Another nomuskles live blog for your viewing pleasure.

Pregame
Boston holds serve at the Garden (after a few shaky moments) and the Lakers attempt to stay perfect on the Staples Center hardwood floor during these 2008 Playoffs. We’ll obviously be watching Kobe’s back to see how he’s doing with his extra day off.

1st Quarter
TNT doesn’t want to show us the game. They’re making us watch the end of this Boston-Cavaliers torture test. Phew. Lebron doesn’t push it. Zoom to LA!
Lakers up 5-0 on two Kobe Bryant shots. Jazz are trying to change up their luck by using the powder blue uniforms that suck monkey balls from a design standpoint. You can’t read the names or numbers or anything because it’s dark blue on a fairly dark blue. Whoever decided these would work needs help.
9:30 – The Jazz first four points come on wide open dunks. First Brewer took the ball away from Fisher and had his own fast break and then the Lakers suffered a breakdown in the halfcourt.
9:08 – Okay, three dunks. Brewer gets another dunk.
8:53 – AK47 turns away the Gasol jump hook. Great play. Ronnie Brewer gets a layin on the other end.
8:25 – Lamar has it in the middle and tries to go up. All kinds of contact on his head and the refs just call the ball out of bounds. Adding insult to injury they give the ball to the Jazz. I’m not sure how u justify that call.
7:59 – Lakers finally play some good defense and get a 24 second violation. Sarcastic clap.
7:43 – Kobe raises up over Brewer and hits a very difficult fadeaway above the free throw lane.
7:07 – The Space Cadet nails a 20 foot jumper that was wide open because of a good down screen by Fisher on the weak side while D-Will got caught watching the ball. Timeout Jazz. 15 – 8 Lakers lead. I got to warn you. I was so angry last game. I’m not even in a good mood tonight. We’ll see if any humor makes its way into this one. Or maybe we’ll just see unabated sarcasm and mirth. Who says it can’t be both.
6:43 – Fisher mishandles the ball out of bounds. Whoopsee.
6:25 –Brewer shoots the 21 footer from the right wring and I’m okay with him shooting that. He misses it. Anything but those easy dunks please.
5:48 – Williams picks up his first foul on a Fisher drive to the bucket. Fisher is lucky that was a foul because there was no one to follow for the offensive rebound on the inevitable missed layup.
5:27 – Ronnie Brewer is fed for another layer on a flex cut. This is absurd. Kobe needs to quit this ridiculousness. Just because he is the MVP doesn’t mean the guy he’s guarding is garbage. This is the part of Kobe’s game that frustrates me the most. He falls asleep on defense and lets his man go back door way too often. It’s a symptom of his lack of respect for the man he’s guarding.
4:31 – With a Kirilenko bucket, the Jazz are now within 3. 19-16.
4:09 – The Space cadet hits a 3 to slow the Jazz mini run. The TNT guys make a joke that they think he’s heard Phil Jax’s baritone voice. ::chuckles by Harlan and Collins:: I wasn’t laughing because his uninspired play has been hurting us. Why doesn’t he always play with purpose and intensity? When is it a contract year for him?
3:35 – VladRad hits another one from the left corner in semi transition! Assist from LO!
2:52 – We go to timeout after a Kirilenko jumper with the Lakers up 25-18.
2:45 – The Lakers try to run an alley oop with Kobe and I cringe. With a bad back that’s a dangerous play as he gets met in the air by Milsap. Doug Collins makes the same point.
2:19 – Kobe picks up a stupid foul on Harpring underneath the basket.
2:10 – Milsap gets the rebound off the missed freethrow. The Lakers need to figure out how to keep him off the glass or I’m going to have to figure out how to dislodge my remote from my TV.
1:42 – Lakers make a great defense play to take the ball away from Boozer and then Kobe and Luke flub it in transition. Korver nails the three on the return. Excuse me while I type the rest of this without the pinky I just gnawed off.
1:13 – Farmar checks in. I predict he’ll have a great close to the quarter. It should be noted that if we are seeing Farmar this late, it means Fisher stayed out of foul trouble.
0:20 – Kobe is dribbling at half court against Harpring.
0:07 – Kobe loses the ball against Harpring. This is stupid. He makes an unnatural basketball motion but doesn’t draw contact so he won’t be suspended. Korver comes back the other way and feeds Boozer streaking down the middle. He draws a foul on Lamar. If you’re a Lakers fan you only see Boozer’s left arm pushing Lamar out of the way. If you’re a Jazz fan you see…well I dunno. I’m not a jazz fan. They can make their own excuses for the ref’s suckitude. So far, the refs have been mediocre for both sides. Boozer makes one of two and the Lakers are up 29-26 as the quarter comes to a close. That quarter was a C+ for the Lakers and a C for the Jazz.

2nd Quarter

11:20 – Lakers are really hustling coming out of the break. It’s the bench mob and Pau. Pau gets a rebound off a Jordan miss and dunks it!
10:40 – D-Will is back in quickly to see if he can settle things. The chaotic thing is working in the Lakers’ favor for whatever reason. Nope. Utah turns it over.
10:16 – Farmar drills a three. Absolutely drills it. Hands up together, down together. We’ll see if that’s the ex-lax or just a one off.
9:44 – Gasol hits a nice looking set shot. 36-29 Lakers.
9:27 – D-Will draws a foul on Farmar.
8:57 – D-Will makes a nice step back move against Farmar and hits a long two. 33-36
8:25 – Pau might be missing an ear. Millsap absolutely Van Gogh’d the guy three times before Pau could get a foul call. Great job by Pau to not be a weenie and keep on trying until he got a bucket or a foul. That’s Milsap’s third and I’m happy to see him sit down this early in the half. Kurt makes a great point in the comments. Both teams are giving the ball away at an incredible rate.
Coming back from the timeout, they’ve decided to give the foul to Ashton Kutcher instead of Milsap. So Milsap will stay in the game and harass the Spaniard some more. 38-33 Lakers after Pau hits both free throws.
8:15 – Sasha gets under Korver’s skin and Korver gets caught shoving Sasha on the offensive end. They won’t lose much as he takes as a seat because brewer comes back into the game.
7:36 – Lakers play great defense and it ends up in a steal! Kobe pummels his way into Harpring’s arm and draws the foul. Watch that back MVP. Also, this crowd blows. Freaking golf claps. I hate Staples Center.
7:19 – Okur is too open. He can’t make it.
7:12 – SARCASM ALERT: Oh, you mean if you trust your teammates they hit shots for you? I’m shocked. Kobe passes it back to a wide open Vujacic who nails a three. Where was that trust in overtime, you guppy?
6:56 – Pau doesn’t box Boozer out and boozer gets away with his elbow/forearm shove in the small of the back to get an offensive rebound and putback. I wouldn’t make that call if I were the ref either but it’s a very savvy move. Lakers fans, don’t be upset at boozer for doing that move, be upset at Pau for being weak sauce.
6:28 – fisher hits a shot to make it 45-35 Lakers.
6:13 – Doug Collins can’t shut up. He’s in my brain. He’s in my brain. Jazz throw it out of bounds.
5:53 – Lakers pass up a couple of outside shots to try and get an inside shot and get Pau two free throws. I like this. It’s not part of the triangle necessarily, but it’s much better than the watch Kobe/Lebron and stand around isolation offense. Lakers have cleaned up their turnovers a little bit here and have made a small surge while the jazz have not. Maybe Kurt should become a commentator. Same score as before.
Pau misses the first makes the second in a nod to his linemate Lamar.
5:41 – Kobe picks up his second foul on D-Will. Harlan can’t stop talking about Deron Williams as the “throttle” of Utah. Call me a cynic, but I don’t think it’s particularly clever or insightful.
5:25 – Lakers run pick and roll with Kobe and Gasol which we haven’t seen a whole lot of success with but this time we get a nice layup for Gasol. Doug says it’s called a “squeeze.” Jazz answers with a nice jumper. 48-39 Lakers.
4:36 – Vujacic tightropes the baseline tracking down a rebound and those hustle plays are going to win us the game tonight. This leads to another semi transition bucket where Lamar just takes it in himself and gets a layup. 51-39 Lakers up. Jazz turn the ball over in the paint and then Kobe returns the favor by missing Derek Fisher by about 5 feet and passing the ball to Jerry Sloan who is neither a Laker nor an eligible player. I feel like John Madden would be perfect for this situation. “well, the goal is not to turn the ball over so many times so that you can keep the ball in your possession more often. Boom. And that’s how they’re going to score.” Lakers turn the ball over and AK47 dunks it with no one in the same zip code.
3:55 – Mehmet insults Lamar’s mother with that shot. Right in his eye. Three pointer is good. 44-51.
3:21 – Two great passes by Fisher here. A post entry from beyond half court into Pau. I’m not sure how that one got through. And then a pass over the top into Lamar who had only a small bit of sunlight underneath the rim. Two points over the outstretched fingertips of Andrei.
3:00 – CJ Miles, with no regard for human life. That’s not right. Nasty.
2:47 – Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie are shown on TV at the game. 53-46.
2:36 – CJ Miles hits a nice jumper with high elevation over Vujacic.
2:23 – Pau throws too tough a pass and Lamar can’t get it. TO again.
1:51 – Let it not be said that Lamar can guard Deron Williams. He can’t. Deron Williams used him like a steering wheel. First this way then that way. Step back J. two points.
1:15 – Pau outsprints everyone in transition and Kobe finds him for a nice dunk.
1:00 – Utah within 3.
0:52 – Pau gets a nice turn around jumper in the paint. 52-57.
0:34 – LAKERS STEAL IT! Kobe gets an easy layin
0:21 – Deron Williams takes it hard to the bucket and gets “fouled” by Lamar. As much as someone holding their arms straight up and down can foul someone anyway.
0:16 – Kobe will play for the final shot. It’s 54-59. No look pass to Lamar who BLOWS it! Oh no. But SUPER PAU is there to save the day! Puts it back like how Lamar saved Kobe at the end of regulation the other night. 61-54 Lakers are up going into halftime. Lakers need to come out strong in the third quarter. I need to do some dishes. Be right back.

