LAKERS HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH JAZZ

After the Lakers routed the Jazz in the final game of the regular season, Utah coach Jerry Sloan sounded as if he would have gone ahead and ‘thrown in the towel’ for his team’s playoff series with Los Angeles if given that option.  He clearly understood his team’s utter lack of toughness and resolve and, not surprisingly, Utah was completely non-competitive with the Lakers in game one of their opening round NBA playoff series.  The Lakers opened up a 62-40 halftime lead before coasting to an almost effortless 113-100 victory.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 24 points, while Trevor Ariza added 21 and Pao Gasol 20.  The Jazz were led by Carlos Boozer’s 27 points, while Deron Williams posted a ‘double/double’ with 16 points and 17 assists.  Utah also got a boost from reserve power forward Paul Milsap with 15 points and 8 boards.  The rest of the Jazz offense was ‘M.I.A.’ and starter Mehmet Okur wasn’t even dressed—despite his importance in the team’s offense he inexplicably decided to ‘sit this one out’ due to a mild hamstring strain. 

The Jazz did show a little resolve in the second half, twice pulling to within nine points.  Each time, however, the Lakers responded as you’d expect a championship team to respond—by scoring key baskets, getting crucial stops and slamming the door on any hope of a comeback.  As Kobe Bryant noted after the game:

“They kept knocking on the door and we just never let them in."

Jazz coach Sloan sounded more resigned to his fate than exasperated in his postgame comments:

"We had a very difficult time. We gave up 62 points in the first half and it's virtually impossible to beat this team giving them an edge."

Utah point guard Deron Williams admitted that his shot was off, but that he tried to compensate with his playmaking:

"I didn't shoot the ball too well. I did a good job getting in the lane and distributing the basketball, I just couldn't finish."

Coach Sloan didn’t single out Willams but agreed that his team didn’t bring their best:

"We were just a step slow. They kicked our butt off the floor."

A visibly frustrated Sloan concluded his remarks by questioning his team’s toughness and resolve—a quality that defined his career as a player and was reflected in the great Jazz teams of the John Stockton/Karl Malone era:

We're not a nasty team. Most of the teams that we've had here have been pretty nasty and they will get after you from daylight to dark. We're just learning how to get after it a little bit more as we go along with younger guys. Part of that's my fault. I probably haven't been nasty enough with them."

Kobe Bryant didn’t buy Sloan’s critique of his team, suggesting that he was trying to use it as a motivational ploy:

"I'm a game connoisseur, so I know how nasty Sloan was when he was playing. Pardon my French, but your ass would be kicked out of the league if you played that physical now. I'm sure he's using it as a motivational tool to get those guys to play even harder."

Game two will be back at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday night, where the Lakers have now won 11 of their last 12 postseason games.  The series will head to the Intermountain West after that, with game three scheduled for Thursday night at the Energy Solutions Arena in Salt Lake City.