I attended a game at the Delta Center about 12 or 13 years ago in the middle of the Stockton/Malone heyday, but at that tender age (and without the aide of a press pass) I didn’t realize how close the fans actually are to the floor.
You always hear about the fans being right on top of you, but it couldn’t be more true.
There aren’t any courtside seats along the baseline because the grandstand extends all the way to the camera positions. There are some courtside seats along the sidelines, but they’re really just an extension of the grandstand as well.
The noise is already at a decent level and it’s still more than seven minutes until tip.
Phil Jackson realizes the noise is always an issue when you visit the Energy Solutions Arena, but this also isn’t the first time the Lakers have been here. Plus, it’s not like it was in the old days.
“Well (you used to) get beer thrown at you at the Boston Garden when you’re walking out at halftime and that kind of stuff,” Jackson reminisced.
Jackson went on to mention the basketball fever that the Salt Lake Area catches this time of year.
“This is a rabid crowd. I’m sure they’ll protest every foul that’s called. They really love basketball in this state.”
“It’s always fun to come play here and play.”
With the series shifting here to Utah, the Lakers can expect an already physical series to become even more physical as the Jazz play in front of their home crowd.
The popular opinion is that the calls have been mostly in the Lakers favor through the first two games of the series, but most believe that will change along with the change of venue.
The Lakers will have to play through whatever is thrown at them and remained focused on the task at hand.
“We talked about it, out that part of it, about playing through contact. I had a couple of young players that got distracted by contact in the last game and lost their focus on the team defense. So we talked about that,” said Jackson before Friday’s 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’
After a high scoring series against the Denver Nuggets, Coach Jackson said before today’s game that he expects there to be an entirely different tone when the Lakers tip off against the Jazz in Game 1 this afternoon.
“One’s a little more up-tempo and the other one’s a little more of a half court set,” Jackson said, comparing Utah’s offense to Denver. “Scoring is low. Utah though can play and does like to play at a higher tempo rhythm. I thought Houston tried their best to slow it down and make sure there’s no easy baskets.”
“We have to watch our pace in this game and make sure it’s at our style and pace and the type of game we want to have,” said Jackson. “We had to slow down Denver a little but. This game, we’re going to have to control the pace also.”
Today’s game is merely the latest in a long line of playoff battles between Jackson and Jerry Sloan, who faced off against the Jazz coach in the NBA Finals while he was with Chicago Bulls.
Continue reading ‘Game 1: Lakers vs. Jazz Pre-Game’
“At this level of play, with this kind of intensity, you just want to limit the amount of times you have to go out there on the court. You put yourself in harms way in every one of these games.” — Phil Jackson before Game 4
And that’s the gist of why the Lakers need to finish this series here in Denver tonight instead of dragging everyone out to STAPLES Center Wednesday night. Save energy, stay healthy.
Everyone knows the stat that no team in NBA history has come back from a 3-0 deficit and many people (Nuggets fans especially) question if their team even cares to be the team to make that kind of history (better to save that for the Suns I guess).
Yesterday the Nuggets held a brief film session followed by a ten minute talk and then their top three stars (’Melo, AI, & Kenyon) ducking out the side door to avoid talking to the media.
Before today’s game Head Coach George Karl said that he hadn’t addressed the discord within the team with any of his players and talked sarcastically about his vacation plans.
Are the Nuggets a team that wants to get on a plane and fly to LA for another game in a hostile environment? Hopefully not.
Denver’s Linas Kleiza is expected to start today even though he suffered a hyper-extended left elbow at the end of the first half in Game 2. The injury to his shooting elbow clearly limited Kleiza during the second half of that game and reports are that it’s still bothering him today.
Phil Jackson doesn’t see a reason to alter the gameplan because of this. “We’ll approach the game like he’s 100% and see how it goes from there. I noticed he didn’t shoot the ball much the second half, obviously it was bothering him.”
Kleiza torched the Lakers in Game 1 for 23-points on 9/13 shooting.
Ailing forward/center Ronny Turiaf, who was not even present in the building for Game 2, is ready to go for Saturday’s Game 3 contest.
Turiaf was able to eat and regain some of the strength that he lost while suffering a sore throat that caused him to lose 11 pounds.
“I feel alright. I’m ready to go,” said Turiaf.
Phil Jackson didn’t express the same confidence, but expects Ronny to be on the court today.
“I don’t know if he’ll lead them in cheers coming out of the locker room and going out to the court, but he’ll be able to play he says.”
Although the Lakers won Game 1 against the Nuggets by a comfortable margin, Coach Jackson said he was not overly pleased with his team’s performance.
“We don’t consider it a good game although we won by a considerable amount of points,” said Jackson. “We did not think it was a good game for us. It was a good win, but my message to them was that we have to play a lot better than that to continue on these playoffs and to win against the Nuggets.”
Jackson added, “I’m curious about that tonight too, if they can come out and establish something on the court tonight. But, this is obviously an opportunity for Denver to what they want to do when they came to L.A. in the series and that’s take a game home so we have to know that it’s going to be a much more determined effort on their part.”
Much of the pre-game talk centered on the Nugget’s decision to insert Linas Kleiza into the starting lineup after his outstanding 23 point performance in Game 1. As a result of the change, Allen Iverson will revert back to his role as the team’s point guard.
Continue reading ‘Game 2: Lakers vs. Nuggets Pre-Game’
Before today’s opening game of the First Round, Lakers Coach Phil Jackson–wearing his 2002 championship ring–mused that his first indication that the playoffs had arrived in L.A. came when he saw the car flags waving from cars–a signature trait of the team’s three-peat run.
All joking aside, Jackson said, “I think the seriousness of the playoffs kind of kicked in a little bit on Friday, started getting serious about the direction we’re going and the attitude we have to take toward taking care of the business at home.”
While the team’s newest star Pau Gasol has played in the playoffs before, he has yet to see anywhere close to the media attention he will likely see in this year’s postseason as a member of the Laker.
“I think he was languishing in Memphis,” said Jackson. “I just think it felt like they weren’t having any positive things. The crowd was dwindling,more attention going to the college team than the professional team in town. I think those things made it difficult to play. It was a boost to his attentiveness, to his basketball skills.”
Gasol is not the only Laker who enters this postseason with a different mindset as Jackson says that the entire team’s outlook is dramatically different this year.
“Last year was a year read with injuries and disappointments because we had hopes that we could improve on our record that was good enough to be in the playoffs the first year I came back to coach,” said Jackson. “Last year sounded like a slippage, we had to scramble to get to the playoffs so it was kind of patching together things last year. This year is a lot different. While we’ve had our share of injuries, we’ve been able to sustain the effort.”
With the playoffs beginning this weekend and teams still jockeying for position, Coach Jackson said that he is prepared to play whomever the Lakers end up going against.
“This is very unique, especially with three divisions and the way things go,” said Jackson. “It’s very unusual.”
“I can’t think of any team in that group I would say on hand as somebody I would say would be a great matchup for us and for our team,” said Jackson. “Every single one of them has played three or four games in change…the difference between first and eighth place.”
According to Jackson, the two teams the Lakers have the best chance of facing–Denver and Dallas–each present different problems for teams
“You have two prolific scorers on Denver’s team and obviously, the Dallas team won 67 games last year and has some experienced veteran players,” said Jackson. “Probably a little deeper team, but Denver has more striking power, more offensive power perhaps.”
Jackson said his team has only considered Denver as a potential first round opponent so far, explaining that the Lakers have yet to face Denver’s full roster due to injuries and Carmelo Anthony’s ejection in their last meeting in January.
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