And the Winner Is…
Lakers – wins its series against the Jazz and went on to the Western Conference Finals. Kobe Bryant led his team with 34 points and the rest of the team contributed as 6 Lakers is in double figures. The Lakers will face the winner of Hornets-Spurs Series.
Someone forgot to tell Kobe Bryant and the Lakers that the road team isn’t supposed
to win this postseason. Especially when playing in the unfriendly confines of Utah’s EnergySolutions Arena, where the Jazz were 4-1 in the playoffs before Friday and a staggering 37-4 in the regular season.
Nonetheless, it’s the Lakers moving on to the Western Conference Finals after a thrilling 108-105 win in Game 6. L.A. takes the series 4-2 and will play in its first Western final in four years. It was the first win by the road team in this series and it sure wasn’t easy. The Jazz rallied back from 19 down at the half and 16 down after three. Utah had several chances to tie in the final seconds after hitting a flurry of 3-pointers to close within two in the final minutes. The Lakers also made 11-of-13 free throws in the fourth quarter and Bryant was 7-of-7 from the charity stripe down the stretch to help seal it.
The Lakers are eyeing a comeback to the NBA Finals since 2004. Here are some play-by-play reviews courtesy of NBA Blogs, Thanks.
Game 6 Final: Lakers 108, Jazz 105 – L.A. beats Utah, 4-2
Sick dunk by Paul Millsap on Ronny Turiaf as he says, “I’m the bigger steal of a second round pick!!!!” No, he didn’t really say that. On a related note, one thing doing this blog has taught me is that “Millsap” has two Ls, not two Ps.
Ronny Turiaf could give Jay Leno a run for his money in the “Most Pronounced Chin in Los Angeles” contest.
Deron Williams just made a tremendous one-handed reverse layup to cut the Lakers’ lead to 11 and followed it with an assist to Paul TwoLsOneP to bring the Jazz to within nine. The Jazz are on a 12-5 run this quarter and there’s still more than six minutes remaining to finish closing the gap.
After a Kobe elbow to Matt Harpring was called for an offensive foul and a Carlos Boozer jumper made it a seven-point game, Derek Fisher made an awkward double-pump floater in the lane to push the lead back to nine.
Remember the “You can’t guard me” head nod that Kobe gave to J.R. Smith in the First Round? Well, after Mr. Mamba put down a 3-pointer in Matt Harpring’s face to put L.A. up 10 and followed the swish with the head nod. You are correct, Kobe. He cannot guard you.
Talk about not being able to guard Kobe, he just made a spectacular bank shot from the foul line extended with Harpring draped all over him like fabric on a mannequin in a fashion studio.
Sasha Vujacic’s face, meet Paul Millsap’s shoulder. I don’t think Sasha’s face wants a second meeting. Big time charge drawn right there by the sharp shooter.
A pair of threes by Williams and Okur have made this a little interesting. The Jazz are down seven with less than two minutes left.
Great call by Mike Tirico as the Jazz cut the lead to just three: “[Andrei lines up a shot from outside] Kirilenko hasn’t hit a three … [Andrei lets it go and it rips the net] … Until now!!!!”
After Lamar Odom hit two free throws to put L.A. back up five, Kirilenko bangs another threeball to make it just a two-point game.
After a missed free throw by L.A., Utah gets the defensive rebound down three with 10 seconds left. Okur and Williams both got shots to tie it, but they didn’t go down. Great finish. Great series. Lakers win.
End of Third Quarter: Lakers 86, Jazz 70
Excellent possession to start the half for Utah. Kirilenko got a hustle offensive rebound and Ronnie Brewer got an and-1 layup. They say that the first five minutes of the third quarter can make or break a game, let’s see if Utah can keep this up.
After a Bryant turnover where he went sprawling out of bounds trying to save the ball, the Jazz had a four on three and Carlos Boozer missed a bunny floater. Utah needs to convert on those opportunities if it wants to get back in this.