Halftime
Avery Johnson at halftime. Nothing useful.
Kobe wasn’t imposing his will on the game in the first half. I’m okay with that plan unless the Jazz are deciding to go one on one or the offense starts to sputter. Then I think Kobe needs to take Brewer and Harpring and Kirilenko to school.

3rd Quarter
Stupid note: I just noticed that the Lakers and the Jazz are going the direction that they usually go in the first half. That is to say, when the Lakers play at Staples, they usually shoot at the left basket (on TV) first. Tonight, they are going to shoot at that basket during the second half.
11:49 – Brewer starts it off with a couple of free throws to close the gap to a five point lead.
11:20 – Jazz have powers of levitation. The ball hovers in mid air as Boozer picks it up and scores the layup.
10:58 – Fisher hits a nice looking two pointer from the left side. 63-58.
10:31 – Williams works extremely hard to bump Fisher off with no time left on the clock. And makes it.
9:50 – The Lakers decide they don’t want to win. Lamar throws it away. Two points for AK47.
9:23 – Everyone is focused on the turnovers. It’s all TNT wants to talk about.
8:59 – Cookies. Kirilenko picks Kobe’s pocket and the refs bail him out by calling a reaching foul.
8:50 – Great left runner by Lamar. 67-62.
8:31 – AK-47 drives from the right wing into the paint and Odom is the help defender. Boy, if that was a car crash, Kirilenko was the monster truck and Odom was the Honda Civic making the left turn. Lamar gets attention from Vitti for a cut. Kirilenko makes two free throws. Radman misses a wide-open 13 footer. Williams comes back and drives the line drawing a foul. He makes two. Utah down one.
8:05 – Lakers fans still aren’t loud. Even with a chance to re-extend the lead.
7:34 – Deron Williams ties the game with a three.
7:16 – A beautiful dish to Brewer on the fast break. Oh ruined by the traveling call. That was nice. Still 69-69.
6:35 – Now he’s there, now he’s not. Williams was mismatched on Kobe and Kobe told Lamar to get the hell out of the way because he was keeping Kirilenko in a help position. Lamar goes away and poor little Williams is left all alone in the post against Kobe. It’s just not fair. No double teams comes and before you can scream uncle, Kobe makes a delicious spin move and Deron Williams literally falls down on his face because he was trying to lean into Kobe. Kobe gets the easy layup with all the Jazz players around the free throw line to watch. If I’m Williams I say to my teammates, “umm guys, that would’ve been a great time to provide some help in the form of a double team since we were, you know, tied and all.” I’m sorry, that gets re-watched via DVR. It’s better the second time around.
It’s Kobe time lakes fans.
5:53 – beautiful feed by Kobe into Lamar who used his forearm to gain separation from a soft Okur.
5:25 – Kobe disrespects Brewer again and Brewer gets an offensive tip in. 71-73 Lakers. That’s enough of your ego Mr. Bryant. Leave that somewhere else. I don’t want it. Guard him. He’s proven he can score. You are not above boxing out and you are not above playing good defense. If you don’t, you are going to cost the team the game and we will all point our finger at you instead of the domestiques.
4:13 – Utah ties it 73+73.
3:55 – Kobe tries to dunk it against Okur but comes up a few inches short. A healthy back and he might’ve slammed it home. He draws the foul and he misses both free throws.
3:37 – Milsap is the aggressor and fouls Kobe’s arms on the rebound but no foul is called. The only damage on that one is a Luke foul as Brewer is unable to convert the open shot. Lamar takes his train into the middle and gets a foul on Millsap. He makes both free throws. 75-73 Lakers up.
2:41 – Missed opportunities. Deron Williams steps on the endline after a Lakers turnover. The jazz haven’t been able to leap frog the Lakers even the Lakers don’t seem to want to hang onto the lead. I’m not even nervous. Before this, Doug Collins tells us that it was strategy to have Kobe sit in the lap of Carlos boozer and let Brewer take all those shots. I call BS. It’s fine to let brewer shoot open jumpers, it is not okay to let brewer shoot wide open layups, dunks, and forget to block him out on the glass. That was not part of the plan. And that is what Kobe has done tonight.
2:31 – Kobe finds himself back at the line. Drains the first. Shortarms the second. 76-73 Lakers still up.
2:05 – brewer gets another dunk. Someone just punch me in the kidney and take me to the hospital already.
1:58 – Kobe makes Harpring’s stratagem look silly. He’ll take the free two points. 78-75. Harpring hits a shot on the other end. 78-76.
1:34 – Lawrence Tanter gets his Kobeeeeeeeeeeee Bryant on. Kobe doesn’t get touched because he somehow became a gymnast overnight but he gets the foul call anyway and makes the layup for good measure. Converts the three-point play. 77-81.
1:24 – Milsap fakes the three point shot from the top of the arc and Lamar doesn’t bite at all. You can see him thinking “no way man. You’re more scared of Sloan’s reaction to you taking that shot than I’m scared of you making that shot.” Harpring gets fouled and makes two free throws. 79-81.
0:50 – Milsap barrels into Lamar’s quickly shuffling feet and gets called for the offensive foul. That’s his fourth. I breathe a sigh of relief. Utah is going zone. Walton can’t make them pay. Left corner three is clankers.
0:08 – Price hits a running layup.
0:00 – Everyone’s favorite takes the last second shot and it goes…not in. so much for redemption.

4th Quarter
The crowd is barely above a golf clap with the scored tied at 81. ::shakes head:: Lakers going with a very melanin-deficient side. Pau, Farmar, Walton, Radmanovic, and Vujacic. Jazz the same with Williams, Kirilenko, Okur, Korver, and Harpring.
11:37 – The Space Cadet drains a three. 84-81 Lakers.
11:17 – Chants of defense and Lakers finally get a decent stop.
9:54 – Harpring fouls Walton fading away at the end of the shot clock in the post. Luke makes the second one. 85-84.
9:18 – the bench mob is still hustling. They are picking up some loose balls.
8:58 – GASOL =Michael Jordan?
Williams gets into the paint too easy. Layup. One point lead for the good guys.
8:39 – Farmar says, HAVE SOME. He’ll have a chance at a three point play after the timeout. 90-86 Lakers up.

