LAL WIN FROM JAZZ

Magic cheered, Derek yelled, Kobe pointed and the Lakers won. Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images Dave McMenamin is live blogging Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals between the Lakers and Jazz. Boxscore Aftermath: The Jazz were able to cut a 19-point third-quarter deficit down to just four in the fourth quarter but ultimately couldn’t close the gap, despite grabbing a whopping 25 offensive rebounds. Kobe Bryant finished with 38 points, six rebounds and seven assists and did most of his damage at the foul line, connecting on 21-of-23 freebies. The Lakers also received strong performances by Pau Gasol (18 points, 10 rebounds), Lamar Odom (16 points, nine rebounds) and Sasha Vujacic (15 points off the bench). Utah rebounded really well, winning the battle of the boards 58-41, but the problem was, they couldn’t shoot it. The Jazz took 22 more shots than the Lakers, but scored 11 less points. They shot .379 from the field and an even more morbid .211 from three. Mehmet Okur’s stat line (21 points, 19 rebounds) jumps off the page at you, but the big man only shot 7-for-19, with many of those misses coming in momentum-swinging occasions. Deron Williams had a Jason Kidd-esque 14, nine and nine, but his jumper was off the mark as he clanked 13 of his 18 attempts. The Lakers didn’t play spectacularly, as they missed a lot of shots around the rim and couldn’t keep the Jazz big men off the glass, but they played well enough to win. Their offense is starting to look like a well oiled machine. Guys get shots on the floor where they’re comfortable, and other than a couple of forced attempts by Kobe and Odom, they move the ball around really well to get the Lakers players easy shots. It ended up being an 11-point victory for L.A., but the game was a lot closer than that and Phil Jackson and Co. can’t feel too confident knowing that Utah couldn’t throw a rock in the ocean and were still in the game until the last couple of minutes. Game 2 is Wednesday, May 7 (10:30 ET, TNT). Game 1 Final: Lakers 109, Jazz 98 Just like the second quarter, Kobe starts on the bench and the Lakers get their scoring going with Luke Walton finding Turiaf with a beautiful behind the back feed for a dunk. I already mentioned Vujacic’s emergence, but how about Turiaf? He almost didn’t make it in this league because of heart complications and now he’s the best player out of Gonzaga in the league. Yeah, I said it Dan Dickau and Adam Morrison. I said it. The Lakers are in the penalty with nine minutes remaining in the quarter. That’s got to help Utah’s comeback chances. Boozer fouled out after racking up 15 points and 14 rebounds. He also had seven turnovers. The Jazz will need more out of him if they want to win some games in this series. Kobe’s outlet to Gasol (following his bounce pass to him that ended up as a layup for the big fella on the previous possession) put the finishing touch on the Lakers’ win. Gasol scored eight of his 18 points in the final period. End of Third Quarter: Lakers 79, Jazz 72 The Jazz are starting to drive and dump off to cutters for easy hoops. If they keep it up, they’ll make it a game again. Vladimir Radmanovic has two triples in the quarter and his having a nice game after struggling in the Denver series. Did Magic Johnson just say “Paul” Gasol? We’re going to hear the Fisher story of how he asked to be released by the Jazz this summer every game. Just deal with it. When the Jazz went on an 11-1 run to cut it down the Lakers’ lead to nine and L.A. countered by going to Kobe Bryant on the block and he used a sweeping step through to get a layup to extinguish the streak. Great action in the quarter’s final seconds with Deron Williams nailing a three to cut the Lakers lead to seven, followed by Luke Walton making like Grant Hill at Duke and finding a streaky Lamar Odom with a perfect baseball pass. Surprising that a foul wasn’t called. The Jazz have 19 offensive rebounds which is the same amount of defensive rebounds that the Lakers have. Halftime: Lakers 54, Nuggets 41 I used to rip on Sasha Vujacic whenever I’d tune into the Lakers to see Kobe play because he looked scared out on the court. Now he’s a