If Kobe’s game has one flaw it’s leaving his feet and then looking to pass WAY too often. That’s a cardinal sin of basketball but he insists on doing it once every five possessions or so.
The Jazz can’t string together consecutive stops and makes to get a run going. They got a charge call on Kobe and then they come back down on offense and Boozer gets called for a charge of his own.
The final sequence of the quarter pretty much sums up how this game is going – Kobe gets a tough baseline fadeaway jumper to go and Deron Williams awkwardly heaves something up from halfcourt, trying to draw a foul and ends the third on the floor with an exasperated look on his face.
Halftime: Lakers 62, Jazz 43
The next time I see Vujacic called for an infraction and not argue with the ref about it will be the first time.
I stand corrected – Vujacic just got whistled for hitting Korver on the arm as he unleashed a jumper and Sasha nodded his head in agreement and raised his hand to indicate he did foul him.
Random link, but I find it hilarious: Darren Rovell poses with an arm sleeve like Kobe wears.
Here’s an indicator that the Lakers are going to still be playing in June: Kobe is averaging 15.5 free throw attempts in this series. Does anybody remember Dwyane Wade in 2006?
Matt Harpring looks more like a street fighter than a basketball player with the bruise under his right eye and that fat, bloody upper lip of his.
With L.A. up by 15, Deron William whaps a three to give the Jazz some life. That’s his 14th made three of the series so far.
After Kirilenko misses a dunk on one end the Lakers get the ball out in the open court and Kobe throws down a two-handed slam on the other end. One of these players missed practice yesterday to take care of plans for a family summer vacation. Just sayin’.
Why is C.J. Miles all of the sudden getting major minutes?
The Jazz end the half with a couple of tough calls. First Carlos Boozer is called for an offensive foul for lowering his shoulder into Lamar Odom and then Deron Williams is called for fouling Derek Fisher on a 3-pointer with less than a second left. Fisher made all three freebies. The five-point swing makes it a 19-point game at halftime.
Halftime boxscore analysis for the Jazz … The Jazz have eight turnovers as a team = troubling … Utah is shooting 2-for-9 from three-point land = pretty bad … Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko are a combined 2-for-11 = the worst.
Halftime boxscore analysis for the Lakers … Derek Fisher has 13 points and three steals = impressive … Kobe is 8-for-10 from the foul line = more impressive … Sasha Vujacic is 4-for-5 from the field with 10 points off the bench = most impressive.
End of First Quarter: Lakers 33, Jazz 20
Pau Gasol is shooting early, and that’s always good news for L.A. An aggressive Gasol is an All-Star. A passive Pau is just a tall dude wearing No. 16 on his shirt.
Ronnie Brewer and Vladimir Radmanovic both started off hot in Game 5, and they’re doing it again tonight. Brewer has four points on 2-for-4 shooting and Vlad is 3-for-3 for seven points.
ESPN just showed a shot of the Lakers visiting locker room in the EnergySolutions Arena while Phil Jackson was addressing the team pregame and two things jumped out at me: 1) The back wall is just exposed concrete – way to make the opponents feel welcome and 2) Lakers assistant coach Jim Cleamons is lounging out on the floor dangling his thong sandal from his toes – gross.
You have to love seeing the Lakers run cutters off of Gasol’s shoulders when the big man has the ball in the high post. Pau is great at feeding them and makes the difficult passes look easy.
With the Lakers already doubling Utah’s score – 24-12 – Kobe smells blood and goes to the rack to boost the lead to 14. Those are the type of buckets that Kobe lives for – the timely, break-your-will type of scores.
Sasha Vujacic bangs a three almost as soon as he checks in. It doesn’t look like the 1-for-11 in Game 5 is on his mind.
I’m trying to come up with something positive to write about the Jazz and this is all I could come up with: At least no one is in foul trouble.
A dominant performance by L.A. as it outpaced Utah in points, shooting percentage, free throws attempted, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.
