Recap: Jazz 103 – Lakers 99

Sharing a DVR with the family can cause problems when there are many things to record at the same time. Tonight, the Jazz game was the 3rd program to record when the DVR can handle only two. Combined with my still working nights, I missed the entirety of the game. This leaves me with the only time in my life I have been, and likely ever will be, upset after the Jazz beat the Lakers. I’m firmly in bittersweet territory with the sweet pleasure of knowing the Jazz just won in the Staples Center and the bitterness of knowing that I cannot watch a minute of it. I’m too deflated to do the Twitter updates so I am going to use a strategy that would be bad for business if this blog was, in fact, a business. I’m going to direct you elsewhere.

First off, for a professional reaction to the game here is David Locke’s blog post about it. The site for his ‘Locked on Jazz’ has changed so check out the site while there. He’s always a good source for Jazz information.

Locked On Jazz

Here’s the NBA.com video highlights of the game:

Video Recap

Here is a beautiful, beautiful image.

Kobe Bryant's shot chart Sunday night vs the Jazz.

Next Game: OKC @ UTA. Tuesday, March 20, 7:00 PM MST.  TV:  ROOT

Recap: Jazz 96 – Lakers 87

Los Angeles Lakers (14-9) at Utah Jazz (12-9)

Pregame Notes: Jazz have lost 4 of their last 6 games including their last two vs the Clippers and Warriors. This is the last home game before a big road trip coming up and a stretch of games that includes a great deal more on the road than at home. Lakers are surprisingly one of the worst road teams this year, their only win coming…well, here. Raja Bell and Devin Harris back in the lineup, I doubt Earl Watson is yet. This is a great game to have Raja back so he can guard Kobe Bryant, who leads the league in scoring at 29.5 PPG.

• Josh Howard checks in for Raja Bell midway through the 1st quarter. I was surprised until I remembered that Raja has missed a week’s worth of games.
• (1st 5:40) 11-10. Paul Millsap is already having a good game rebounding. Other than that, not much to report early on as it’s been very back and forth between the two teams.
• Scratch that previous guess of mine, Earl Watson is back as well. Apparently got laser therapy on the ankle? I have no idea what that’s about but Jazz at full strength again, relatively speaking. They’re banged up but playing so I suppose “full roster” is a more appropriate term.
• Wow, Jazz have Gordon Hayward guarding Kobe. Impressive trust in the 2nd year player’s defense to put him on Kobe when Raja is on the bench.
• (1st 2:28) 17-16. Al Jefferson and Josh Howard look particularly good for the Jazz on offense so far, both showing good aggression and Jazz have scored most of their points in the paint at this point.
• Are there many things more frustrating to see as a fan from your team than one of your guys knocking a rebound out of the hands of a teammate so the opponent can recover it instead?
• (End 1st) 22-25. Picking up where these two teams left off in their OT game the last time they met, the Jazz and Lakers are battling it out once more in a close contest. LAL shot 50%, UTA shot 42%.
• (2nd 9:09) 27-30. Jazz bench not really making any progress with Kobe and Pau Gasol on the bench, teams still trading baskets for the most part.
• Perhaps I misspoke. Jazz bench has outscored Lakers’ 17-5 though Josh Howard has played a starter’s minutes so far.
• Bolerjack and Harpring sure are determined to find a nickname for Enes Kanter. ‘Enes the Menace’ now? Again, he already provided a perfectly fine one himself with ‘The UnderKanter’.
• (2nd 5:32) 33-37. Wow, that’s a little eerie.  Thurl Bailey said during the break that “the Jazz maybe aren’t full strength but they have a full roster.”  That look familiar? In other news, Jazz 2nd unit was looking a bit sloppy but the starters back in now.
• (2nd 2:22) 40-42. Jazz starters playing a lot better than the bench was, looking a lot more crisp and efficient now.
• (Half) 47-49.

Halftime Notes:  I fully expect this game to go down to the wire once more. With the exception of opening day (which I have nearly erased from my memory), the Jazz and Lakers look pretty evenly matched when they play. Strong first half from Jazz big men, Millsap and Jefferson.