Kirilenko gets a nice layup at the basket beating
7:54 – I’m not gonna finish that sentence. Oh my. With no regard for human life! Lamar slams it home over the Utah defense. Assist for Kobe. 92-88.
7:19 – great hustle by Kirilenko. He isn’t able to corral the ball but that’s a nice job trying to get the rebound.
6:53 – terrible call by the officials. They say Kirilenko shoved Vujacic who stupidly tried to take on AK-47 in the open court instead of pulling it back. Vujacic was bailed out. 88-94. That should’ve been Jazz ball out of bounds.
6:42 - There’s a terrible call on the other end. Boozer pummels Gasol in the post and somehow Gasol is responsible. I’m not sure what is going no. the refs are shutting their eyes.
6:19 – OH MY! GASOL to ODOM! Down the Lane. Lamar with the slam! And the foul. 97-91.
6:01 – Boozer is having a rough go of it. He traveled in the lane. By all accounts, he seems like a classy guy (except that deal with the contract in Cleveland). I feel bad for him. He’s a great player. I’m not gonna lie, though. I’m glad he hasn’t reached his potential during this series so far. He could have destroyed us with his skill set.
5:33 – I think we’ll win. Only ahead by four. But I like our chances.
Deron Williams must have the biggest testicles in the history of the world. He’s been hurt like three times in this series. That’s more than anyone I’ve ever seen while watching basketball. I’ve never been hurt in the gonads playing basketball. Take what you want from that statement.
4:18 – it’s a foul fest. I thought American gladiators was on NBC…
Fisher gets two free throws to fall 99-94.
Boozer doesn’t convert his layup. Williams curses him.
3:34 – Kobe gets a high rebound and oof. I thought he was going to tweak is back. He looks okay.
3:15 – the machine needs more oil. Missed the three.
A bunch of commenters are starting to note that the Lakers are falling in love with the three pointer even though the inside game is what has been going so well this game. Chalk that up to fatigue. Let’s hope Phil reminds them during the timeout to keep the inside attack going. That effect where they play the video on the outside of staples center is sweet. Whoever came up with that deserves a pat on the back.
3:07 – Set play for a Kirilenko distribution who finds Boozer in the paint for a strong layup. Nice conversion out of the timeout by them.
2:43 – Fisher gets fouled away from the ball and he’ll get to make free throws without being reminded that his daughter has retinoblastoma.
2:41 – Vujacic earns a technical foul. For talking to Korver. Whoops. Korver knocks down the free one. 101-97.
2:15 – Killer shot by the jazz. They fumble it around for a while. Kirilenko gets blocked. Deron Williams gets it and Robert Horry’s it home from the top of the key. Fisher came so close to fouling him but didn’t put up any defense to the shot. You’d rather have him take the shot than foul him and give him three free throws but man, that was a huge bucket. 3 points. Jazz down by only 1.
Lakers fans decide they’ll stand now. Punks. They should’ve been standing this whole damn quarter.
1:55 – Nope. Mid clock doesn’t work for Vujacic either. Lakers rebound and Kobe finds Lamar for the easy dunk. Kobe’s seventh assist.
1:18 – Lamar and fisher had to switch assignments which means Lamar had a tough time defending Deron and then on the rebound, fisher couldn’t keep Okur off the boards.
1:00 – Pau with a strong lefty layup around Okur. 105-102. I’m glad we didn’t have Kwame. For that one.
0:48 – Okur misses.
0:20 – Vujacic can’t make a basket to save his life (Kobe trusted him again) and somehow Pau pushes Okur out of the way to get to the offensive rebound. I don’t think there was a foul there (some embellishment for sure on Okur’s part) but maybe. I’d be willing to entertain the complaints of the Jazz fans. Anyway, no foul called. Pau collects the rebound in his lap and dunks it. Huge. That should pretty much end it. 107-102.
If we manage to lose this one at this point, I’m going to break windows. Double pane windows. I might have broken hands but there are about 36 windows in this house and I’ll get through all of them if we manage to lose at this point.
0:19 – Williams shoots it fast for three and misses. Fisher gets the rebound and is fouled. The game is pretty much sewn up but he can make it sewner. He misses the first one. Makes the second. 108-102.
With all these home court wins, why do we even play these games? Who will be the next team to win on the road? Will there be another team?
My quick thoughts: Lamar and Pau were the difference makers tonight and it was great to have a contributing Radman although he was kind of canceled out by a non-contributing Vujacic.
Final score is 111-104. Lakers are one win away from the Western Conference Finals.

UPDATE: Over at Basketball Prospectus, coach Anthony Macri (part of the IMG team in Florida, so you know he knows his stuff) broke down the Laker offense from game four and looked ahead to game five. Below is just part of it, but if you read just one preview of tonight read his, it’s the best thing on the Laker offense in a while:

Before Game Five, the Lakers will look back at the tape of this game and conclude that the more ball and player movement they can get out of the Triangle offense, the better off their attack will be. In the press conference after Game Four, Jackson and Bryant indicated a desire to run their offense with more efficiency and go to Bryant as an option late in the shot clock. This would seem a much better tactic for the Lakers, for Bryant’s supporting cast seems content to watch him too much early in the shot clock. Gasol is able to score seemingly at will against this Jazz team, as they simply do not have the height or athleticism to deal with a player of his ability. The Lakers managed to score on seven of the 12 possessions they were in the Triangle and hit the post player, cutting off of his shoulders to either side. In what is known as their “solo-cut” series, in which they isolate a post player and a wing player on one side of the floor and the wing cuts through opposite after entering the ball into the post, the Lakers managed to score on six of 10 possessions. While the Lakers are consistently labeled a softer, finesse team, they really do make a living going to the post. They should look to increase their post-touch possessions to somewhere between 25 and 30 in Game Five.

In addition, expect a stronger emphasis on scoring in early offense, as the Lakers attacked in transition just under 20% of the time, converting 52.4% of those possessions. By standing around in isolations and relying on other sets that lack ball and player movement, the Jazz’ slow-footed defenders had an easier time defending the Lakers. With their long, athletic, multi-skilled players, the Lakers have a decided advantage in full-court offense despite their lack of a star point guard.

Finding the right mix to showcase and take advantage of the versatility of the Lakers’ attack has occupied the coaching staff over the last two days. With the extra day in between these two games, and provided Bryant’s back is strong enough to allow him to play at a high level, expect the Lakers to get back to their high level of play on the offensive side of the floor on Wednesday evening.

Now on with our regularly-scheduled preview:

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I think Mark Heisler is right. (Hey, it was bound to happen.) At times we fans can be a little harsh on players — on Kobe for not running the offense in overtime, despite playing through enough pain to bench every other player in the league. On Jordan Farmar for having the temerity to slump in his second year in the league. On Pau for not playing in the paint like Bynum.

Tonight, I expect to see a lot of support from the fans, and I expect to see a lot of positives.

That list of positives starts with the fact the Lakers were just a made corner three from Odom or a couple of made free-throws away from stealing a game in Utah (with that comeback it would have been a steal). This is a series the Lakers should still win.

To do that they need to get back to some things from the first two games — and as it has all season for the Lakers the key is on the defensive end. Last game Utah continued its trend of improving its offensive efficiency with each game (up to 119 points per 100 possessions last game). Some of the reason for that efficiency is the Lakers missed shots (and turnovers) have sped up the Utah transition game. Darius has a few thoughts on how to slow that:

One thing I think we can do is find Deron early after Utah secures defensive rebounds. In the first half of Game 4, Deron went crazy in the open court and found ways to get easy outlet passes and push the pace (think Jason Kidd on team USA). This led to us cross matching in Utah’s *early offense* where no one was stopping the ball and ultimately leading to defensive breakdowns where Utah was able to burn us with lay ups and wide open jumpers because no one was finding their man. I think what hurt us, and Farmar, the most was that his lack of confidence led to concentration lapses. He was a little sulky (is that a word?) and was not transitioning from offense to defense effectively. Farmar (or Fisher or Sasha) need to be able to find Deron when he’s running out for the outlet pass and slow him down. Make him change direction. Funnel him to a side and keep him there. Basically, just try to ruin their early offense and make them work more for their buckets. When Deron gets an outlet pass running full speed, he’s a freight train…he just gets to the rim or occupies defenders and frees up other guys to get good looks. We have to slow this guy down a little; we can’t let him run around in the open court, we don’t have a guy that can stop him in that scenario.

Also, check out the comments from Renato (all the way from Spain Portugal) and Darius talking about dealing with the Jazz baseline picks.

On offense, the Lakers did one thing last game I liked — they got the ball more to Odom out in isolation when Boozer was on him. That is part of why Odom had a big game, the Lakers used his versatility to create mismatches on whoever guarded him. Pound AK-47 inside. Sloan puts Boozer on him to muscle Odom out of the paint and the Lakers counter with more wing isolation (same if Harpring was on him). The Lakers need to continue this as it not only is good for Odom but helps create matchup issues that help Kobe and Gasol.

I have about as good a chance plunking my money down on the right number at a roulette table as I do accurately predicting Vladimir Radmanovic’s play on any given night. That said, often when Phil calls him out in the press (as he did yesterday talking about the return of Ariza to practice) Vlad responds with some of his best play. I just have a feeling this is his breakout game.

