Category: Utah Jazz Blog

The AP reports:

Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher hit back-to-back 3-pointers during an 8-2 run in the final minute and the Lakers held on for a 111-110 victory over the Utah Jazz on Saturday night that put Los Angeles on the verge of sweeping the Western Conference playoff series.

The Jazz had two chances to win it in the final 4 seconds, but Deron Williams missed from the top of the key and Wesley Matthews’ tip just before the buzzer bounced off the rim.

Bryant finished with 35 points and Fisher scored 20 for the Lakers, who can close out the four-game sweep with a win Monday night in Game 4. Pau Gasol added 14 points and 17 rebounds for Los Angeles.

Williams scored 28 and Kyle Korver added a career playoff-high 23 points for the Jazz.

Ron Artest scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half for the Lakers, who never led by more than four but stayed close enough to win it in a thrilling final minute.

InsideHoops.com notes:

Artest finally remembered how to make three-pointers, hitting 4-for-7. Also, Bryant and Fisher each hit 3-of-7 from outside the arc.

Lakers center Andrew Bynum did almost nothing in 20 minutes of play, with no points and four rebounds.

The Lakers bench was lousy, with Lamar Odom shooting 2-of-6, Jordan Farmar 2-of-6, and Shannon Brown 4-of-12. Odom did grab eight rebounds.

For the Jazz, Wes Matthews hit just 2-of-11 shots, for nine points.

Offensively, the Jazz bench was terrific. Kyle Korver hit 9-of-10 shots, including 5-of-5 threes for 23 points in just under 24 minutes. Paul Millsap hit 3-of-6. In his return to action, Andrei Kirilenko hit 4-of-7 for eight points and six rebounds in 17 minutes.

Both teams had similar shooting, rebounding and assists stats. But the Jazz had 31 free throw attempts, hitting 26, while the Lakers had just 19 free throws, making 16.

Live fan discussion of the game was in this forum topic.

The AP reports:

Kobe Bryant scored 30 points, Gasol added 22 points and 15 rebounds, and the Lakers methodically pounded the ball down low in a 111-103 victory over the Jazz on Tuesday night, taking a 2-0 series lead.

Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 14 rebounds for the defending NBA champions, who ruthlessly exploited their twin 7-foot starters’ height advantage, along with the 6-foot-10 Odom’s presence off the bench.

With 64 points in the paint, a 58-40 rebounding advantage and 13 blocked shots, the Lakers maintained a medium-sized lead throughout the second half of a disjointed, foul-choked game that lasted over 2 1/2 hours…

“We’re not going to be frustrated,” said Carlos Boozer, who had 20 points and 12 rebounds…

Paul Millsap had 26 points and 11 rebounds, with the undersized power forward single-handedly keeping the Jazz in the game at times. C.J. Miles added 20 points for Utah, which will get three days off to plot another way to counter the Lakers’ obvious advantages down low…

Deron Williams managed 15 points on 4-for-16 shooting and nine assists for the Jazz, who never were close to being blown out—but who just didn’t have the size or the game plan to keep up with Los Angeles’ patient inside game.

The AP reports:

While the Los Angeles Lakers’ reserves haplessly gave away the lead early in the fourth quarter, the Utah Jazz celebrated every basket with increasing glee, spilling off their bench in anticipation of an upset…

Kobe Bryant scored 11 of his 31 points in the final four minutes, and the Lakers blew a fourth-quarter lead before rallying for a 104-99 victory Sunday.

Pau Gasol had 25 points and 12 rebounds while blocking five shots for the top-seeded Lakers, whose backups were nearly run off the court by the fired-up Jazz before Bryant seized control.

Last season’s NBA finals MVP coolly scored seven consecutive points to erase Utah’s four-point lead, followed by a dynamic slice through the lane for a layup with 22.6 seconds left. Los Angeles also did it with defense, holding the Jazz to one field goal in the final 4:10…

Deron Williams scored 24 points for fifth-seeded Utah, which went 3:51 without a field goal after taking a 93-89 lead…

Carlos Boozer had 18 points and 12 rebounds, while C.J. Miles added 16 points, including several difficult baskets in the fourth quarter while the Jazz surged ahead with a 12-1 run.

Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register reports:

“It was very encouraging for me to be able to move around and do what I want to do,” said Bryant, whose team trailed until he scored 13 points in a 5:07 span down the stretch.

Derek Fisher joked that the other Lakers could have sat down and let Bryant go 1 on 5 because he was that good, but teammate Lamar Odom did come up with a key put-back of Bryant’s miss with 49.9 seconds left for a 98-95 Lakers lead.

Bryant called his knee “a lot better” and finished with 31 points, shooting 12 of 19 from the field and 7 of 7 from the foul line. He dominated late the way Pau Gasol (25 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, five blocks) did much of the early parts of the game.

The Lakers have a 1-0 series lead, and Coach Phil Jackson’s teams are 45-0 with such an advantage in his career. Jackson is 52-1 with any kind of series lead, and this playoff victory gave him 103 with the Lakers, one more than Pat Riley atop the Lakers’ all-time list.