Kobe's Lakers just too good for Jazz to handle

by Mark Kriegel

Updated: May 5, 2008, 3:16 PM EST 5 comments

I don't offer these numbers as mere arithmetic, but as statistical anomalies in evidence of just how good the Lakers really are. The team that controls the boards — especially the offensive boards, especially come playoff time — is almost always the winning team. But these Lakers do so many things so well — a more diversely talented team than any in the game — they can actually overcome an ass-kicking on the glass.

So here's the number that matters: 109-98, the final score.

And here's how it happened: Kobe Bryant went 21-of-23 from the line, a franchise playoff record.

The all-but-crowned MVP also had seven assists, the last two of them to Pau Gasol. The first was a give-and-go, the other an outlet. They were passes you'd see on an instructional video, the kind you'd want your kid to study.

Sasha Vujacic, a non-entity on last year's squad, scored 15 points on all of six shots.

Ronny Turiaf had four blocks.

Derek Fisher, 33, matched against the abundantly talented Deron Williams, 23, came up with six steals.

"Probably what confused him was how old I am," said Fisher. "I am so slow, when he fakes I don't go for it because I don't react that fast, so I end up still in front of him."

Even more impressive, though, was Fisher outmuscling Carlos Boozer for a loose ball.

The Jazz shot poorly, 38 percent. Give some credit to the Los Angeles defense; just don't buy the argument that the Jazz were fatigued after playing Friday night. A team that outrebounds its opponent as Utah did Sunday is not suffering from exhaustion. In fact, with the Lakers idle for almost a week, this was the road game for Utah to steal.

Really, now, if you knew the rebounding numbers in advance, would you have given the Lakers a chance? "This is a game we could've come out on the losing end," said Phil Jackson.

"You have to find a way," said Lamar Odom.

That's what the Lakers did, and that's what should scare each of their prospective opponents.

Utah is a big step up in weight class from Denver, which is among the most dysfunctional 50-win teams ever. Utah employs a physical style. Utah plays defense. The Jazz play playoff basketball, and considerably better than they did last year when they only made it to the Western Conference finals.

It's worth mentioning that Kobe Bryant suffered one of his great professional embarrassments against the Jazz. As a rookie in 1997, he threw up four airballs in Game 5 of the Western conference semifinals. There was one at the end of regulation, and three more in the overtime. Utah won the game and the series in five games.

"That was a horrible experience," Bryant said. "Thank you for bringing that up."

The 11 intervening years have seen wholesale changes to Utah's roster. The players are more athletic now than they were with John Stockton and Karl Malone. But Jerry Sloan's schemes remain unchanged. "It's the same stuff, the same plays. ... You know what's coming, but the execution is so precise," said Bryant, adding that he finds himself looking forward to "a chance to bang."

The game afforded him other chances as well, 23 of them from the free-throw line. "You go up there and miss two free throws and sometimes that can change the momentum," said Bryant. "It's as good as a turnover."

Or an airball.

"You have to take the responsibility to go up there and knock them down," he said.

The MVP took that responsibility. But, then, so did his teammates. They got their asses kicked on the boards. But still they found a way.