The Lakers were expected to win games 1 & 2 at home and that’s exactly what they did by downing the Jazz on Tuesday night. It was one of those games that it seems everything is going against the Jazz, yet somehow they stayed in this game far longer than they should have.
The Lakers shot 60% including 55% from downtown, yet they could not put away the Jazz like they should have done under those circumstances.
If not for a brutal opening quarter that saw L.A. dump in 41 points, the Jazz played the Lakers even. But the stretch that lost the game for Utah was not in that miserable 1st quarter, it came in the second half of the second quarter when the Jazz were outscored 17-3 over a four and a half minute span. The Lakers lead ballooned from six to twenty and the relatively good play of the Jazz for the rest of the game would go for not.

- Deron was spectacular despite the seven turnovers that he committed, finishing with 35 points and 9 assists to go along with 4 steals and 2 blocks. D-will was deadly from outside, dropping in 6 of 11 three’s and also hitting a number of other long two’s.
- Utah “contained” Kobe relatively well again but did send him to the line ten times, he converted on nine of them. Bryant has really not forced his offense in the first quarter of the first two games and the Lakers have outscored the Jazz 71-48 in the combined first quarters. Kobe has done most of his damage in quarter 2 through 4 and the Jazz are playing the Lakers even over those periods. Perhaps the Jazz should make Kobe do it himself by not dropping off other defenders to help (usually resulting in open Laker three’s).
- That deserves another mention… if you take out the first quarters, the Jazz have played the Lakers EVEN. This is why the Jazz have struggled so mightily on the road, they fall behind early and run out of time at the end. Whereas at home, the Jazz usually come out and get off to a decent start, playing relatively even or as front-runners rather than playing catch-up.
The series doesn’t really start until the home team loses a game, right?
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April 22, 2009
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