The Lakers made a furious rally in the final three minutes of the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime, but wound up running out of gas against the Jazz, suffering a 123-115 series-tying loss.
“There was definitely a great chance after coming back,” said Pau Gasol (23 points, 10 rebounds) of the Lakers’ near comeback. “We had them where wanted them, and we weren’t able to execute. We didn’t get the shots that we needed to get in overtime. They got pretty good looks, and offensive boards. That is what gave them the victory.”
“It comes down to a couple defensive stops we have to make,” said Coach Jackson after the game. “I really had to jump our second unit a little bit again tonight, because they let us down in the fourth quarter. We had to come back and play out of a double digit deficit again. It put a lot of pressure on the starters to have to play at a pace in which they were pretty exhausted going into overtime.”
Continue reading ‘Game 4: Lakers vs. Jazz Post-Game’
The Lakers trailed for much of the game, but rallied to within four of the Jazz at before a critical turnover gave Utah their first win of the series 104-99 and the Lakers, their first loss of the 2007-08 post-season. Carlos Boozer led the way for the Jazz with 27 points an a playoff career high-tying 20 rebounds as his team won for the fortieth time in 45 tries this year at Energy Solutions Arena.
“(Kobe) fumbled the ball that’s what’s wrong,” said Coach Jackson about the team’s critical turnover in the waning moments of the fourth quarter. “I don’t know if he was trying to get it out of his hands too soon or what happened but it looked like he had it, and he just didn’t wrap it up.”
“We turned the ball over quite a bit,” said Bryant after the game, drawing parallels to his final mishap and the team’s sloppy play throughout the night. “Down the stretch in a critical situation we put them on the line four or five straight possessions and gave them easy opportunities. We clawed back, but with that said we can’t turn the ball over 18 times. We had a lot of open looks that just didn’t go for us. You can sustain a night like that, when shots don’t fall. We’ve really got to keep our turnovers down and not allow them to get out in transition and get some easy points.”
Continue reading ‘Game 3: Lakers vs. Jazz Post-Game’
On a night when Kobe Bryant received the top individual award in the sport–the Most Valuable Player Award–his team shined, using a balanced effort to knock off the Jazz 120-110 to go ahead 2-0 in their best of seven series.
The newly crowned MVP scored 34 points in addition to pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out six assists. After the game, Kobe said that his team was “excited” to head into Salt Lake City with a two game lead in the series, crediting the rhythm the Lakers established heading into the postseason.
Coach Jackson praised the Lakers’ fast start, using the energy of a gold-clad STAPLES Center crowd, obviously amped up after Bryant received his MVP award prior to tip-off.
“We got off to a great start,” said Jackson. “The energy of the crowd and Kobe’s night gave us a real quick start. I just didn’t think we played well the second quarter, and they kind of carried the ball from there on out the rest of the game. They kept attacking and we were able to manage point for point, but we were never able to gather momentum in the second half.”
Continue reading ‘Game 2: Lakers vs. Jazz Post-Game’
After the Jazz went 37-4 during the regular season at Energy Solutions Arena–with one of the losses coming at the hands of L.A.–the Lakers are grateful they have home court advantage in the series, but welcome the challenge of playing in front of one of the toughest crowds in the NBA.
“I think in terms of their personnel, they play really well on their home court…I think that the energy that’s in the building, the fans are excited, the players are really excited,” said Derek Fisher, who spent last season as a member of Utah’s Western Conference Finals runner-up squad.
“At times, I think their intensity in their building is one that isn’t equaled or matched anywhere else. I don’t think it’s the altitude or anything else, I just think that the Jazz play at an intensity on their home floor that’s different sometimes from any other place. It’s always been that way for as far as I can remember.”
Coach Jackson–well accustomed to the Salt Lake City crowd from his days with the Bulls–said, “The energy they play with, the crowd sits on top of the floor, it’s as noisy as any place you’ve ever been in. It energizes the team, it intimates referees who go in there to referee the games. It’s tough—it’s a tough environment to win in.”
After spending last season with the Utah Jazz, veteran guard Derek Fisher’s expertise on Jerry Sloan’s system was the talk of practice today amongst his Lakers teammates, even if the guard himself downplayed its value.
“I guess it can be helpful, just in terms of some overall thoughts and things that I know that Jerry and the coaching staff feel strongly about in terms of what the Jazz like to do,” said Fisher. “But, I think that’s about as far as it goes.”
“The game is such one of reaction and being able to make decisions in a split second’s time that it’s hard for it to become bigger than what it is than just information for guys at times when it can be useful. I don’t know how much it’s going to be helpful as the series goes on.”
