Lakers 120, Jazz 110
We've heard Jerry Sloan return to the theme of inexperience a couple of times this season and the Jazz coach did so again after Wednesday's Game 2 loss to the Lakers.
He was asked about the difference coming home down 2-0 this year compared to last year against Houston in the first round.
"These are young guys," Sloan said. "Our backcourt's got three years experience. We're playing against a backcourt that's got 18, 20 years experience, and those things sometimes have a tendency to throw you back. But I thought they fought hard and kept trying. We got back in the ballgame. Those are things that are most important for young guys."
Third-year guard Deron Williams and second-year guard Ronnie Brewer combined to score 37 points in the loss while 12-year veterans Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher combined to score 56 points for the Lakers. Bryant had 34 points on his MVP night while Fisher had 22 and several key three-pointers.
The experience argument is an interesting one in this series. The Lakers actually are the fourth-youngest team in the NBA playoffs, after Atlanta (24.785), Utah (25.805) and Philadelphia (26.135). The Lakers have 408 games of playoff experience, which is not even half that of San Antonio, with 1,038 games.
* * *
The Lakers broke open the game with a 13-0 run in the first quarter and seemed to swarm the Jazz every time they tried to drive or operate around the basket. By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers had four steals and three blocks while the Jazz had gone 8-for-24 from the field.
"They do a good job of helping out, digging out," Williams said. "When our bigs put the ball on the floor, Fish and Kobe, they do an exceptional job of coming back and helping on them and getting deflections and steals."
"The other tough thing is that we're not hitting our jump shots," Carlos Boozer said. "Hitting our jump shots will make them have to play us a little more honest and not pack it in so much. So if we can start knocking down some shots from the perimeter, it opens a lot of the inside for us."
* * *
Williams took the blame for a lackluster first half in which he scored just three points, even as Boozer went to bench with three fouls with 11:41 left in the second quarter. He was 1-for-6 in the first half, compared to 8-for-11 in the second half, though Williams did hit three three-pointers in last 30 seconds.
"I think that's another time when I've got to be more aggressive, when Booz is in foul trouble and he's off the court," Williams said. "That's 20 points a game out of our lineup. It's tough. Booz, he knows he's got to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble so he can stay on the court and be effective for us."
* * *
The Jazz are now 3-16 all-time against the Lakers at Staples Center and 0-4 this year with four double-digit losses. Carlos Boozer said the Jazz would have to find a way to win in the building, but their attention for now is on Games 3 and 4 back in Utah.
"I think these next two are must wins," Williams said. "If we get down 3-1, it's going to be tough to come back from, point blank."
* * *
This series is starting to feel a lot like last year's Western Conference finals against the Spurs, when the Jazz were blown away early in Games 1 and 2 before strong second halves. Lakers coach Phil Jackson talked after Wednesday's game about the comfort in playing from ahead.
"We never really had that point where we felt threatened," Jackson said, "in this ballgame, we felt that the offense was going well, we were doing things we wanted to do."
Williams added: "We've fallen behind in the first half and can't really get our feet back under us. It's something that's going to be important this next game to come out and get off to a good start, offensively, defensively, and I know our crowd is going to be there for us."
--Ross Siler
He was asked about the difference coming home down 2-0 this year compared to last year against Houston in the first round.
"These are young guys," Sloan said. "Our backcourt's got three years experience. We're playing against a backcourt that's got 18, 20 years experience, and those things sometimes have a tendency to throw you back. But I thought they fought hard and kept trying. We got back in the ballgame. Those are things that are most important for young guys."
Third-year guard Deron Williams and second-year guard Ronnie Brewer combined to score 37 points in the loss while 12-year veterans Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher combined to score 56 points for the Lakers. Bryant had 34 points on his MVP night while Fisher had 22 and several key three-pointers.
The experience argument is an interesting one in this series. The Lakers actually are the fourth-youngest team in the NBA playoffs, after Atlanta (24.785), Utah (25.805) and Philadelphia (26.135). The Lakers have 408 games of playoff experience, which is not even half that of San Antonio, with 1,038 games.
* * *
The Lakers broke open the game with a 13-0 run in the first quarter and seemed to swarm the Jazz every time they tried to drive or operate around the basket. By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers had four steals and three blocks while the Jazz had gone 8-for-24 from the field.
"They do a good job of helping out, digging out," Williams said. "When our bigs put the ball on the floor, Fish and Kobe, they do an exceptional job of coming back and helping on them and getting deflections and steals."
"The other tough thing is that we're not hitting our jump shots," Carlos Boozer said. "Hitting our jump shots will make them have to play us a little more honest and not pack it in so much. So if we can start knocking down some shots from the perimeter, it opens a lot of the inside for us."
* * *
Williams took the blame for a lackluster first half in which he scored just three points, even as Boozer went to bench with three fouls with 11:41 left in the second quarter. He was 1-for-6 in the first half, compared to 8-for-11 in the second half, though Williams did hit three three-pointers in last 30 seconds.
"I think that's another time when I've got to be more aggressive, when Booz is in foul trouble and he's off the court," Williams said. "That's 20 points a game out of our lineup. It's tough. Booz, he knows he's got to do a better job of staying out of foul trouble so he can stay on the court and be effective for us."
* * *
The Jazz are now 3-16 all-time against the Lakers at Staples Center and 0-4 this year with four double-digit losses. Carlos Boozer said the Jazz would have to find a way to win in the building, but their attention for now is on Games 3 and 4 back in Utah.
"I think these next two are must wins," Williams said. "If we get down 3-1, it's going to be tough to come back from, point blank."
* * *
This series is starting to feel a lot like last year's Western Conference finals against the Spurs, when the Jazz were blown away early in Games 1 and 2 before strong second halves. Lakers coach Phil Jackson talked after Wednesday's game about the comfort in playing from ahead.
"We never really had that point where we felt threatened," Jackson said, "in this ballgame, we felt that the offense was going well, we were doing things we wanted to do."
Williams added: "We've fallen behind in the first half and can't really get our feet back under us. It's something that's going to be important this next game to come out and get off to a good start, offensively, defensively, and I know our crowd is going to be there for us."
--Ross Siler
3:00 AM
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2 Comments:
Same old Jazz, different year. When are we going to step up and play Jazz basketball when the going gets tough.
I thought Boozer looked like a rookie last night, couldn't hang on the ball (or catch a pass to even begin to protect it). In my opinion, he is the reason we struggled against Houston and he is the reason we are blowing this series. Look at the last half of the season, where is that Boozer?
Another thing I've noticed with both games, D-Will comes out in the fist half and he isn't even looking to take the ball to the rack (Fish guarding him aside). No D-Will penetration equates to no Jazz movement on the perimeter for open shots, which translates to a clogged interior because we have no outside threat (if someone even gets the ball for a 10' jumper outside they act surprised and tentative). The second half (and final 6 minutes), when D-Will took matters into his own hands, the game changed dramatically - everything outlined above turned around completely and we look the Jazz of the last 30 games or regular season. Could it be that was Jerry's plan, slow it down and bang on the Laker's? Well, I'm no coach, but it's pretty damn obvious that is not going to work.
Fouls, shmouls, quit making excused and play some Jazz ball.
Silas,
I heard you on the nowlive.com show with AK and BK yesterday, thanks for the interesting interview. I am a closet Lakers fan here in Utah (I might get jumped if I come out). However, I do agree with you that the Jazz would have a good shot of winning the next two games at home, but I think the Sunday game is so unpredicitable with the crowd turnout that they might give that one up.
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