Jazz hardly as soft as Nuggets

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LOS ANGELES -- Another team, another game, another double-digit win and the Los Angeles Lakers are on their way. That might be how it looks through a pretty purple-and-gold prism, but not so fast there, Skippy. The Utah Jazz are not the Denver Nuggets. The rested Lakers took advantage of the television-driven schedule Sunday, running early and getting a nice lead on Utah, which just finished its draining six-game series with Houston on Friday night. But the Jazz already has proven it's a team with much more fight than Denver, clawing back from a 19-point, third-quarter deficit to get within four of the Lakers in the final five minutes. The Nuggets didn't do foam-at-the-mouth rallies like Utah. Pretty impressive for a travel-and-competition-weary team that might have tossed Game 1 to the fishes and aimed for the Game 2 prize instead. "Utah is going to bring that intensity every single game," Lakers forward Luke Walton said. "We can't relax at all." There's another reason for the Lakers not to relax -- they might find themselves looking up at the arena ceiling. If the Lakers needed another clue that Utah isn't Denver that would be from the bruises they will wake up with today. "We haven't played many teams like Utah, with their physicality," said Kobe Bryant, who wasn't really complaining. "It's nice. It's a chance to bang, and that's what basketball is all about." Maybe that's the happy spin you offer if you win, and you get to shoot 23 foul shots (making 21) like Bryant did in Sunday's 109-98 victory. But getting banged around over a best-of-seven series can get old, too, especially if things stop falling your way -- and you just fall. I'm guessing we still have a few angry stares coming from Bryant and Friends in the direction of the referees as this series rumbles on. Derek Fisher, who played with the Jazz last year and knows about Utah's hands-on game, thinks it will take some discipline for his teammates to handle these anti-Nuggets. "We have to stay within ourselves and not get caught up trying to out-physical a team that does that every night," he said. "We can take advantage of our depth and play physical, but it's more about playing hard, not so much about pushing and shoving." Fisher, in fact, was Exhibit A in how to counter a team that brings the muscle: Beat them with finesse. The 33-year-old veteran used his knowledge of the Jazz, and especially star point guard Deron Williams, to collect six steals. Fisher preferred to offer self-deprecating humor to describe his successful day. "What confused him was how old I am. When he fakes, I don't go for it because I can't react that fast," he said. Funny, but not exactly the truth. The Lakers responded well on offense, too, as they did against Denver -- by finding open teammates. They had 24 assists to show for 33 baskets. This time in the closing minutes -- a situation in which the Lakers often hand the ball to Bryant and tell him to do something brilliant -- they had a couple of pick-and-roll surprises. "We talked about how they were covering us and how we could capitalize on it," Bryant said. "We have high basketball IQs on this team. We make adjustments and go right to it." And the Lakers took advantage of the oft-fouling Jazz by making 38 of 46 free throws. Coach Phil Jackson, a master masseur of postseason officiating, was at it again when asked about Bryant's reserved spot at the free-throw line. "Utah will not be happy about that," Jackson said. "So we'll probably see about half (of those shots) next game." His counterpart, Jerry Sloan, has been around long enough not to take the Jackson bait. The two matched up in back-to-back NBA Finals a decade ago when Jackson had those Michael Jordan Chicago teams you may have heard of. "I have no problem with that," Sloan said of the foul discrepancy. "They called 'em, they shot 'em, and I can't do anything about that. Our defense was very poor at best and that's what happens. You bail out and foul guys." Anyway, the fun is just getting started. Utah will have three days to get its legs back before the next game, rejoining its bulldog mentality. This will not be an easy series. The Lakers say they know it, looking no further than Utah's 17-rebound advantage as evidence of the Jazz's head-knocking approach. "We have to rebound better," Lakers forward Lamar Odom said, locked-in serious. "And not whine when we don't get calls. They're going to be even more physical next time." Bryant seemed a little more upbeat about the prospect. "If you're an '80s fan or a basketball aficionado, you kind of like that stuff," he said, not worrying that the Jazz would like nothing better than knocking the smile off his face.(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton(at)PE.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)