Coach Jackson said that while Fisher’s time with the Jazz will certainly help provide the team with an enhanced understanding of Utah’s players, his role as a leader on a team full of younger players is of equal importance.
Continue reading ‘Fisher’s Time With Jazz a Boon for Lakers’
You win or you lose, it’s that simple. Staying focused on the other hand is the battle all NBA Players involved with the NBA Playoffs have to fight. After a long 82 game season you must suck up all the bumps and bruises if you want to be remembered as a “Champion.”
“You don’t look ahead in the playoffs; you concentrate on the game that is in front of you.” Derek Fisher said.
That is the battle of staying focused for 48 minutes, it is hard, but the team that gets past that mental block is the team that usually comes out victorious. “It’s tough to sustain the effort and intensity that you need to play in a high intensity playoff game. So we had some ups and downs but we weathered the storm, got the win and now we will prepare ourselves for Wednesday night,” Fisher added.
With a few days before game 2 the Lakers are resting up and focusing on what they need to do in order to beat Utah to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
“We didn’t have our best game, but at the same time we are satisfied by the win, and encouraged about the fact we can play so much better,” said Pau Gasol.
A good sign for Lakers Fans is that this team is focused and ready to make a deep run in the playoffs.
With six steals in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals the Utah Jazz got a quick reminder of how Derek Fisher helped catapult them to the 2007 Western Conference Finals. And also why Lakers fans couldn’t be happier to have him back donning the Purple and Gold.
As a member of last years Jazz team Fisher has invaluable knowledge of Jerry Sloan’s system as well as members of the Jazz.
“He knows the next pass, their sequence, and the habits of their players,” said Coach Phil Jackson after Monday’s practice.
One thing Fisher and the Lakers understand is; when it comes time for Tip-Off on Wednesday the Jazz will be ready, not willing to lie down for the One Seed Lakers.
“Being a former teammate of just about every guy on their team, there are not any quitters in that locker room,” said Fisher. “We will have our work cut out for us on Wednesday night and we will have to come ready to play.”
The Lakers face the Jazz in Game 2 of the Western Conference Semi’s Wednesday night at STAPLES Center.
When asked by a reporter if he thought that the Lakers would be able to withstand the type of “smash mouth” basketball that the Jazz are going to bring upon the Lakers during the rest of their series, Kobe Bryant replied in a simple manner with his usual quite confidence, “It doesn’t matter to us.”
In case you haven’t been able to tell at all this season; Kobe Bryant has complete confidence in this team.
“We aint no punks,” Bryant added. “You want to play ugly, we’ll play ugly. You want to play finesse, we’ll play finesse. It doesn’t matter.”
It’s easy to see why Kobe has so much faith in this squad. Examples such as finishing with the best record in the Western Conference, sweeping Denver in Round 1, and a victory over the Utah Jazz kick off this series show the Lakers are ready for anything.
“We have to continue to practice, continue to tweak things,” Bryant added.
As the elder statesman of the team, Derek Fisher would like to see his young Lakers team remain focused on taking care of business in the playoffs. “We’ve done a good job so far in the postseason of taking it one game at a time.”
“We want to focus on every game like it is a game 7,” Lakers star Kobe Bryant stated at Mondays practice regarding Game 2 against the Jazz on Wednesday night.
The entire Lakers roster knows the importance of protecting their home court against the Jazz.
“It’s a big game; both teams will approach it that way. As you saw yesterday there will not be any quit in the Jazz or any of their players. It’s not what coach (Jerry Sloan) teaches or what he believes in,” explained Lakers guard Derek Fisher. Fisher should know, he spent all of last season helping Utah advance to the Western Conference Finals where they fell to the eventual champions, San Antonio Spurs.
“It will be a big game, like every game in the playoffs,” Fisher reiterated.
Pau Gasol, who joined the Lakers mid-season, is starting to learn the ins and outs of the playoffs. “They’re pretty conscious also about going down 2-0 it is hard to come back, and we know the importance of going up 2-0.”
Despite some experts’ assertion that too much rest between opponents can do more harm than good in the playoffs, Kobe said that the Lakers are taking full advantage of the time off.
“It’s always good,” said Bryant. “You get a chance to recover and get your mind right for the next series.”
“I think for us, we look at it as an opportunity to sharpen our edge,” said Kobe, when asked whether or not the break hurts the team more on the offensive end or the defensive end. “We were playing well in the first series, but we’ll be able to play much better. This time here, we just take it to sharpen our minds a little bit, our mental game and how we want to approach it and try to be better the next series.”
Regardless of whether or not the Lakers face off in the Second Round against the Jazz or the Rockets, Bryant said that the team’s preparation will not change.
Continue reading ‘Lakers Grateful for Extended Rest’
RSS Feed