I know we are a little tired of this topic, but I put these numbers out there (with three caveats): As the primary defender on D-Will in game four, Fisher was 0, Farmar was -9 and Sasha was +6. Now, the three caveats (meaning don’t read too much into those numbers): 1) Fisher still had the most time on him and Sasha the least, that would impact things; 2). This breakdown is statistically crude and going off of popcornmachine.net’s numbers not tracking the game film; 3) We are done with the Farmar bashing on this site. I think the numbers back up what we all saw with our eyes — Sasha is having more success as the second defender on Williams and needs to get more minutes in this series and in that matchup. But Farmar is not chopped liver and the days of unreasonable bashing him here are done. Unless you’d like Smush back.

Really, the big point guard issue for the Lakers is keeping Derek Fisher on the floor for more than the first four minutes of the first quarter — keeping him out of foul trouble. If you look at the raw playoff numbers so far, Fisher has the biggest impact on this team: he is +31.5 (meaning the Lakers outscore their opponents by that much per 48 minutes when he is on the floor) and Kobe is +15.2. Now (and stat-a-phobes and newbies) this in no way means Fisher is better than Kobe, but I think it says a lot about his impact at the point, both in this series and the last one, on defense and settling down the offense. The Lakers need him on the floor.

If you are going to the game tonight — be LOUD. This may not technically be a must win, but it’s about as close to that as it gets.

Very interesting games on the docket to watch tonight, as we wait another day for the LAkers to take the court. Does home court hold sway in the Hornets/Spurs series?

• I am obligated to start this post off with a “Kobe will play” note, which I think we all expected anyway. The only real question is just how good his back feels come Wednesday night, and that is where having one more day off between games really helps. As Matt said at Fanhouse, 75% of Kobe is too much for Brewer.

• We’ve talked a lot about the refs in this series and how games are called, but to me an overlooked aspect of this is how teams adjust to the tone of the refs that night, or don’t. In the first two games, Utah adjusted to the tighter called games poorly; in Utah the Lakers adjusted slightly better but not fantasitcally. Next game, in LA, expect it to be called tighter and Jazz players to get in foul trouble early, unless this time they actually do adjust. Whatever the tone is the Lakers players (particularly Pau and Lamar) need to accept and adjust quickly to it.

• Speaking of the other two Lakers stars, in the comments yesterday DTC had some good stuff about how the Jazz are dealing with Gasol and Lamar in the post:

I noticed one defensive strategy in particular. Because Pau and Lamar are absolutely killer from the middle of the key, they are now sending a guard from the top side immediately - Pau always catches looking to make a move, and the guard, essentially coming from a blind side, surprises him, either stripping the ball or at least disrupting him enough for the defense to recover. For some reason the Lakers have not adjusted to this well.

Basically, Pau especially needs to hold on to the ball tighter and be ready for the little 2nd defender. More than that, he needs to look for the open shooter. Everytime the Jazz sends a guard down, Fish, Farmar or Sasha is wide open. That pass to one of them needs to be fast, and crisp. The guards also need to position themselves better to maximize spacing. But more than that, they need to start hitting their shots, period, or the Jazz will continue the tactic.

• I think the best line about Jordan Farmar’s struggles comes from one of the OG people around here, Dan Reines: “Am i the only one who remembers that choker Kobe Bryant heaving up four straight airballs against the Jazz? Whatever became of him?”

• Attention Statheads: Most of you probably know about this already, but I want to get a link up. It’s called The People’s Statistic. With most of your big-picture statistical metrics (PER, for example), all stats are not created equal. Meaning, an offensive rebound is worth more than a defensive rebound, a steal and an assist do not count for the same amount. People have put a lot of time and thought into how much what is worth. What this site is doing is opening that up to a vote of the people. It’s an interesting exersize worth checking out.

• Headline about the Dodgers that amused me yesterday (seen on the Dodgers news box on my iGoogle home page), from our fine friends at the AP: “Jones Struggles In 1st Season With Dodgers.” That’s funny, he struggled in his last season with the Braves. Coincidence?

After an exciting but disappointing weekend (outside of getting to spend time with Mom) it seems like a good day to take a step back from the analysis and just talk about a couple of interesting issues around the Association.

One came in an email from Mike, a regular reader of this site, but he’s not the only person asking this question: Why is the home court advantage in these NBA playoffs so stark?

I think of the scene in Hoosiers when the little town team walks into the big-city gym and the first thing coach Norman Dale does is pull out a tape measure and show that the rim is still 10-feet high and the free-throw line is still 15 feet away. However, what we have in the NBA are not small-town kids, but rather seasoned players who (regardless of their NBA role and status) have played in front of big crowds for years, have been team stars and have played on big stages.

So, why do the Celtics fall apart on the road? The home team has won all the Western Conference semi-final games. In the Spurs/Hornets series, the home team has been blowing out the opponent. Why the big switch?

I really don’t have an answer, but a couple things may play into it. First, teams are more comfortable in their own gym with their own fans, and that leads to a more aggressive style of play (by that I mean going to the rim more, playing tougher defense). Also, I think for many years NBA referees have been influenced by loud crowds.

But to me, that does not explain all of the disparity. What are your thoughts on that?

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Second, Mike D’Antoni is now the head coach of the New York Knicks. I totally understand why he took the job — the $24 million helps, plus he really can’t do worse than the previous coach and could be heralded as a savior in the nation’s biggest market — but I wonder how this will play out for the Knicks.

The current Knicks stars are horribly suited for what D’Antoni likes to do. (Well, they are terribly suited for any style of play.) There are some young guns (Lee, Chandler) who can start to form a nucleus of young running players, but there needs to be a big weeding out process.

What should happen is a three-year plan to totally rebuild that roster into something that can compete, but will he be allowed to do that in NY? Are he and the new GM on the same page in terms of the style and type of team they are trying to build?

Plus, it will be interesting to see what happens with the Suns. Bring in a new coach with a slightly more rigid offense that puts the clamps on Nash? Try to win running with Shaq? I think that whole thing implodes within two years, and the shrapnel falls at the feet of the owner.

What are your thoughts?

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Finally, one suggested read — the ESPN expose of OJ Mayo and how he got funneled to an agent. As Henry said at True Hoop, to me this is interesting not because of Mayo or USC but because this is one of the first real journalistic breakdowns of a system we all know has existed for years for big-time college players.

And I don’t think there is an easy fix.

I am not nomuskles and won’t even try, but here is my breakdown of the final five minutes of regulation and all of the overtime I could stomach.

5:06, Jazz 96, Lakers 88: Off an out of bounds after a time out, Kobe gets the ball on the wing and runs across the top of a high Gasol screen – the Jazz got better at defending this play, but rather than do things to enliven it the Lakers have made it a perfunctory part of their sets – then the ball goes to Fisher then Odom on the block. He spins and goes up with a 9-foot jumper that misses, and Gasol gets called for the over the back.

Utah is shooting free throws and Okur hits both.

4:58. Jazz 98, Lakers 88. The Lakers go through a set where they never get the ball inside and never make a serious attempt to. The end result is eventually Kobe shoots a three from three-feet behind the line with AK-47 in his face, and misses. Boozer the board.

Williams sets up the offense for the Jazz, slides to the side with Boozer at the elbow (everyone else has cleared way out), starts to make a drive. Odom is watching Williams more than Boozer, who quietly slides back into the lane. Nifty little bounce pass from D-Will to Boozer cutting to the basket, Gasol is late to rotate and fouls. Boozer hits both, and somewhere Ralph Lawler thinks the game is over.

4:21. Jazz 100, Lakers 88. This time down Fisher wastes no time throwing the ball into Gasol mid-post. Gasol certainly was better with the speed and quality of his decision in this game, but on this possession he holds on while some cutters go by then spins into Okur and draws the foul. Ball out of bounds. Fisher on the inbounds and again goes to Gasol, this time at the elbow. Kobe comes off a screen behind that, gets the pass out from Gasol and goes up with a very quick three. Miss, but long board tapped back to Kobe. This time Kobe drives into three Jazz defenders, including D-Will who has both feet in the paint. Okur isn’t sure three is enough so he races to join them. Fisher is alone in the corner, gets the kick-out and nails the short three.

3:55, Jazz 100, Lakers 91. This time D-Will and Boozer really change things up – they move to the right side of the court. Same slide and bounce pass play, same elbow/slide action without the pick, same misplayed Laker defense (except that Gasol is out on Boozer and Odom is even slower to rotate) and Boozer hits a lay-up.

3:36. Jazz 102, Lakers 91. Kobe and Gasol again go through the “we’re not really all that serious” pick on the weak side, but when Kobe comes off it he sees Fisher in the left corner and whips a pass to him. D-Will closes but Fisher is feeling it.

