Game 4, Kobe Bryant & Bench Pile it on in Utah: Quarter by Quarter Breakdown

It sucks that when the Lakers were presented with their first test of the 2009 playoffs (Game 3), we did not come through.

I know the saying is that a series does not begin until the road team wins, but with the Lakers such heavy favorites to make the Finals, I fully expected us to find a way to win Game 3, especially after we tied it at 76 in the fourth. But, we allowed the Jazz — mostly Carlos Boozer — to bully us and push us around, reminiscent of our match up with Boston in the Finals last year.

Pau Gasol was criticized for his “soft” play in the Finals, and I have to tell you, he was most disappointing to me in Game 3. The 80 percenter missed six of his 10 free throws and allowed Boozer to grab 22 rebounds to his 9.

We even let Paul Millsap — a great rebounder in his own right — grab 14.

When you go through a game that had 97 combined misses and 20 missed free throws, you would imagine rebounding might be important.

They outrebounded us by eight in Game 1, which we were able to overcome thanks to our 56% shooting. In Game 2, the rebounding was even at 30, with both teams shooting very well — only the Lakers topped their 50% shooting with 60%. Game 3 was a different story. We somehow managed to shoot 37% by the end, but got out-rebounded 55-40, clearly costing us the win.

I talked about it in the beginning of my Game 3 analysis, that the Jazz held an advantage over the Lakers in the first two games in made free throws, offensive rebounds, steals and turnovers. In Game 3, we had a slight edge in three of the four categories. We grabbed 16 offensive rebounds to the Jazz’s 14, to go along with two more steals (7-5) and six less turnovers (9-16). The Jazz did hit 18 free throws to our 16.

What was the problem this time?

We simply could not hit a shot, going 32-87 (37%).

How would we fair in Game 4?

First Quarter

This quarter was all about Kobe Bryant.

Nothing felt forced. The key was, he actually hit shots.

Whatever he went through after that horrible outing in Game 3 brought out the best in Kobe.

He certainly was looking for his shot early, scoring the first seven points for the Lakers. Over the next two and a half minutes, his teammates missed five outside shots and the Jazz went on an 11-2 run, sparked by a couple of offensive rebounds that got the crowd energized and into the game.

Kobe cooled the run a little with a 16-footer. He was 4-4 from the field to start the game.

At this point, half way into the quarter, it was the Jazz 14, Kobe 11.

Derek Fisher missed two wide open jumpers and Trevor Ariza chipped in with a nice brick from 23-feet straight out.

Luke Walton made his presence felt immediately with two points, an assist to Andrew Bynum for his only two points of the game, and a steal.

Kobe finished the quarter with 13 points on 6-8 shooting; the rest of the team combined for a measly seven points on 2-10 from the field.

Lakers 20, Jazz 25 — Kobe came out like an assassin, hitting five jumpers early on while the rest of the guys struggled.

Second Quarter

Jerry Sloan obviously knows how important it is not to fall behind three games to one going back to LA, so he quickly sent in three of his starters at the start of the quarter — Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Mehmet Okur.

The Jazz’s largest lead was seven at 34-27.

Then the Lakers bench finally came to life, hitting from all over the perimeter, and on the road no less.

A total of three threes dropped within a minute that sparked a huge run for the Lakers.

First, a drive and kick by Sasha Vujacic to Luke for three; then, a missed jumper by the Jazz allowed Sasha to find an open three in transition; lastly, Pau Gasol was able to post up and find Shannon Brown for another three.

Timeout Utah. Lakers up 36-34.

The Lakers would not let up, outscoring the Jazz 20-2 in a little under five minutes, thanks to 12 points from the bench.

Fisher may have started the game 0-2, but he finished the half hitting three straight outside shots.

Just when you think the Lakers learned their lesson, they lose their focus and their aggression, which allows the Jazz to cut a 13 point lead down to seven by halftime.

It started at the 1:14 mark. 1) Four Lakers stand pointing at one another after Paul Millsap got a dunk. 2) Boozer got a putback after a missed free throw. 3) Deron caught an inbounds pass from Boozer and laid it in, uncontested. 4) Finally, Luke tried to heave a pass to mid-court, was intercepted by Deron, who took it the distance and finished over Luke, and one.

Lakers 60, Jazz 53 — An all too familiar ending destroyed a big lead, but at least the Lakers bench came through, knocking down four threes to pull ahead.

Third Quarter

The Lakers shot 58% in the first half.

Kobe was 10-13.

Deron and Boozer played superb in the first half.

17 points and seven assists on 4-7 from the field for Deron; 14 points, eight rebounds on 6-8 shooting for Boozer.

The Lakers began the quarter hitting five shots in a row (10 straight going back to the first half).

It was Kobe Bryant who put on yet another show, hitting four straight jumpers, all from 17 feet out in the first four minutes.

He did most of his damage in bunches. He had 13 points in the first seven minutes of the game; 11 more in the final six minutes of the first half; and 10 points in the first four minutes of the third quarter.

