2009 NBA Playoffs
Edited Apr 19, 2009 2:26 am
(627 previous messages)
- Apr 19, 2009 11:05 pm (#628 of 632)
Lets Go Spurs!
Spurs are a game down.
LA LAKERS 113, UTAH 100 --
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Pardon Phil Jackson's lack of enthusiasm for how the Los Angeles Lakers played in the second half. They piled up 62 points on Utah in the first half, then got outscored over the final 24 minutes.
"It wasn't a coach's delight, that's for sure," he said.
But his players sure liked the outcome, a 113-100 victory over the Jazz in the teams' playoff opener Sunday.
Kobe Bryant scored 24 points, Trevor Ariza added 21 and Pau Gasol 20 as the Lakers pretty much had their way against the eighth-seeded Jazz. They led by 22 points at halftime and then answered resoundingly both times Utah got within nine in the second half.
"They kept knocking on the door and we just never let them in," Bryant said.
Allowing a Phil Jackson-coached team to win Game 1 of any series doesn't bode well for the opposition. Jackson's teams have never lost a playoff series after winning Game 1, going 41-for-41 with Chicago and the Lakers.
"We had a very difficult time," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. "We gave up 62 points in the first half and it's virtually impossible to beat this team giving them an edge."
Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 27 points and Deron Williams added 16 points and a career playoff-high 17 assists. Both were in foul trouble, with Boozer getting his third just before halftime when Williams already had two.
"I didn't shoot the ball too well," Williams said. "I did a good job getting in the lane and distributing the basketball, I just couldn't finish."
The Jazz sorely missed Mehmet Okur, who sat out with a mild right hamstring strain. He averages 17 points and 7.5 rebounds and gives Utah a much-needed inside presence against the Lakers' twin 7-footers, Andrew Bynum and Gasol.
Bynum had seven points and three rebounds playing in foul trouble most of the game.
"We were just a step slow," Sloan said. "They kicked our butt off the floor."
He questioned his young team's toughness, a trait Utah has rarely lacked during the Hall of Fame coach's tenure.
"We're not a nasty team," Sloan said. "Most of the teams that we've had here have been pretty nasty and they will get after you from daylight to dark. We're just learning how to get after it a little bit more as we go along with younger guys.
"Part of that's my fault. I probably haven't been nasty enough with them."
Bryant wasn't buying Sloan's assessment.
"I'm a game connoisseur, so I know how nasty Sloan was when he was playing," he said. "Pardon my French, but your (rear) would be kicked out of the league if you played that physical now. I'm sure he's using it as a motivational tool to get those guys to play even harder."
They'll need to at Staples Center.
The Jazz were 15-26 on the road during the regular season, and the Lakers have now beaten them 10 in a row at home, including playoff games.
Bryant spent the first quarter getting his teammates involved before putting his own mark on the game.
His total gave Bryant 3,710 career postseason points, moving him past Magic Johnson and into ninth on the NBA's list. He trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (4,070) and Jerry West (4,457) for most points in the playoffs with the Lakers.
The Jazz outscored the Lakers 33-24 in the third quarter to trail 86-73 going into the final 12 minutes. They opened the quarter on a 9-0 run, then a 9-2 burst got them to 72-63, their first single-digit deficit since late in the opening quarter.
But Bryant scored three in a row and Shannon Brown hit a 3-pointer that kept the Lakers ahead by 13.
The Jazz got to 98-89 on a 3-pointer by Andrei Kirilenko with 5:46 remaining in the game. Bryant answered with four points in a row and Gasol hit two free throws that pushed the lead back to 13 points.
The teams combined to make 67 trips to the free throw line.
"A lot of free throws. Anytime you get to the line it stops the momentum," Bryant said. "It doesn't enable us to get out on transition. It was a stop-and-go game, and that's exactly the style of basketball that they play."
That's what Jackson disliked, especially Utah's 20-7 edge on the offensive boards.
"Foul after foul after foul," he said. "Rebounds, offensive rebounds, those are the things we harped on all week about having to watch that particular aspect of our game."
Williams stole the ball from Bryant to start the game and the Jazz hit three quick shots to take their largest lead of four points.
It was all Lakers after that.