3:19. Jazz 102, Lakers 94. Fisher plays tighter defense picking Williams out not far inside the half-court line, the ball still goes to Boozer at the elbow but he is doubled by Odom and Gasol. He tries a return pass to Williams but Fisher reads it and deflects it, right to Gasol. Turnover.

Kobe pushes as best he can with his back, but nothing develops, so it goes to Fisher, and Fish wants the ball to work inside out so he gets it to Gasol on the block. Pau starts to make a move, Okur reaches in and gets called for it. He then says some magic words to the ref that earn him a “T.”

I will say this, Okur and the other players have a beef that the calls in this series and in this game have been inconsistent. Somebody mentioned it in the comments yesterday – they are still calling the slight hand-check fouls on the perimeter but not the hockey-game in the paint. On that point, Okur is correct – his foul is a foul most nights but not the way things are being called in this game. Still, if Bull Durham taught us one thing, it is there are certain things you can’t say to a ref.

Anyway, Fish hits the technical. Then the Lakers get the ball on the side and it goes to Kobe on the left wing. Kobe and Gasol go through the motions but Phil has thrown in a fun wrinkle – on the weak side Odom surprises D-Will by setting a back-screen for Fisher, who uses it to run free to the right corner. Kobe with the skip pass and Fisher with the rainbow as D-Will is late arriving.

2:41. Jazz 102, Lakers 98. As we have discussed here, the Jazz have stopped setting the high screen for D-Will and just letting him go right at Fisher, and that’s what happens here. And, he gets by Fish no problem. Kobe slides over from the right in the paint to take the charge, Gasol does the same from the left and is a bit late. It looks more like a soccer wall, but D-Will tries to split it and with Gasol not quite set it’s a blocking foul. Williams to the line and he hits

2:28, Jazz 104, Lakers 98. Kobe foreshadows the overtime, he comes off the Gasol screen, squares up on his man from three and just launches it. Miss, but Korver touches the ball on its way out of bounds. On their second set the Lakers move the ball well on the perimeter, get the ball into Kobe coming to the low block, and the Jazz come with the quick double of Okur and AK-47. Of course, Okur had to double off Gasol, and a quick bounce pass to Gasol means a dunk.

2:07, Jazz 104, Lakers 100. D-Will takes his time, trying to run a little off the clock. When he makes his move (away from the screen) Fisher stays with him. He comes back to the right, but Gasol shows out on Boozer, D-Will tries to reverse and Fisher is right there the entire time. He bails to Okur out at the three point line, who has nothing and gives it to Korver, who tries a H-O-R-S-E shot but the 24 second clock expires.

A couple Lakers touch it before Kobe gets it at the free-throw line with Korver on him and no immediate double. It shows how much his back is hurting that he looks around to pass before deciding to attack the single-coverage of Korver, a healthy Kobe explodes in that spot. Eventually he does drive the lane and gets the and-one. He hits the free throw.

1:25, Jazz 104, Lakers 103. D-Will wastes little time driving the lane, but the Lakers play it well collapsing on him. Williams kicks to Okur at the three-point line, but the Kobe closes fast. So Okur throws it out to Williams out top, but the ball squirts out by the center line and almost into the back court. I slowed it down, and it’s close, but I don’t think he goes over and back. He then makes a spin move and hits an impressive 17-foot fade-away over Gasol. Nice shot.

1:06, Jazz 106, Lakers 103. This time Kobe and Gasol are a little more serious about the pick-and-roll, and they run it out higher, at the arc. Kobe drives the lane and the Jazz scramble to rotate. In all the action, Odom, slides out to the arc and gets a kick-out from Kobe for a wide-open three. Odom, if you let him set his feet and get a good look, can hit that shot at a decent clip. He hits this one.

:54, Jazz 106, Lakers 106. D-Will is just impressive. This time he looks around some then comes to Boozer’s high screen, and when Gasol shows out he splits the two and gets in the lane by himself. (Part of this is Gasol is just not a great pick-and-roll defender, this is one of the places we miss Bynum.) Odom slid over, the Lakers collapsed and D-Will kicks out to Okur, but Odom is there, too. He takes a few dribbles in then remembers he’s not a guard and the ball goes back to D-Will.

And this is one of those things – Williams tries a spin-move in the lane and just looses the ball. And in a Luc Robitaille moment, the ball goes straight to Boozer who picks up the garbage and drives in and draws the foul (on Fisher or Gasol would have been gone). Just luck, which is why the best teams don’t win the most close games during a regular season, they have the most blowouts.

:34, Jazz 108, Lakers 106. Kobe gets the ball out top, comes off the Gasol screen and drives the lane to the right. The Jazz collapse on him, and Kobe kicks it to Odom for the open corner three. He can hit those at a decent clip, but not all of them. Gasol with the offensive board. He is surrounded and can’t go back up, he gives it to Kobe who passes on the open 18-footer to try to get to the three-point line but D-Will recovers, and Kobe passes to Fisher cutting to the hole. Fish draws a crowd and tries a little inside handoff to Gasol, but the ball gets loose and goes out of bounds off Boozer’s leg.

7.8 seconds left, and on the inbounds play Gasol sets a screen to free Kobe, who gets the ball mid-block. Kobe goes for the lay-up while AK-47 and Boozer go for the block. Kobe misses, but with all the Jazz out of position going for the block Odom slides in for the easy put back.

And we are on to Overtime. Rather than describe every play, here are a few plays I thought summed things up.

4:38, Jazz 108, Lakers 108. After a play where the ball ends up out of bounds, the Lakers re-set and Kobe gets the ball between the arc and top of the circle, isolated on AK-47. The other Lakers move through some picks to get to space, then stop and wait for Kobe. They are all covered, and Kobe goes up with the jumper, which he misses as he is cold and hurting.

4:02, Jazz 108, Lakers 108. The Lakers work it around to Kobe on the block on the right side, but covered by AK-47 he has no advantage down there. The other Lakers space the floor and get ready to admire Kobe on the move – and when he does Gasol and Odom set picks for Sasha and Fish to let them move freely to three-point spots. But Kobe stops his move and slides back out and keeps dribbling. Now the guys are standing around so Kobe tries to drive on AK-47 but gets rejected.

By the way, next trip down is the play where Gasol misses the dunk. Unfortunate that it came on his best and most aggressive move of the night.

Speaking of unfortunate, next Laker trip is the one where Sasha tries to drive and facilitate along the baseline with a bounce-pass to Gasol that goes wild. That said, I think we are all now onboard the Sasha as the back-up PG against D-Will train. He seemed to be the second best defender we had on him (I wish Popcornmachine.net wasn’t down so we could estimate Sasha’s +/- on Williams compared to others, maybe next game.)

2:15, Jazz 110, Lakers 108. Just after an Okur long-range two, the Lakers come back down. Kobe and Gasol try the high pick-and-roll, Kobe uses his hesitation move to split the double off it and drives the lane. Normally Kobe explodes here for a big dunk, but he’s slowed and not exploding and AK-47 comes from behind and blocks it. On the inbounds it is straight to Kobe at the arc on the wing, and he doesn’t even bother with the screen he just tries to go up with the three-ball. Misses.

I think from here we end up in a cycle that was very familiar last year but have seen little of this year – Kobe feels let down by his teammates, so he just tries to do it all himself. It’s not a good way to win playoff games.

There are good ways, hopefully we return to those on Wednesday night.

It is clear the Jazz are figuring out what they can do on offense that the Lakers struggle to defend – in game one Utah’s offensive rating was 103 (points per 100 possessions), in game two it was 111, game three it was up to 118.

There are a couple things the Lakers can do to stem and reverse that trend. We’ll start inside the paint — the Lakers must have a stronger presence inside and on the boards. As Kwame a. suggested, I would love to see more of Odom on Boozer – yes he’ll pick up some fouls but he is the best Laker rebounder right now and this match up puts him closer to the basket, plus Odom’s length will bother Boozer. Also, more minutes for Turiaf who has been the best Laker interior defender would be a plus.

Next, a few defensive thoughts from Daruis in the comments:

I really think we just need to tighten up our defense to keep the Jazz out of rhythm. In the first two games, we let them run their sets….but since we’re familiar with their sets this allowed us to squeeze them and make their offense less effective. We pushed their offense further from the hoop, dictated where the next pass would go, and then used our quickness and length to contest shots. In game 3, they went away from their traditional sets more and we did not have solid defensive responses to what they were doing. We broke down. If we come back in game 4 and have some answers for limiting Deron’s penetration while being able to defend the rim and effectively rotate to the 3pt line, the Jazz will have to adjust again, and we will again have an advantage (their offense will be put on it’s heels and our offense is really tough to completely stop). Is this easy? No. If it was easy to defend the rim AND the 3pt. line when getting beat off penetration, Phoenix and Golden State wouldn’t lead the league in scoring every year. But we can start by not letting Deron beat us when he goes away from the screen….funnel him (as best you can) to the screen and then play your regular defense. We have to make the Jazz reactive on Offense like we did in the first 2 games.