confident shooter and making plays by putting the ball on the floor. It’s great to see a guy improve like that. He sparked a 9-2 run to start the quarter with Kobe on the bench. Great hair, too. There have been a couple highlight-reel worthy plays this quarter, the first being Turiaf sending back a Deron Williams dunk attempt (by the way, Williams might not look like it, but he can really sky) and Bryant had a crossover on Kirilenko that totally eluded the Russian defender on his way to an and-1 layup. The Jazz are taking too many jumpers. When they work the ball into Okur and Boozer on the blocks, it works. They just need to do it more often. The Lakers build their lead to 15 and we get a three minute long Jack Nicholson conversation between Hubie and Tirico. See, blowouts can be entertaining. L.A. is clicking as a team but only Bryant, Gasol and Vujacic (“The Machine”) are shooting well (a combined 12-for-17). The rest of the squad is just 6-for-33 (.181). Halftime boxscore analysis for the Jazz … Deron Williams is only 2-for-9 from the field = troubling … Boozer has six turnovers = pretty bad … Utah is 0-for-8 from beyond the three-point arc = the worst. Halftime boxscore analysis for the Lakers … Derek Fisher has four assists and four steals = impressive … Vujacic has nine points in four minutes = more impressive … Kobe is 6-for-8 from the field and 11-for-11 from the foul line for 24 points = most impressive. End of First Quarter: Lakers 25, Jazz 24 It’s great to see Kobe come out of the gate gunning. He’s looking to put his stamp on the series early, letting Utah coach Jerry Sloan that he has nobody on his roster who can guard him. He was locked in, putting up 15 points on 4-for-5 shooting from the floor and 6-for-6 shooting from the line in the first. Seeing Okur, a former All-Star, plod up and down the court with his 6-11 frame makes you realize how nimble and special Pau Gasol is to be able to move the way he does for a 7-footer. Gasol went to the bench after picking up two early fouls and Ronny Turiaf, who was sick during the First Round, is getting the back-up minutes instead of D.J. Mbenga. These are two really deep teams that bring in game changers off the pine. Utah has Harpring, Millsap, Korver and Price while L.A. plugs in Turiaf, Luke Walton, Vujacic and Farmar. Hubie Brown called the matchup two of the best passing teams in the league (they are both in the top for in assists per game average). That gets me as excited for this series as anything. Why is Korver guarding Kobe Bryant? That’s like using a damn made of sponges to try to stop a river. It has no chance of succeeding. The Utah big men of Okur, Boozer, Kirilenko and Millsap are taking the majority of the Jazz’s shots. I’d like to see Williams get going.
May 4, 2008 4:10 PM EDT
Williams and Bryant will have to put their Team USA teammates attitude on hold for this series. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images The Lakers and Jazz tip things off Sunday at 3:30 ET (ABC) and the opening of this series reminds me of a great line from the opening of the movie BASEketball: "The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles where there are no lakes ... The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City where they don't allow music." What does that have to do with Game 1? Not sure. But it's pretty funny nonetheless. Here's what's being written about before any games have been played ... Eight Essential Links - May 4 1. The Jazz stopped Tracy McGrady, now they have to find a way to stymie Kobe Bryant. [Salt Lake Tribune] 2. It will certainly be an emotional series for Derek Fisher. [Salt Lake Tribune] 3. Forget the teams' differences, how different are these cities? [Deseret News] 4. Word is that Kobe Bryant will receive his first MVP trophy soon. About damn time. [Los Angeles Times] 5. The Lakers' lengthy and lanky big men will have to contend with Utah's brusing bullies. [Los Angeles Times] 6. L.A. players ate dinner together during their long layoff. [LA Daily News] 7. Jazz-Lakers, by the numbers. [Los Angeles Times] 8. All those big midseason trades didn't really pan out, did they? Well, all of them except the Pau Gasol swap. [FOX Sports.com]