we're winning 118-102 with LO on the floor, and losing 109-111 without him. (updated: 4/1/09; source: 82games.com)

[prisma8slg]

[targetman]

I think the refs are also intimidated by the Utah crowd.

I hope we can avoid the altitude fatigue our bigs always seem to experience when we go to Utah. With Kobe limited we have to get off to a fast start and it really seems to affect Gasol in the beginnings of the games. Also, Fish needs to watch the early fouls.
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Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

[10scott10]

Odom is averaging 19.2 ppg, 12.2 rpg in this series.
Garnett is averaging19.8 ppg, 11 rpg in the Cleveland series.

I mean just look at that. seriously.

[NY_LakerFan]

[Mr. EiGhTy-OnE]

-very efficient game from kobe, if he had played like this on sunday we would be resting for SA/NO already.
-vlad finally gets rolling and phil brings in luke????
-im not willing to call this a bounce back game for farmar, but he proved that he still has a pulse
-shooting was off for the machine, his defense wasnt (horrible T)
-D-fish is the mvp of this series to me. his shooting and defense on Deron has been great
-doesnt it seem like L.O. is in a contract year? he's been a BEAST
-Pau needs to work on his base, boy was he there in the clutch though
-was phil ivey playing online poker instead of cheering?
-phil scared the hell out of me with that lineup to start the 4th (it all worked out though)
-Deron's dagger 3 reminded me of the Tim Thomas 3 (fly-by defense)
-who was guarding Brewer in the 1st Qtr? NO ONE!
-anyone else torn on which post game show to watch? (fsn,tnt,kcal)
post game interviews on the court tnt:kobe, fsn:pau, kcal:farmar

FINISH THEM ON FRIDAY!
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"When (Kobe) gets you on life support, he won't give you mouth to mouth. HE PULLS THE PLUG." -stu

[Sage_10]

Big W. Thanks DB!
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"You Must Be Willing To Give Up That Which Can Be Lost In Order To Gain That Which Cannot Be Lost." - FORTUNE COOKIE

[LakersLO7]

[LakersLO7]

Need to jump on them, and stay on them in Utah and it wil be over in Utah.

[KobeJaws]

[Texas_Pete]