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’
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.
“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.”
Kobe Bryant (31 points) and Pau Gasol (21 points) teamed up to bring the Lakers their first playoff series victory in four years, defeating the Nuggets 107-101 to sweep their best of seven first round matchup 4-0. The game was close throughout with the Nuggets finally displaying some of the resiliency they showed in battling for a playoff birth, entering the fourth quarter only trailing by two points.
“My wish would be that we could have had four games like we had tonight,” said a defeated George Karl after the game. “This would make everyone happy. The Lakers are a very good team. There a lot of guys in that locker room that want to win a playoff series.”
After another game that the Lakers controlled for almost the entire 48 minutes, Denver guard Allen Iverson said that his teammates were outclassed in the series by a superior ball club.
“I have never been swept in my career and it’s a bad feeling, but I don’t feel bad about my teammates or my coaching staff,” said Iverson. “I feel like they gave everything they had, they put everything on the line. We just got beat by a better team.”
Continue reading ‘Game 4: Lakers vs. Nuggets Post-Game’
For the third consecutive game, the Lakers manhandled the Nuggets, defeating them 102-84 an opening up a 3-0 series lead against Denver. L.A. outscored the Nuggets by 11 points in the second half, led by Kobe Bryant’s 22.
“We definitely got dominated in the second half–no question about it,” said Eduardo Najera after the game. “The frustration came in and we were not ourselves. We did not make enough shots. I thought we played better defensively in this game, but our offense was not there tonight.”
In all, five Lakers reached double figures, with Gasol, Fisher, Odom and Walton joining Bryant. Once again, the Lakers’ bench was also a factor with Luke tallying another 15 and Farmar and Vujacic adding nine a piece.
As a team, L.A. shot 46% from the floor compared to only 37% for Denver–an obvious source of frustration after the game for George Karl.
“I tip my hat to the Lakers in regards to their defense–they are better than I thought they were,” said Karl after the Lakers held his team to under 100 points for the first time this series. “Only a handful of teams did to us during the season what LA did to us tonight.”
Continue reading ‘Game 3: Lakers at Nuggets Post-Game’
The Lakers used a stellar second half surge for the second game in a row to topple the Nuggets in Game 2 of the teams’ best of seven Western Conference Quarterfinal series. Kobe Bryant led the way for the Lakers, scoring 25 points in the first half and adding another 24 after for a total of 49. Pau Gasol and Luke Walton had 18 points a piece to back up the Lakers’ superstar guard.
“Kobe–when he’s making his jump shot–is somewhat undefendable,” said an exasperated George Karl after the game.
After being bothered throughout Game 1 by Kenyon Martin’s defense, Phil Jackson said Bryant obviously entered tonight’s game with a completely different mindset.
“I would imagine if I were Kobe Bryant…he was out shooting early before practices started today getting himself revved up for tonight’s game,” said Jackson.
Jackson said that despite leading by 10 at halftime, the Lakers were not able to build on their advantage in a a back-and-forth third quarter in which the Nuggets actually took the lead at one point.
Continue reading ‘Game 2: Lakers vs. Nuggets Post-Game’
After scoring a game-high 36 points, pulling down 16 rebounds and dishing out eight assists, center Pau Gasol undoubtedly enters Game 2 against the Nuggets tomorrow with a huge target on his back.
“They will cut off from the second defender a little better,” said Gasol. “When Marcus (Camby) left me, most of the time they didn’t cut off that second man. That second man helper didn’t get there on those rotations to me. I guess they will try to allow us to shoot more from the outside and not get in the lane as easy as we did. You’d rather give up open long shots than layups and dunks.”
Looking ahead to Game 2, Gasol said that he plans to approach the game as he does any other–with intensity and aggressiveness.
“I don’t go into a game having a certain plan,” said Gasol. “I’m going to make reads just like I always do on defense and on offense and take advantage of what they give us.”
Continue reading ‘Gasol Prepared to Make Adjustments for Game 2′
While Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant received much of the credit for the Lakers’ march to the top of the Western Conference down the stretch of the season, Lamar Odom has quietly been playing the best basketball of his career. With another double-double performance (17 points, 14 rebounds) in Game 1 against the Nuggets, Odom’s teammates and coaches are taking notice of his exceptional all-around play.
“Lamar has certainly proved his value to this team in many ways,” said Coach Jackson. “I just think that it’s given him much more of a comfort zone. Lamar’s an exceptional passer. A lot of passes come in critical, close quarters lane area-type drop-off situations and with Pau’s capabilities, it’s just improved his assist ratio, his ability to make plays. All those things have helped Lamar.”
Even though his role on offense has been reduced to third option on most nights, Jackson said that Odom fills his niche well.
Continue reading ‘Teammates and Coaches Praise Odom’s All-Around Play’
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