One way to help limit D-Will’s penetration: Sasha as the backup PG.

Another key is right out of the Denver series – slow the Jazz offense by taking care of the ball on your own end. It’s been said a lot but it matters, the Lakers had 18 turnovers in game three – more than 20% of their possessions – and that meant some easy transition baskets for the Jazz. Take those away and make them earn points in the half-court offense.

Speaking of offense, Kwame a. had some ideas on how to get the Kobe/Gasol pick-and-roll going again.

We did not run a lot of (effective) Kobe/Pau pick and roll. When we did run it the Jazz did a good job of chokin off Pau’s angle to the hoop. What I found most problematic is that we have a counter to that, it’s the quick interior pass from Pau to Odom. 2 reasons that didn’t work last night are 1) Pau held the ball too long and 2) Odom was not under the hoop, he was on the perimeter. Pau had a terrible first 3 quarters, but his teammates didn’t help because they were not moving like they had been in the first 2 games (and they were being held, but hey, that’s splitting hairs)

I’m not terribly worried about the Laker offense, the last game is an outlier, but the Lakers need to see more quick decisions and aggressive moves from Gasol and Odom. Not just for the points but also because it would make Boozer work more at both ends of the floor.

For a fresh Jazz perspective, check out the new SLCDunk blog (which actually is a new look in the quality SB Network for a long-time good Jazz blog).

The Jazz played their best game, they were the aggressors on Friday night. In the first quarter D-Will was penetrating on Fisher (as Darius pointed out, often going away from the pick and just taking him off the dribble), plus Carlos Boozer found his game near the basket and that confidence extended to his jumper (he had 12 makes, 7 in the paint and 5 outside it, but his early baskets, all but one in the first half, were in the paint).

And as Reed who was at the game said, that crowd is very loud and fueled the Jazz.

That said, the Lakers lost by just five. The question is: Confronted by the best and most desperate team they have faced so far, how do they adjust and respond? That means personally, as well as team adjustments.

Some other thoughts:

• What stymied the Lakers offense was turnovers — 20.5% of Lakers possessions ended in a turnover. We discussed this before the series, but the Jazz can play well in transition and to beat them you need to limit the easy baskets they get in transition and early in the clock. Turning the ball over that much feeds the transition game, and with D-Will being so aggressive it meant some early lay-ups that got the Jazz going.

• In the first two games, the Lakers got some buckets early in the clock as well by pushing down court then getting the ball into the post. In this game, it seemed the Lakers settled for a lot more jumpers and three-balls in those situations (I didn’t chart the shots, so that’s just my feeling). Missing threes fueled the Jazz transition as well.

• Pau Gasol is not a soft player. We’ve had this discussion about Odom and a host of other players – do not expect them to be what they are not. Pau Gasol is 7 feet but don’t expect him to play like Andrew Bynum or Patrick Ewing. He brings a different skill set, one that is a perfect triangle fit, but don’t expect him to be a banger with his back to the basket every trip down. That is not his game.

• That said, Gasol needs to take a lesson from Kobe about playing through the physicality of the Jazz and not looking to the refs. He’s clearly thinking and not reacting, not going after his man when single-covered. He needs a couple of early buckets of his own creation (not a Kobe dish for a dunk) early in the game.

• I think I could change out the word Odom for Gasol in the above paragraph and it would still apply,

• Bill Bridges said it and I think we all agree – Less Farmar, more Sasha.

It’s going to be loud, the Jazz fans will be pumped, motorcycles will run across the hardwood ridden by bears like some sort of Russian circus via the Wachowski brothers. Reed, one of the most popular commenters/posters on this site is going to be in the arena tonight — we’ll see if he’s a lucky charm or more like the tiki that Bobby picked up in Hawaii and needs to be thrown back.

The Utah setting is going to have one likely impact — the Jazz are going to get a little more favorable treatment from the refs. I agree with what many have said in the comments: After multiple years leading the league in fouls, playing a physical style, it is an amazing feat of cognitive dissonance for some Jazz fans to be complaining about all the calls. The Lakers are getting the calls because they have been the aggressors — Kobe is not settling for jumpers, he is going to the rim, and the only way the Jazz can stop him is to foul. Same with Fisher. Gasol is getting the ball on great feeds and is getting fouled because the Jazz are coming at him at bad angles. Bottom line — the aggressive team gets the calls in the NBA, and in games one and two that has been the Lakers.

Tonight though, the Lakers need to be prepared for the refs to let a little more go, and they are going to have to play through it.

The fouls, however, is not what worries me. The Jazz started to be the aggressors at points last game, and that worries me. I think Darius explained best what happened near the end of game 2 (and how the Lakers should counter):

In the 4 quarter (especially the last 4-5 minutes), the Jazz did a great job of just kind of abandoning their sets and letting Williams attack. No screens, just get out the way and let him beat his guy. I think Sloan realized that by bringing over a screener it allowed the Lakers to dictate where the ball would go next by allowing the second defender to either force Deron to pass or by cutting off the driving lane until the primary defender could recover. If you just let Williams use his size, quickness, and handle, he has the skill to break us down and get to the rim. This fed his confidence that led to him burying those late jumpers too. If Sloan goes to more of these sets in game 3, the Lakers have to be ready to collapse the lane, rotate to any shooters on the perimeter, while still covering for a rotating big by boxing out Boozer, Milsap, Okur, and Harpring.

David Thorpe at ESPN.com called out another set that Utah had success with — Boozer and D-Will running the high screen-and-roll with the other three players spread along the baseline (making it a little harder to get to help in time). Something to look for.

I expect the best Jazz offensive game of the series, the question is will the Lakers still win a scoring contest. One that is well above the Vegas more than/less than number (that one’s for you, Henry!).

The Jazz still have “The Kobe Problem” — they have no answer to slow him. It appeared to me the best Jazz defender on Kobe was Harpring, and apparently Sloan agreed as he got some key fourth quarter time on our MVP. Harpring was up on him 30 feet from the basket. But as Kobe said in a radio interview yesterday, Harpring can’t stay with him out that far so he was trying to force him to help. That opened up things for other Lakers when Kobe made smart passes. I expect the Jazz to go back to the Harpring model for long stretches at home thinking that they will face fewer foul calls. The Lakers need to make them pay with good passing.

One final note. Before you make a comment about the crowd tonight, who I’m sure we will find annoying, read the first rule of commenting. As Reed and others who have lived in Salt Lake have said, it is a more diverse town than most think, something that is changing there over the past decade plus. We welcome everyone at this site, if they can have a rational discussion.

Another Nomuskles live blog.

Pregame
Kobe receives his MVP award in front of the Staples Center crowd. The TNT crew says that watching a person receive an MVP award fires up the opposing team. Let’s hope that doesn’t hold true tonight. Nomuskles-girl is currently taking an Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry exam so we’re gonna do the deed with an infamous Live Blog.

