Not much more to ask for, considering that the Jazz came home down 2-0. Two home wins, sending the series back to LA tied (so much for a sweep, eh Lakers fans?), and guaranteeing at least a Game 6 at the ESA. Knowing that the Jazz have to get at least one game in LA if they hope to move on, I really hope that it’s Game 5 and not a potential Game 7.
The officiating, which has been so bad in the playoffs, was generally good during the game… the decision to toss Ronny Turiaf might’ve been a bit much, but other than that… In the end, after a disappointing Lakers’ comeback late (down 12 with 3 minutes to go, tie it up and force OT), the Jazz took over in the OT. They were really helped by Kobe… who was playing injured but seemed to still lose confidence in his teammates late.
Booze had a horrible 1st half, and that’s being generous. He was 1-7 for 2 points. His 2 points came on a fast-break, where he was the trailer that benefited from Deron’s amazing passing ability. Other than that, he was clanking jumpers left and right. Deron picked up the slack though, getting 19 first-half points. Also big early was Ronnie Brewer, who got 2 alley-oops from Deron to get the crowd going, and then had a nice outlet pass off a board leading to a Deron fast-break dunk.
Speaking of fast-break dunks, you know who didn’t get one? Luke Walton, that’s who! Amazing play by Ronnie Price to get back and block the shot. Walton had an easy fast-break lane to the hoop (he was well ahead of everybody), but he slowed down and let Ronnie get back. Ronnie really has some hops, by the way.
And speaking of Ronnie, he doesn’t seem to think Turiaf should’ve been tossed either. I’ll admit, I didn’t see the play, but I guess the refs will use the “after the whistle” argument. Whatever. In a series where the officiating has been as reliable as Carlos Boozer, you take what you can get. Price hit the ground hard, but bounced right back up.
The bench was huge for the Jazz… outscoring their Laker counterparts, 39-16. No Knees played well offensively. KoKo missed quite a few shots, but still hit the double digits (and was solid from the line late in OT). ‘Sap showed determination to get to the hoop… something that Booze didn’t. And Price was solid in his very few minutes. For the Lakers… Walton & Vujacic did some scoring. Turiaf, Mbenga & Farmar… not so much.
Deron finished with 29 and 14. Booze bounced back in the 2nd half, finishing with 14 on 5-15 shooting (aka, 4-8 in the 2nd half & OT). He also had 12 boards. Okur finished with 18 and 11, and had 2 huge jumpers in OT to put the Jazz ahead for good. AK finished with 15, including a huge 3-point play late in the OT (after a huge rebound by Okur to let the Jazz run the clock a bit more). It was a huge play by AK too… took the pass from Deron, and went from right-to-left under the hoop to get the jam and foul while making sure the shot couldn’t be blocked. Brewer finished with 8 points in 23 minutes… getting very little time (if any) late.
For the Lakers… Kobe finished with 33 points. But it took him 33 shots, of which he made 13. This includes a 1-10 night from long range, and 6-10 from the FT line. He was struggling with the bad back… late in the game he was unable to get the explosion that we’re used to see him getting. That led to a couple of blocks for AK (he finished with 5). And in OT, it was Kobe shooting (and missing) early and often. Gasol finished with 23 on 11-16 shooting, but his most aggressive move of the night came in OT… and ended with a missed reverse jam. Odom had 26 & 13, but had the late foul on AK. He is the reason there was OT though… draining a huge 3 late, and then getting a put-back with less than 5 seconds left to knot the game up at 108. Vladimir Radmanovi went 1-6 (0-3 from long range) for 2 points. Fisher finished with 15 points, including 4 3-pointers late. He got into early foul trouble again (Deron needs to attack Fish early in Game 5… the back-ups can’t stick with him as well as Fish can), but still hurt the Jazz late with the huge shots.
I’ll admit… I didn’t watch the whole game. I caught the first quarter, and then the Lakers comeback late in the 4th, and then the OT session. So I missed the Price flashes. And most of Boozer’s horrible 1st half. And a lot more. But, from what I saw… Kobe was hurt. Booze struggled. Memo was solid late (the jumpers in OT, the huge rebound late in OT). Odom stepped up big late. KoKo was perfect from the line when it most counted.
Kobe airballed a 3-pointer late in OT… flashing back to the Kobe of his rookie season. In OT, it seemed like Kobe either lost all confidence in his teammates, or simply decided to try and take over. Which is a bit harder when you’re injured. Anyhow, he struggled… a couple missed jumpers, a couple shots blocked, before the airball. He did get 3 FTs on a stupid foul by AK late, but yeah. Too little, too late… the Lakers stunk it up early in OT, costing them any shot they had to win the game. The Jazz got a couple of huge jumpers from Okur, and then got the AK “and-1″ and FTs to seal the deal. Of course, while people will blame Kobe now for taking everything in OT while injured, you realize he’s the superstar on the team, right? And with Gasol’s missed jam and the rest of the team just standing around… plus, if he had kept passing and the team had still lost, he would’ve been blamed for not shooting enough.
The Lakers were 14-25 from the FT line. That’s 56%… aka horrendous. The Jazz were above 82%, and shot at 53% from the field (to the Lakers 47%). The Lakers shot 26 three pointers, and missed most of the them (17)… no thanks to Radmanovic (0-3) & Bryant (1-10). The Jazz were 6-17 from long range (KoKo 2-6, Deron 3-4, Okur 1-4). Each team had 41 rebounds; the Lakers had 12 offensive and the Jazz had 7. The Jazz had 12 more assists and 4 more blocks.
Game 5 is Wednesday in LA, Game 6 is Friday in Salt Lake. If necessary, Game 7 will be Monday in LA.
Filed under: Andrei Kirilenko, Carlos Boozer, Derek Fisher, Deron Williams, Game Recap, Kyle Korver, LA Lakers, Matt Harpring, Mehmet Okur, Paul Millsap, Ronnie Brewer, Ronnie Price
