The Lakers open the final quarter with Kobe on the bench and Radmanovic helps his team's cause by hitting a three with no time left on the shot clock. His scoring has been sporadic but huge in this game.
Kyle Korver hits a long jumper and Utah continues to hits their open looks. Radmanovic mises a layup on the other end and the Lakers again struggle to break away.
Matt Harpring bails out Luke Walton on a tough fadeaway from the left baseline, but he struggles in hitting one of two from the line.
The Lakers lead stands at 85-84 now.
Okur pushes Gasol in the back to stop the clock on a Lakers possession that has been extremely sloppy. Gasol manages to drop in a layup on a no-call blocking foul, but Williams comes right back on a layup.
Farmar comes up huge with a driving layup and gets the Staples Center crowd to its feet. His free throw attempt comes up after the commercial break as 8 and a half minutes remain for the Lakers, as they lead 89-86.
Commercial critique: The Edge shaving cream commercial features scantily clad women and disco dancing. What's not to love? The disco dancing.
Farmar hits his free throw and Kobe returns to the game. Unfortunatley, Kierelenko greets his return with a cutting layup, trimming the Jazz deficit to 90-88.
Odom takes a one handed jam off a pretty Kobe feed, his sixth of the night. Farmar collects a foul guarding D. Williams and Fisher checks in.
The game's pace has picked up beyond either team's capacity to play well. Kirielenko picks up his third foul after a wild fast break and Vujacic hits his free throws to push his team's lead back to 94-88.
Deron Williams hits an open jumper for a game high 24 points but he's barely shooting fifty percent. Perhaps its just me but it feels like he's shooting something more like eighty percent.
Odom comes right back with a thundering dunk and a phantom foul from Boozer sends him to the line for the three point play. Boozer drags his feet making a move to the rim and Lakers get the ball back and get another chance to extend their 97-91 lead. This is probably the biggest run the Lake Show has had all game and the momentum is firmly in their court.
After a timeout, Okur gets to the line and hits both of his free throws to quiet the crowd somewhat. Both teams are in the penalty with under five minutes remaining. I have a feeling this game is going to slow down some.
Boozer hits one of two free throws and the score is at 97-94, Lakers. Derek Fisher must have heard my comment and he collects his own trip to the line, hitting both attempts for a 99-94 lead.
Both teams rush through some sloppy possessions with neither squad scoring. Only three minutes remain but the remaining contest looks to be physical and close.
Commercial critique: Normally Geico commercials make me ill, but I kind of like how the wildlife expert commercial avoids the awkwardness of the cavemen commercials and skips straight to boring.
Boozer muscles into the paint for a layup. Deron Williams then spots the Lakers a trip to the line with an ill-advised foul on D. Fish. Pescado hits both and pushes the Lakers lead back to five.
Vujacic then collects a costly technical foul when the refs spot him trash talking in the face of Kyle Korver. Dumb.
Deron Williams jabs a needle in my heart and sinks a three at the end of a broken play. The Lakers lead by one point until Kobe again finds Odom for a sweet dunk, pushing the lead back to 103-100. Only a minute and a half remains.
Okur grabs the offensive board on a Williams missed trey and the lead gets cut back to one. Doug Collins reminds us that he hasn't taken a shot this quarter. Fortunately, Gasol forces himself in the paint for an open two. Only forty seconds remain and the Lakers lead by three.
Gasol restores my faith in humanity after Vujacic, the Machine, misses an open three pointer, and Gasol puts in the dunk for a 107-102 lead.
You have to tip your hat to Utah. Win or lose, they've played the Jazz as close or closer than the Lakers did back on their home court. This has been an excellent series and I have the bitten nail stubs to prove it.
Twenty point five seconds are left in the final quarter but the Jazz have the ball and Deron Williams has proved himself capable of inspired play in the playoffs. Instead of proving my point, thankfully, Williams misses a three and D. Fisher grabs the rebound and immediately gets fouled.
Fisher misses one and I can feel that miss in my groin. The second bounces off the rim, off the board, and back in. My groin feels that one too.
Kobe sinks two free throw to muted cries of "MVP." Even the home crowd knows they've dodged a bullet in this heated contest. It now looks certain, the Lakers will win 111-104 in what has been the closest game by far in the Staples Center.
Doug Collins again comes up with a startling statistic. Kobe Bryant, on ten shot attempts in the game, ha scored twenty six points for a 2.6 point per shot average. That's incredibly efficient and one of the major reasons, in addition to timely contributions from Gasol, Odom and the Lakers bench, that the Lake Show comes away with a victory today.
