| 02 May 2010
(Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Lakers 104, Utah Jazz 99
At some point, the Lakers aren’t going to be able to win games just because they have the most talent and the most size. This is a Lakers team that has everything that you could want in a basketball team – everything except the willingness to show the world that they ARE the best basketball team on the floor for 48 minutes. At times during their Game 1 match up against the Utah Jazz, they seemed bored, unfocused and without heart.
The Jazz turned what was an eight point Lakers lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter to a four point Jazz lead during the first eight minutes of the first quarter. How did they do it? They forced long jumpers, they forced turnover, they worked really hard on the boards and they scrambled for loose balls. They did everything you’d expect a defending champion to do, and it worked – for those eight minutes. After Wesley Matthews got to the rim to extend the Jazz lead to four, Kobe Bryant went on a 7-0 run by himself, which turned into a Lakers 11-2 run, and the game was essentially over, only the final score to be determined.
The Lakers started out the game in similar fashion, shooting nearly 80 percent in the first quarter with Bryant making all five of his shots for 10 points – yet, despite the Lakers’ offensive brilliance, the Jazz were only down seven at the end of the first. How could this be? How could an undersized, under manned Jazz team be only down seven points with the Lakers executing as well as they did. How could this Jazz team take a four-point lead with the Lakers shooting near 60 percent late in the fourth? It’s a matter of effort. It’s a matter of heart. It’s a matter of fortitude. It’s a matter of playing 48 minutes with all of those components intact, because it sure isn’t a matter of talent.
Pau Gasol scored 25 points with 12 rebounds and five assists while Bryant finished with a game high 31 points, with 11 of those points coming within the final four minutes of the game. You see, this is a team that can play with heart, but it’s only situational heart. They don’t play with heart when they’re up by 14 points in the second quarter; they play with heart when their collective backs are against the wall. In the final four minutes, Bryant was in attack mode, Lamar Odom came up with two huge offensive rebounds and followed them with layups, Derek Fisher played inspired defense against Deron Williams and Gasol collected a huge fifth block. What’s to keep this team from playing like this every minute of every game? Only this team knows, but if they don’t reconsider their strategy, it’s going to end up coming back to haunt them in the future.
Why The Lakers Won This Game
Outside of the fourth quarter, the Lakers played good defense. They rotated well, didn’t really let Carlos Boozer get going (18 points on 17 shots). Deron Williams scored 24 and added eight assists, but he didn’t impact Game 1 like he impacted every game in the Nuggets series. The Lakers shot awful from the three-point line, but you can see them becoming more disciplined in getting the ball inside as this postseason continues as they only shot 12 from behind the arch, with one of them coming from 45 feet away from the basket at the end of the half. This discipline really became key at the end of the game, helping them to finally get to the free throw line. They shot seven free throws in the final four minutes, only 20 in the 44 minutes before that.
Why The Jazz Lost This Game
They almost did exactly what they needed to do. They played through the Lakers initial barrage, didn’t get discouraged through any of the Lakers mini-runs in each of the first three quarters, and then attacked in the fourth. This is one of only two blue prints proven to beat this Lakers team. They just didn’t have enough in them to finish the Lakers off. Letting Kobe score seven straight was the worst thing that could have happened to the Jazz as they had the Lakers back on their heels. The Jazz held the Lakers scoreless for four solid minutes in the fourth. A slight drop in their defensive intensity let the Lakers regain momentum, and there went the game.
Looking Ahead To Game 2
Utah has to be more physical with the Lakers bigs, crowd the paint and force the wings to take jump shots. Of course, this is much easier said than done. Utah doesn’t have nearly as much length as the Thunder had, nor do they have the athleticism or speed. Even with their lack of everything the Thunder had, they can still force the Lakers bigs into bad shots. They have to come out early, punch the Lakers in the mouth, and then repeat. This is the only other proven way to beat this team. Can the Jazz do this? I do believe that they have it in them. Deron Williams is a world class talent and can get going at any moment, Carlos Boozer is bound to have a decent game against the Lakers (right?) and C.J. Miles and Wesley Matthews just proved that they can play with this Lakers team (a combined 30 points and 10 rebounds). You can’t beat the Lakers without attacking, and the Jazz simply didn’t do this enough.
Prediction: The Lakers win another home playoff game.
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