Both teams are shooting the ball well. Jazz are at 46% and Lakers are 49%.  Leading scorers for Jazz are Jefferson with 10 points, Millsap with 8, and a bunch of guys with 6 points.  Laker leaders are the usual suspects of Gasol (14), Kobe (13), and Andrew Bynum (13).

• Jazz free throw struggles continue. It’s almost not even worth reporting anymore, just take it as a given that Utah will be in the 60-70% range every night. This better be a slump and not simply who the Jazz are.
• (3rd 5:13) 55-56. Not the prettiest quarter so far but both teams playing hard. Lakers are 2/10 FG this quarter while Jazz are 4/11. Millsap already with a double-double now with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
• (3rd 3:14) 58-58. Nothing really to report at this break aside from the score.
• (End 3rd) 67-67. No surprise to see this game tied up at the end of 3. Get ready for another wild finish that could follow so many other Jazz games this year and come down to the final possession.
• (4th 8:54) 72-68. Nice start to the quarter for the Jazz bench, starting off on a 5-1 run.
• Wow. First play right after the timeout, Earl Watson steals the ball from Pau Gasol and feeds Derrick Favors for the easy dunk. Mike Brown, coach of the Lakers, was so furious that a foul wasn’t called on Watson that he earned two technical fouls and an ejection. Naturally the Jazz only hit 1/2 free throws since that’s how they roll.
• (4th 7:02) 79-68. Jazz are clearly fired up now, as is the crowd. They are on a 12-1 run during this quarter. Mike Brown’s ejection fired up the wrong team, usually that kind of outburst is supposed to get your own team pumped up not the opponent. Watson just fed C.J. Miles for a vicious alley oop dunk that figuratively brought down the house.
• Another technical foul to the Lakers coaching staff during that timeout, by the way.
• Lakers finally score their first FG of the 4th quarter with 5:51 to go, a 3 from Kobe, to cut the Jazz deficit to 12. That stopped a 16-1 run from the Jazz, mostly from the 2nd unit. Very impressive. Hopefully they can hold on to finish the Lakers off. Expect to see Kobe start firing a lot of shots now to try and get L.A. back.
• (4th 5:15) 83-74. Speaking of which, make that back-to-back 3s from Kobe Bryant. Game is nowhere near over yet.
• With 3 free throws thanks to a questionable foul on Raja Bell, Kobe has 9 straight points on 3 possessions for Lakers.
• Lakers on an 11-2 run of their own now to trim the lead to 6, 85-79.
• (4th 2:04) 91-81. Buzzer beater (shot clock) jumper off an inbounds pass by Jefferson then a fast break layup by Millsap puts the Jazz back up 10.
• Big time 3 from Watson after a big offensive rebound from Millsap to help milk the clock!
• Looks like this one won’t go down to the wire after all…I’m cool with that.
• (Final) 96-87.

Postgame Notes: Tremendous win for the Jazz. Beating the Lakers always feels good but doing so right before leaving on a road trip to get the team out of a funk is even bigger. Hopefully Jazz can carry this momentum into this tough stretch coming up.

Welcome back, Earl Watson. 8 points, 11 assists, 2 steals. The Jazz clearly fed off his energy and he was a big part of the reason they went on that 12-1 run to start the 4th quarter. Watson played the entire 4th quarter for that reason, logging more minutes than Devin Harris. Jazz big men had a great game.  Double-double for both Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap as they both pulled down 13 rebounds apiece and scored 18 and 18 points, respectively. The young big men did well also with Derrick Favors scoring 12 with 8 rebounds and Enes Kanter scoring 10 with 6 rebounds.  Great game for the Jazz, great win.

Lakers main 3 players carried the load but it wasn’t enough as they got almost no production from their bench unit. Pau Gasol had a double-double with 24 points and 16 rebounds. Kobe Bryant had 26 points, including an impressive 11/12 from the free throw line. Andrew Bynum made it 4/4 for starting big men in this game getting a double-double as he scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

Next Game: UTA @ NYK. Monday, February 6, 5:30 PM MST.  TV:  ROOT, NBA TV