Bryant dished off to Ariza and Brown for 3-pointers, and the Lakers built a 30-10 lead while shooting 71 percent.
Bryant sat down to start the second quarter while Lamar Odom and Bynum combined to score the Lakers' first 12 points, stretching their lead to 42-29. Twice the Jazz got within 10 in that span, but the Lakers took off on a 20-8 scoring binge the second time.
Bryant contributed by reeling off nine consecutive points before Luke Walton's 3-pointer gave the Lakers a 62-40 halftime lead.
The Jazz struggled on 35 percent shooting from the floor, and hit just 1-of-7 from 3-point range in the half.
"We kind of looked like deer in the headlights to start," Sloan said. "I was kind of shocked."
Los Angeles leads series 1-0
PHILADELPHIA 100, ORLANDO 98 -
ORLANDO, Florida (AP) -- Andre Iguodala and the Philadelphia 76ers left the Magic stunned and the home fans silenced.
Iguodala made a 22-foot jumper with 2.2 seconds remaining, and the 76ers rallied from an 18-point deficit to beat Orlando 100-98 in Game 1 of their opening-round playoff series Sunday.
Iguodala had 20 points, eight rebounds and eight assists, and Louis Williams scored 18 to help the 76ers beat the Magic for the first time in four tries this season -- and when it mattered most. Hedo Turkoglu's fadeaway 3-pointer missed at the buzzer, and Magic fans stood in disbelief before filing out quietly.
Dwight Howard had a career playoff-high 31 points and 16 rebounds, and rookie Courtney Lee scored 18 for the Magic. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is Wednesday night in Orlando.
Orlando's inside-out game seemed to be too much for Philadelphia
Lee's shooting and Howard's muscle highlighted a 15-3 run in the third quarter that built an 18-point. With Howard banging on the inside, the Sixers were forced to throw double-teams at him, allowing the Magic's perimeter players to break free.
When they did, Howard again took charge.
Rim-rocking dunks, smooth hook shots and even some uncharacteristic crisp free throws by the Magic's center capped the spurt. The only time Philadelphia actually slowed Howard was when Samuel Dalembert inadvertently poked him in the eye and was called for a foul.
Maybe that was all Philadelphia needed.
Howard made the pair of free throws to put Orlando ahead 79-61 and then went to the locker room with a towel to his face. He returned to the game after a few minutes.
The Sixers rolled off eight straight points in the fourth and eventually tied the game at 91 with fewer than four minutes left on a layup by Andre Miller. After Howard's dunk over Theo Ratliff put the Magic ahead 98-95 with 49.1 seconds remaining, Donyell Marshall answered with a 3-pointer for Philadelphia and Iguodala did the rest.
Starting Magic forwards Rashard Lewis and Turkoglu looked rusty in their first games in more than a week after being sidelined with injuries, part of the reason Orlando was pushed back to the Eastern Conference's No. 3 spot. The Magic could never make up the difference.
The sixth-seeded Sixers were able to withstand an early Magic run and a strong start from Howard. Thaddeus Young had consecutive three-point plays to help Philadelphia rebound from five down to eventually take a 27-21 lead in the first quarter.
But any momentum the Sixers built evaporated on the final play of the period.
In a rare display of speed and power, 34-year-old Magic backup guard Anthony Johnson took it end-to-end and dunked over Ratliff. The throttling one-hand slam in the waning seconds of the quarter had the Magic's bench so exhilarated that coach Stan Van Gundy had to shove a few of his own players back who had made their way onto the court in celebration.
It was premature.
The Sixers hung tough and bumped back, with Iguodala going for a pair of reverse dunks in a back-and-forth second quarter. Philadelphia had an answer for everything Orlando threw its way. Everything, that is, except Howard.
The Magic's dunk machine moved players at will, shooting 7-for-9 in the first half with 18 points and seven rebounds. Howard gave a jolt to a late Orlando run by blocking a layup attempt by Iguodala in which Howard practically soared over teammate Courtney Lee to throw the shot out of bounds and help the Magic take a 50-46 halftime lead.
Philadelphia leads 1-0
- May 24, 2009 12:18 pm (#632 of 632)
GO Gasol's, I mean Lakers.......GO Magic!
2009 NBA Playoffs