Utah Jazz: Pau, right in the kisser
Late Gasol baskets end Jazz's comeback hopes in Game 5
All the talk afterward will be about how the Los Angeles Lakers are back atop, leading the best-of-seven NBA Western Conference semifinal playoff series 3-2 following their 111-104 victory late Wednesday night at Staples Center.
They did it with total team effort, as an ailing Bryant took care of his fair share — scoring a team-high 26 points and dishing seven assists, but taking just 10 shots (with six makes) from the field — and left the rest to the likes of Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.
"It's tough," Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer said of those two, "because sometimes you're helping so much on Kobe.
"We have to do a better job of keeping Kobe in front, so we don't have to help as much," he added. "But that's a tall task. He's a very good player, whether he has a bad back or not."
Thirteen of Bryant's points came from 17 free-throw attempts.
"Any time you start the ball game off with a great player knowing he'll have 17, 18 free throws," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said, "that's a very difficult thing for any team to play against.
Gasol delivered the dagger, first using a lay-in floater to make it 105-102 after Utah had cut the Laker lead to one with Mehmet Okur's follow of a Deron Williams miss, then dunking home the rebound of a Sasha Vujacic trey try from the left corner.
Gasol rose above Jazz big men Okur and Boozer as Vujacic's long-distance shot rimmed out, and with that Lakers were up by five with 20.5 seconds to go.
"I thought it was a push-off," Boozer said. "I've been called for that a couple times this series. I know it's down the stretch of a big game, winning time, but sometimes you want the referees to let players play.
"I think that was a situation tonight, they wanted us to just let the players win the game," he added. "And even though I thought he (Gasol) did push off Memo (Okur), put Memo under the hoop, easy dunk. But sometimes that's how physical it's gonna be."
Williams missed a trey try coming out of a timeout after Gasol's dunk, and Bryant polished things off, hitting 3-of-4 freebies in the final 10.7 seconds
Odom finished with a 22-point, 11-rebound double-double and Gasol added 21 points as the West's No. 1-seeded Lakers, heading into Friday night's Game 6 at EnergySolutions Arena, moved to within one victory of the Western Conference finals.
Williams (game-high 27 points, game-high 10 assists), Boozer (18 points, 12 boards) and Okur (13 points, game-high rebounds) all posted double-doubles for the No. 4 seed Jazz, who never did lead Wednesday.
Recent comments
ABSOLUTELY CORRECT SLOAN NEVER COMPLAINS IN ALL HIS YEARS AS COACH...
BIGGEST WHINER? | May 19, 2008 at 5:47 p.m.
I have my complaints as well but hey , to all of you on both sides...
faraway fan | May 16, 2008 at 4:51 p.m.
I know how you feel. Your non-stop whining about our whining is...
Laker FAns = Whiners | May 16, 2008 at 10:21 a.m.