1st Quarter
Starting five for both teams is as expected. Kobe, Pau, Lamar, Radman and Fisher for the Lakers. Memo, AK47, Brewer, Boozer and D-Will for the Jazz.
11:52 – Fisher gets it started well with a quick two. Nothing but net.
11:26 – First defensive stand goes very well for the Lakers. They force a 24 second violation. And whoops. Lakers inbound to no one and it goes out of bounds. Utah reboots. Kirilinko nails a jumper from the left wing over the Space Cadet.
10:56 – The Space Cadet returns the favor from the top of the circle. Lakers up 4-2.
10:38 – Utah is being more deliberate than a contestant on Deal or No Deal. AK47 gets a nifty Arvydas Sabonis up and under to go. Tied at four.
9:46 – LO gets aggressive on a broken play. He makes a great spin move to take it around Boozer. 2 points.
8:52 – Lamar abuses Memo’s defense. A little shake and bake along the baseline earns LO a layup.
8:10 – Good defensive sequence here, which leads to a Kobe leakout. But Kobe can’t convert. Kirilinko’s length bothers the layup. AK47 gets the jumper at the other end. An efficient and quick start to this game offensively for both teams. This is the anti-Boston/Cavaliers game. Did anyone else see that? The YMCA all-stars could’ve beaten either of those teams in HORSE last night. Disjointed doesn’t even begin to describe that affair.
6:55 – Bad call. The ball was off Memo’s lazy leg but the refs give it back. Williams gets a wide open shot off the inbounds play but can’t convert.
6:40 – LO gets the ball inside and earns two free throws. This is a good point to pause and let everyone know that king sized duvet covers are grossly overpriced in my opinion. Macy’s is $300 richer today for what is essentially an oversized pillow case. Happy Mother’s Day! LO7 converts both of his free throws (GASP!). Lakers up 15 – 13.
6:11 – Great transition bucket for the Lakers. Could’ve been a dangerous outlet pass (for the Lakers) against other teams, but as we said, the Jazz transition D is lackluster. D-Will, Memo and AK47 trot back, rather than sprint back.
5:09 – Lakers use their Lucky Charms free prize to decode the zone defense. This earns LO a lefty layup over two Jazz defenders. Assist to P-Gas.
4:14 – Since it’s the 60th Anniversary, I wish the Lakers would honor more of their heritage and great history. The legends should be invited back to every playoff game.
3:38 – It’s Jack Black and Kyle Gass in purple and gold. The Lakers are playing Tenacious D out there! How about the power to kill a yak? From three hundred yards away…with MIND BULLETS? Kobe gets the steal from Mehmet and he’s fouled before he can get away. Jerry Sloan earns himself a fine by getting a technical.
2:52 – Lakers are up 25-15 as the Spaniard goes to the line for two shots. He misses both.
2:18 – Derek Fisher enjoys the passive non-pressure of the zone defense. He nails a left corner three.
2:05 – Son of Bill harasses Harpring into committing an offensive foul.
1:43 – Dfish is feelin it in his soul. He hits another left corner three. This time over a defender and about as high as he could get it without needing FAA clearance.
1:02 – Turiaf blocks the crap out of a D-Will lay-up attempt and when D-Will gets it back, he steps on the sideline. Turnover.
0:46 – Turiaf rewards Luke Walton’s unselfishness (or unathleticism) by nailing a jumper. Luke says “thanks for bailing me out of that one. I didn’t really want to go one on one with Harpring.”
0:00 – The quarter ends with the Lakers up 33-18. Eight to nothing run to finish the period. Well done good guys! Don’t rest on your laurels. Jerry Sloan will not tolerate laziness and he’ll get these Jazzers to make a comeback.

2nd Quarter
The Bill Engvall show looks about as funny as heartburn on the freeway. Jerry Sloan complains about the refs calling fouls when Utah puts their hands on the Lakers. Isn’t that the definition of a foul?
11:04 – Dan Crawford doesn’t care to watch the game. He decides to call a foul on Luke Walton for holding onto the ball at the same time as Mehmet.
10:50 – Wow. Luke just stuffs a Harpring post-up turnaround. Millsap picks up the ball and jams his way into the paint drawing the foul, and one. He makes the three point play.
10:30 – Korver isn’t paying enough attention. Price slipped trying to guard Farmar and Kover refused to rotate till it was too late. Farmar makes them pay.
9:55 – Lakers give up too easy a bucket off an inbounds play. 35-23 Lakers up.
9:36 – I’m not a big Korver fan, but leaving him wide open in the left corner in transition seems like an idea the US patent office wouldn’t recognize as having any use. Sasha drifted towards the middle to stop the ball and Farmar drifted towards the opposite side trailing behind DWill. Everyone else clogged the middle and left Korver to rule his own little fiefdom. We’ll call that area Korver’s Korner from now on. Speaking of Korver, am I wrong to read into it that Korver is just traded to the Jazz this year and he’s suddenly the most popular player on the team and he’s white? He freaking comes off the bench and plays crappy D and sometimes makes three pointers. D-Will and Boozer should be the fan favorites since they, you know, dominate. Am I supposed to believe that Korver just has this magnetic personality that everyone in Utah loves? Umm right.
7:55 – Price “took it like a man” as Jordan Farmar drove hard to the basket trying to draw the charge. Trade Farmar for Shaq and I wonder if Price makes the same decision. Farmar makes two free throws.
Millsap is a force tonight. He’s active on the offensive end. He shows a nice spin move inside and gets fouled as he makes the layup. Misses the freebie though.
6:37 – LO7 definitely bring more energy tonight. He’s showing activity on defense and offense. I’m not sure what happened in game one, but he’s back in regular form tonight. Errr…that is not to say he is like a transformer and previously he was in the shape of an 18-wheeler.
6:20 – Pau drops the sledgehammer. Hahaha. It was not exactly sledgehammer esque but it’ll do. Two points.
5:46 - Millsap gets another layup with a foul (I disagree with the call, but who am i?) The Lakers need to get him in foul trouble pronto fast. After the free throw, 45-35 Lakers up.
5:28 – Pau is doing a great job in the post tonight. Okur is putting up much less of a fight and Gasol is getting his.
5:06 – The Space Cadet tries to ride Mehmet like a Koala mother (face to face) as he falls for the pump fake. The big man makes two free throws.
4:34 – Mehmet makes a great first step attacking move around Gasol who had no idea Okur had that much speed in him. Layup. Someone brainwashed Okur into thinking he was freaking speed racer.
3:12 – Fisher fakes the pass around the perimeter and just fakes the defenders out of their shoes. He gets the 21 foot jumper to go. No one in the vicinity.
2:41 – D-Will gets a three to go with 2 seconds left on the 24-second clock. The Lakers played great defense but Korver made a great cross court pass to give him an open look. DWill’s first bucket comes at a great time for the Jazz. Coming back from timeout, TNT tells us Boozer and Williams are doing poorly on offense. D-WIll has 3 points, Boozer has 0.
2:16 – Korver does a great job sealing off the Machine and gets an easy dunk.
1:33 – A fast sequence of back and forth finished off by a Kirilenko layup over Odom in transition.
1:02 – Korver gets another over the top lob. Jazz coaches figured that Sasha’s haranguing defense could be neutralized by posting him up in the block. This is a great way to utilize Korver’s height advantage. We’ll see if he can continue to capitalize on these opportunities when that is not usually what he called upon to do.
0:22 – Pau gets a good dump off feed off a DFish drive. Gasol tries to go up with it and Collins, who’s in there because the NBA grants players 6 fouls before ineligibility, fouls him pretty hard. Gasol starts swimming through the air. I’m not sure what he was trying to do there.
0:00 – poor pass by D-Will to AK47. A better pass and AK47 gets a momentum building alley-oop dunk for the Jazz. Instead, it goes the other way and DFish gets off a decent shot at the buzzer. It’s no good. Dfish has that wily smile on his face during the interview going into halftime. He knows he’s got DWill’s number. 63-49 Lakers are sitting pretty for the second half.

Halftime
Charles is disappointed in the Jazz for not looking like they can beat the Lakers. EJ says “they look slow.” That was pretty matter of fact. I had to laugh. Kenny says the Jazz are settling for good looks, but not trying to punish the Lakers getting great looks. As a sidenote, I am happy for the Magic. They came out hungry and made it a series.
What kind of party is it? A block party.
Who’s invited? Everybody.
That cracks me up every time. I don’t know if I could ever get tired of it. Especially when it’s being said about D12, D.Ho, Superman, Dwight Howard.
This Public Service Announcement brought to you by nomuskles: If you haven’t seen Iron Man, go see it. Now. Don’t wait till the weekend. Go see it now. Seriously it was that great. Robert Downey, Jr. is absolutely fantastic.

