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LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles Lakers, led by Kobe
Bryant’s 38 points, launched their National Basketball Association
second-round playoff series Sunday with a 109-98 victory over the
Utah Jazz.
Bryant, who has reportedly earned
the NBA Most Valuable Player award to be officially announced this
week, shot 8-of-16 from the field and made a postseason career-high
21 free throws on 23 attempts.
He also had seven assists and six
rebounds for the Lakers, who will host Game 2 of the best-of-7
Western Conference series on Wednesday.
Spain’s Pau Gasol, a
trade-deadline acquisition, chipped in 18 points and 10 rebounds and
Lamar Odom had 16 and nine for the Lakers, who still saw the Jazz
erase a 19-point third-quarter deficit and narrow the gap to as few
as four points in the fourth quarter.
The Jazz out-rebounded the Lakers
58-41. But Utah, who had a quick turnaround after closing out their
first-round series against the Houston Rockets on Friday night,
couldn’t make shots when they needed them most, shooting 38
percent (36-of-95) from the field for the game.
“I’m not going to make
excuses,” Jazz guard Deron Williams said. “This is the playoffs,
you’ve got to get up for every game like it’s your last. They
just beat us tonight.”
“Maybe, it was the fact that we
were well-rested that gave us the victory,” said Lakers coach Phil
Jackson, whose team enjoyed a six-day break after sweeping Denver in
four games.
Rested or not, Bryant had his own
struggles from the field in the second half, with 24 of his 38
points coming before the interval.
The 10-time All-Star hit just
1-of-6 shots in the fourth quarter, but compensated with a pair of
timely assists down the stretch.
“I really didn’t get the run
I was looking for in the second half,” Bryant said. “I just
tried to make passes, facilitate the offense more than I did in the
first half.”
A 7-2 scoring run by the Jazz saw
them narrow the deficit to 91-87 with 4:44 left to play.
“We knew they were going to
make a run,” Bryant said. “The important thing for us was to
remain poised and try to execute as best we could.”
The Jazz went scoreless over the
next two minutes, and the Lakers took advantage.
With it only a two-possession
game, Bryant found Gasol streaking to the basket on consecutive
plays, the latter putting Los Angeles ahead 101-90 with less than a
minute to play.
“The game was right there for
us, we just couldn’t get it and, hopefully, we will learn our
lesson from this game, and we have to look forward,” Jazz center
Mehmet Okur said.
The Jazz cut the deficit to 79-72
heading into the final period thanks to a three-pointer by Williams
as the third quarter expired.
Okur collected 21 points and a
playoff career-high 19 rebounds and Williams had 14, and 9 assists
for the Jazz, whose 58 rebounds included 25 offensive boards.
--AFP
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