Welp, that wasn't very pretty was it? The Lakers and Jazz played a fairly decent game in the first half, matching each other well enough to end up with a 2-point differential at the half, Lakers up 49-47.
Then everything changed, for the worse, it turned out.
The Lakers and Jazz both came out in the third quarter like two different teams from the ones who played in the first half. There were missed bunnies on both ends, missed jumpers, missing persons, you name it, they were missing. At one point in the third quarter, the Lakers had scored 9 points, the Jazz just 11. There were just under 4 minutes left to play. Then the scoring picked up on both ends and both teams set out to win the quarter. It ended tied.
For the game, there were 21 lead changes and 12 ties. There were hard fouls on both ends, but as in last night's game, there were also a lot of non-calls. One in particularly fired up Lakers coach Mike Brown. Pau Gasol was pushed to the floor by Earl Watson who blindsided him and stole the ball, taking it to the other end and passing it off for an uncontested "dunk" by Derrick Favors. Mike Brown went ballistic, bumping ref Zach Zarba, in the process, and earned himself two quick technicals and an automatic ejection. Assistant coach John Kuester took over from there.
The rest of the game was a build-up of Jazz momentum with Earl Watson making shot after shot after shot. The Jazz went on a 14-0 run to seal the Lakers fate and hand them another road loss, which leaves them at 3-8 away from home.
More to come. I'm going to get drunk. Ta.