3rd Quarter
10:50 – The quarter starts off with a lot of clunky shots. The long halftime hurts the rhythm. Deron Williams gets tagged in the nether regions as AK47 tips in his miss. He limps around the court while he tries his ovaries out.
9:42 – Jazz playing much better to start the half. Making their open jumpers and finding the open man. Here though, Lamar gets to the hoop and gets the foul and bucket. He misses the free throw though. Lakers up 67-57.
9:13 – Kobe found LO7 cherry picking after the airball/tipped shot. Lamar leaked out after challenging the shot and boozer wasn’t able to catch up. Great look up the floor by the Kobester.
8:40 – Kevin Harlan asks Doug Collins how he would guard Kobe Bryant “I would get three hard fouls and sit down.” While he’s blathering on Deron Williams makes a great move to get into the paint. Layup.
7:53 – Brewer benefits from a great feed by D-Will in transition. Single digit lead by Lakers. Lamar makes the quick layup at the other end.
7:25 – D-Will finds his way into the lane again and makes the layup. This is the Williams we’ve been expecting to see. The scary one.
7:07 – Pau says he might not be en elite defender but he’s not dead either. He roofs Brewer’s attempt out of bounds.
6:51 – Kobe drives HARD to the hole and AK47 and Mehmet are forced to foul. Mehmet is charged with the violation while helping his overmatched teammate. I don’t know if I buy this whole “look like they believe they can beat them” thing. This is not a bunch of players with their tails between their legs. But maybe I’m misreading this. Lakers force another turnover on a 24 second clock violation.
6:10 – the space cadet steps out of bounds and then walks back which allows kirilenko to get an easy layup. Pft. Luke gets up off the bench. He’ll come in at the next dead ball.
5:21 - Lakers up 14. 66-80. Timeout.
4:39 – The Lakers go into the Cleveland Cavaliers offense with Kobe playing Lebron. Kobe takes the Jazz on and makes a great bank shot. Degree of difficulty = ten of ten.
3:30 - Luke tries to give AK47 his Upper Respiratory Infection, because that’s the only he’s going to be able to keep up with the speed of Kirilenko. Tag you’re it. Foul on Luke.
3:12 – Kobe is triple teamed and emerges like a salmon from the flowing stream. I’m not sure how he made that one against three Jazz defenders. It was like he had an amnesia inducing charm as they forgot that he was in a position to shoot the ball. He made the defenders look lead footed and they were definitely not. He was just lightning quick.
2:35 - A bunch of Mormons just stood up and shouted “Yes, Please.” Because Deron Williams just threw down a dunk in semi-transition that will undoubtedly make tonight’s highlights. He pulled a Lamar right in Lamar’s grill. Nasty.
2:15 – Boozer picks up his fourth foul. 76-86 Lakers up but they need to be careful here. TV Timeout. Coming back, there’s a great anecdote shared by David Aldridge that Brian Shaw shared with him. Apparently there was a stretch where Phil did not yell at Kobe when they were teammates and Phil’s explanation was that Kobe was always in attack mode and Phil could not take that away from him. Interesting thought process there.
0:56 – Tricky moments here. Lakers are not slamming the door shut on this Jazz team. Jazz pull within 8. However, they do get a good stop on Williams penetration and DFish draws a sucky foul on Mehmet. If I were a Jazz fan I’d be a little bit annoyed with that call. It was all Fisher’s fault. Fisher makes the free throws. Williams turns the ball over quickly in the backcourt but the Lakers give it right back. 90-80.
0:16 - Great rebound by Lamar! Way to fight for it like he was Arnold in the Last Action Hero. This earns Fisher a three in the right corner.
0:01 – D-Will nails a three over Farmar despite the great heads-up play of Fisher to give the foul and get the Lakers defense set. 93-83 Lakers hanging onto the lead.

4th Quarter
11:15 – Vujacic nails a long two after Deron got his shot blocked/fouled on the other end (no call).
10:55 – D-Will drives baseline and draws the foul on Ronny. He’s got the right idea if you’re a Jazz fan (probably not if you’re reading this). He’s taking it to the bucket and being aggressive, putting pressure on the Lakers.
10:31 – Millsap gets himself a good layup inside. 87-95. Staples is a little quiet.
10:11 – Luke hits a big shot. Making the three from the right wing. Our bench has been big for us all year. Let’s watch as that experience during the year pays off here.
8:45 – Ronny makes a terrific pass but it was one pass too many. He threaded the needle but Pau wasn’t expecting it and he rushed the layup. In hindsight, Ronny should’ve shot the 18 footer because he was wide open. We’ll live with the unselfishness.
7:49 – 98-89 Lakers are still up after a Millsap second chance put back. Luke doesn’t get off a good shot and the Lakers are guilty of taking longer than 24 seconds to contact the rim. Timeout. I expect we’ll see the MVP back on the floor when we return. Utah may not win this game, but they are going to be tough at home. They’ll get a boost from the home crowd and the familiar surroundings. Just look at the Magic.
7:42 – Lakers decide they want to make it a little more interesting and spot the Jazz another point with a defensive three second violation.
7:31 – Millsap gets an offensive rebound and Harpring makes the Lakers pay. 98-92.
6:15 – Lakers dodge a bullet. Lamar turns the ball over. Jazz run the break but somehow miss the layup and the refs don’t call a foul even though there was some contact. Mamba comes back the other way and earns two free throws. He makes both. 92-99.
6:00 – Lamar gets called for a foul and screams like his best friend just died. It was more like a wail. Luckily, it’s just a foul. Boozer will shoot some free throws after the television prescribed timeout. He makes both. 94-99 Lakers.
5:39 – the jazz focus so much energy on stopping the Kobester that he is able to find the Machine on the right side for an open jumper. 101-94.
5:11 – Lamar does a great job defending the Williams/Boozer pick and roll. He came off his man to stop Boozer’s roll the bucket. Lamar blocked both of Boozer’s attempts.
5:02 – This is no time for lazy passes Mr. MVP.
4:55 – Fisher is money in the bank, shorty what’s your drank? He nails the three from straight on. 104-94. This was created by LO’s penetration off a Gasol feed from the pinch post.
4:26 – The Lakers create a turnover and Gasol earns himself two free throws. Pau makes one. The other one is missed but wouldn’t have counted anyway due to a lane violation. 105-94.
4:05 – Boozer makes two free throws. 105-96.
3:51 – Kobe found himself with a relatively easy shot because Lamar has vision. 107-96.
3:28 – Mehmet gives a great fake to make LO go flying by into the Lakers Girls but can’t convert.
3:01 – Pau almost plays great D on Kirilenko who draws the foul. He’ll shoot one. 107-99.
2:40 – Something out of nothing. The MVP is more than a magic man. He resides in the pantheon of Olympus. Sasha passes up the three after Korver chases him off the line. He has no options because he’s picked up his dribble except you-know-who springs free. Mamba probes for a couple dribbles and gets the double team leaning just a little bit and in that moment when the outlook is grim, the trap is about to spring and the shot clock winds down he wills his body through a chink in the double-team with a spin move that can only come from heaven’s kingdom. Zephyr creates a space where none previously existed for He is the chosen one. This gives Kobe a path to the lane but no path to the basket as Utah has a couple defenders to guard the Holy Grail. Kobe goes up to shoot but at the last possible moment he spots Pau with just a minute halo of space in the depths of the enemy stronghold. The MVP casts his magic spell of genesis. He creates, in front of you, me and a global audience, something as startling as Adam’s first breath. With a flick of the wrist the ball heeds Bryant’s indomitable will. It flies around Okur, to Gasol, who receives it and dunks it in one swift motion in a way few others could manage. It is in this moment we have all witnessed a virtuoso performance by one of the game’s all time greats. It is in this moment that the Lakers will find hope and the Jazz will only find despair. No matter how well the Jazz play the rest of the game, their fate will have already been determined by the one they simply call Him. Indeed, we are all witness. 109-99.
0:00 – Final score is 120-110, your Los Angeles Lakers.

On one side, it seems like all is right with the NBA world — Kobe got his MVP, the Sonics are staying in Seattle for another year, and we get a Laker playoff game at home tonight.

But know this — the last time Utah lost back-to-back games it was December. Tonight is going to be a real dogfight.

It’s going to be an interesting game of adjustments tonight — after practice the other day the Lakers sounded like guys ready to put on the foil and play some old-time hockey, while Utah players talked about not sending Kobe to the line as much tonight.

I expect Utah is going to change strategies on Kobe some, the “beat him down physically” strategy from game one failed (Kobe is not McGrady, he is stronger, gets rest and has better teammates to pass to on offense). Jazz players hinted they will go with more quick double teams and other moves (Carlos Boozer even talked about a zone) to try to get the ball out of Kobe’s hands. If the Lakers continue move the ball like we saw against Denver that is fine — the other Lakers should get good looks and thrive (although Utah is certainly better defensively than Denver, by a mile).

On offense I expect Utah again to try to get early foul trouble on Gasol by posting up Okur/Boozer (the Lakers switched a little on that), or get Okur/Boozer the ball on the wing and let them drive at Gasol. Pau needs to be physical without fouling and crash the boards hard. A lot of those same things apply to Odom, who will be key for the Lakers on the boards.

Utah is going to shoot better tonight, the key is to take away the easy baskets on back-cuts and the like. LA got lost on some of that last game. The Lakers aggressive defense in the second quarter pushed Utah out of their comfort zone, forced them to take longer jump shots, and LA needs more of that effort — and not to let up on it. Utah will not fold like a house of cards.

As has been said before, how the refs call the game will have an impact on the outcome, although even the very smart Ross Siler of the Salt Lake Tribune is suggesting that the tape the Rockets sent to the league about how Utah defended McGrady in the last round may be impacting the calls on Kobe now.

There is a great preview from David Thorpe up at ESPN.com, a must read. He’s the best for a reason.

Enjoy the game, this is going to be a fun one. And hopefully at the end all will still seem right with the world.