For anyone wondering why Luke Walton plays, just check out his third quarter. In a four minute span, he had two layups, three rebounds, and a pair of steals.

Boozer alert:  15 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists with three minutes to go in the third.

However, the Lakers did do a good job of containing both Boozer and Deron in the quarter.

Boozer only had two points while Deron shot 1-5 and had two points and two assists.

Some of this is due to the fact Sloan put Deron on Kobe, who was desperate to find someone to slow him down. With so much energy being wasted, Deron did not appear to have anything left in the tank for the offensive end.

The Lakers were able to get inside and get to the free throw line, going 8-10 in the quarter; Utah struggled and shot 2-6 from the foul line.

We played some inspired defense and outscored the Jazz 24-12 in the first 10 minutes of the quarter.

Lamar Odom did his part with another strong rebounding effort — 12 so far.

The thing I enjoyed most about Kobe up to this point, was his demeanor. The announcers mentioned that they noticed it before the game during shoot around. There was no smiles for #24; it was all business. He had an icy cold expression on his face after every made basket.

Lakers 88, Jazz 69 — Since falling behind 25-20 after the first quarter, we outscored the Jazz 68-44, taking a commanding lead into the fourth.

Fourth Quarter

I am sure everyone was thinking the same thing I was:  Will the Lakers have another let down?

Not today my friends.

Kobe Bryant started the fourth, a clear sign that Phil Jackson was not messing around.

Brown was in and was very effective slashing and hustling, and contributing a tip in after his own miss.

Sasha missed his first two threes early in the quarter, but kept his aggressiveness, which eventually paid off when he drained a three that gave us our biggest lead of the game, 94-71.

We missed our first five threes, but then went 6-9.

At this point, Utah was in a drought, scoring only 21 points in the first 16 minutes of the second half.

Credit our defense for pushing them further and further out on the perimeter. Sloan made that same comment between quarters saying that his guys were taking shots he would rather not see, but it was LA who was forcing them into those shots.

Trevor was not very effective in his 28 minutes, but did provide a little spark in the fourth. In typical Ariza fashion when he picked Boozer’s pocket clean, ran down the court and drained a three from the corner, putting us up 19. He ended the game with 5 pts, 4 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, and 1 three.

Lamar followed that up with a block on Andrei Kirilenko and a tip in at the other end.

The Jazz still continued to fight and got within 13 with 90 seconds remaining, before Derek Fisher laid the hammer with a 23-foot bomb that splashed in, silencing the crowd. 

Want to know what a building sounds like when everyone knows that this will be the last time you get to see your team the rest of the year? Just go back on your tivo to the five minute mark in the fourth. Silence truly is golden!

Lakers 108, Jazz 94 — This was the game I was begging for in Game 3; the statement game where we cut out their hearts and stomp on it right in front of the home crowd. Better late than never. A big thanks goes out to Mr. Kobe Bryant.

Purple and Gold Nuggets

This game was a perfect blend of a bit of bench play, and a whole lot of Kobe Bryant.

The bench was outstanding:

Shannon Brown in 20 minutes — 10 pts, 1 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl, 1 three, 3-5 from the field, +8 while on the floor

Luke Walton in 18 minutes — 9 pts, 5 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl, 1 three, 3-6 from the field, +4 while on the floor

Sasha Vujacic in 17 minutes — 9 pts, 3 reb, 1 ast, 3 threes, 3-9 from the field, +9 while on the floor

Kobe hit a ton of jumpers, including seven between 15 and 19 feet out; six between 20 and 22 feet; and one 25-foot three pointer. He did add two layups and was 16-24 overall, including 5-5 from the free throw line for an incredibly efficient 38 points.

Some trouble areas for us have been free throws, offensive rebounds, steals, and turnovers.

In Game 4, the Jazz shot 32 free throws to our 28, but the missed 10 again. They grabbed 11 offensive rebounds to our eight, but we out-rebounded them 46-39 overall, thanks to 15 for Odom and 10 for Gasol. Steals were about even, 12 for the Jazz, 11 for the Lakers. We had 14 turnovers to their 13.

The major difference in this game was our offense. We shot 52% and held the Jazz to 44%. We hit eight threes and they only hit four. They did move the ball around a lot more, while we stuck to more one on ones, thanks to Kobe’s hot game (27-19 lead in assists).

Lamar Odom chipped in with a smooth 10 pts, 15 reb, 6 ast, 1 stl, and 2 blk. He is now averaging 16 ppg, 10 rpg, 2 apg, 1.25 bpg on a blistering 61% from the field in 36 mpg off the bench (with of course the start in Game 4).

I ask again, what more can the Jazz do? They struggle to slow our offense down and got contributions from Deron (23/13), Boozer (23/16), and their bench (12 points for Korver), but lost by 14.

As long as we do not beat ourselves, like we did in Game 3, I look forward to us closing this team out Monday night in STAPLES Center.