Another game in the Lakers first round series with the Jazz, another double digit victory. Right?
Well, sort of. In truth, despite winning 119-109, this was not the game any Lakers fan (or coach or player) wanted to see. The Lakers once again jumped out to a big first half lead, this time thanks to an insane offensive explosion, featuring great shooting all around (from intuitive: "The best shooting quarter in playoff history since play by play stats were recorded") and a couple of real lucky bounces/shots. This time, the Jazz didn't even wait for the half to end before they started chipping away, making it 11 at the half. Both teams held serve in the 3rd quarter, and the Jazz made a big push in the 4th quarter behind some great shooting from D-Will, hustle plays by the Jazz bigs, and a group of refs that swallowed their whistles so hard, they'll need surgery to get them back out.
In the end, the Lakers held on, ratcheted up the defense just in time, and came away with the victory. Is all well that ends well? Only time (2 days, to be exact) will tell. If the Jazz come out strong and hungry and take game three in Utah, the Lakers will know that they reap what they sow.
On the Lakers side of things, great games from Pau and Lamar, at least offensively, with 22 and 19 points respectively on a combined 85% (!!!) shooting on the night. Ariza and Brown both contributed another strong effort, with Shannon having the highest +/- off the bench. 60% shooting as a team for the game, and uh, that's pretty solid.
That's about it for now. Rye will have the full scale analysis of the game tomorrow morning. Here's your box and your recap if you want to do some research and provide us with your own post game analysis.