For the second straight year Kobe Bryant has been honored as part of All-NBA Defensive First Team.
Kobe tied with Boston’s Kevin Garnett with 52 total points including 24 first place votes.
According to the press release the voting breaks down like this:
The voting panel consisted of the NBA’s 30 head coaches, who were asked to select NBA All-Defensive First and Second Teams by position. Coaches were not permitted to vote for players from their own team. Two points were awarded for a First Team vote and one point was awarded for a Second Team vote.
This is the eighth time Bryant has been named to one of All-NBA defensive teams.
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’
As a coach who has been on the sidelines while three of his players–Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and now, Kobe Bryant–have been crowned MVP, Jackson said before tonight’s game that he does not believe his team’s focus will waver despite Bryant’s pre-game MVP ceremony.
“No, I don’t think it’s going to affect us,” said Jackson, revealing that the Lakers know that they need to protect their home court by winning tonight. Jackson described his mood as apprehensive heading into tonight’s Game 2, but not because he has a lack of confidence in his team’s ability to come out ready to battle after Kobe receives his MVP trophy. “Utah may come out and play better than us tonight,” said Jackson.
“We’re more than ready to play,” Jackson said, citing the long break between Sunday’s Game 1 and today’s Game 2.
“It’s a recognition that he didn’t think was ever going to happen for him,” Jackson said, noting that Kobe’s award can be attributed to both his individual success and that of the team during the regular season.
“Familiarity brings some kind of contempt,” said Jackson, possibly providing one reason for why #24 has never been voted MVP before this season.
Continue reading ‘Game 2: Lakers vs. Jazz Pre-Game’
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.”
The Lakers nearly lost a 19 point lead in the second half, but were able to stop the Jazz when it mattered most en route to a 109-98 victory in Game 1 of the teams’ best of seven Western Conference Semifinals series. Kobe Bryant led the way for the Lakers with 38 points on 8-16 from the field, including 21-23 from the foul line.
Pau Gasol (18 points) and Lamar Odom (16 points, 9 rebounds) both had strong games for the Lakers, with the Spaniard pulling down a team-high 10 rebounds. As a team, L.A shot 45% from the field, but held the Jazz to just 38%, including a sub par 4-19 from behind the three point line. Derek Fisher had a stellar defensive game, stealing the ball six times.
“We just played hard for 48 minutes,” said Turiaf. “We stayed focused even though they had those runs, we weathered the storms and I think we did a good job staying together. Not getting mad at each other and I think when you pass the ball, share the ball you put yourself in the situations.”
Continue reading ‘Game 1: Lakers vs. Jazz Post-Game’
While the Rockets and the Jazz are still embroiled in their First Round series, the Lakers continue to prepare for battle against whichever rival emerges.
With four days off already since sweeping the Denver Nuggets, Lamar Odom described the overall mood of the team as “Energetic, upbeat, outgoing. Everybody’s in a good mood,” said Lamar. “We’re in the playoffs, it’s the best time of year.”
The forward added, “This is a good time for us to practice. It’ll be a tough game tonight…I’m looking forward to watching it, seeing who comes out victorious.”
“It’d be fun to play on Sunday, but if not, we’ll wait,” said Odom in regards to a possible Game 1 this weekend against Utah should they defeat Houston tonight. Kobe echoed his teammate’s statement, revealing that “If we play on Sunday, we’ll be ready on Sunday. If it’s Tuesday, we’ll be ready on Tuesday.” Bryant also mused that he hopes the Jazz win so he can stop answering hypothetical questions and start talking about matchup specifics.
Continue reading ‘Lakers Bond as They Await Next Opponent’
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’
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