Thanks for joining me and I hope you had as much fun reading my recap as I did sweating through this excellent game.
Kyle Korver hits a long jumper and Utah continues to hits their open looks. Radmanovic mises a layup on the other end and the Lakers again struggle to break away.
Matt Harpring bails out Luke Walton on a tough fadeaway from the left baseline, but he struggles in hitting one of two from the line.
The Lakers lead stands at 85-84 now.
Okur pushes Gasol in the back to stop the clock on a Lakers possession that has been extremely sloppy. Gasol manages to drop in a layup on a no-call blocking foul, but Williams comes right back on a layup.
Farmar comes up huge with a driving layup and gets the Staples Center crowd to its feet. His free throw attempt comes up after the commercial break as 8 and a half minutes remain for the Lakers, as they lead 89-86.
Commercial critique: The Edge shaving cream commercial features scantily clad women and disco dancing. What's not to love? The disco dancing.
Farmar hits his free throw and Kobe returns to the game. Unfortunatley, Kierelenko greets his return with a cutting layup, trimming the Jazz deficit to 90-88.
Odom takes a one handed jam off a pretty Kobe feed, his sixth of the night. Farmar collects a foul guarding D. Williams and Fisher checks in.
The game's pace has picked up beyond either team's capacity to play well. Kirielenko picks up his third foul after a wild fast break and Vujacic hits his free throws to push his team's lead back to 94-88.
Deron Williams hits an open jumper for a game high 24 points but he's barely shooting fifty percent. Perhaps its just me but it feels like he's shooting something more like eighty percent.
Odom comes right back with a thundering dunk and a phantom foul from Boozer sends him to the line for the three point play. Boozer drags his feet making a move to the rim and Lakers get the ball back and get another chance to extend their 97-91 lead. This is probably the biggest run the Lake Show has had all game and the momentum is firmly in their court.
After a timeout, Okur gets to the line and hits both of his free throws to quiet the crowd somewhat. Both teams are in the penalty with under five minutes remaining. I have a feeling this game is going to slow down some.
Boozer hits one of two free throws and the score is at 97-94, Lakers. Derek Fisher must have heard my comment and he collects his own trip to the line, hitting both attempts for a 99-94 lead.
Both teams rush through some sloppy possessions with neither squad scoring. Only three minutes remain but the remaining contest looks to be physical and close.
Commercial critique: Normally Geico commercials make me ill, but I kind of like how the wildlife expert commercial avoids the awkwardness of the cavemen commercials and skips straight to boring.
Boozer muscles into the paint for a layup. Deron Williams then spots the Lakers a trip to the line with an ill-advised foul on D. Fish. Pescado hits both and pushes the Lakers lead back to five.
Vujacic then collects a costly technical foul when the refs spot him trash talking in the face of Kyle Korver. Dumb.
Deron Williams jabs a needle in my heart and sinks a three at the end of a broken play. The Lakers lead by one point until Kobe again finds Odom for a sweet dunk, pushing the lead back to 103-100. Only a minute and a half remains.
Okur grabs the offensive board on a Williams missed trey and the lead gets cut back to one. Doug Collins reminds us that he hasn't taken a shot this quarter. Fortunately, Gasol forces himself in the paint for an open two. Only forty seconds remain and the Lakers lead by three.
Gasol restores my faith in humanity after Vujacic, the Machine, misses an open three pointer, and Gasol puts in the dunk for a 107-102 lead.
You have to tip your hat to Utah. Win or lose, they've played the Jazz as close or closer than the Lakers did back on their home court. This has been an excellent series and I have the bitten nail stubs to prove it.
Twenty point five seconds are left in the final quarter but the Jazz have the ball and Deron Williams has proved himself capable of inspired play in the playoffs. Instead of proving my point, thankfully, Williams misses a three and D. Fisher grabs the rebound and immediately gets fouled.
Fisher misses one and I can feel that miss in my groin. The second bounces off the rim, off the board, and back in. My groin feels that one too.
Kobe sinks two free throw to muted cries of "MVP." Even the home crowd knows they've dodged a bullet in this heated contest. It now looks certain, the Lakers will win 111-104 in what has been the closest game by far in the Staples Center.
Doug Collins again comes up with a startling statistic. Kobe Bryant, on ten shot attempts in the game, ha scored twenty six points for a 2.6 point per shot average. That's incredibly efficient and one of the major reasons, in addition to timely contributions from Gasol, Odom and the Lakers bench, that the Lake Show comes away with a victory today.
Thanks for joining me and I hope you had as much fun reading my recap as I did sweating through this excellent game.
2 comments:
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Was a great game!
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