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Jazz get in way of Lakers' coronation

Submitted by SHNS on Mon, 05/12/2008 - 13:36

SALT LAKE CITY -- Yeah, about that Los Angeles Lakers' coronation. Hold off on the mailing of the invitations. Ease up on the presumptions of moving up and on. Chuck them all into the same heap with the brooms and the unearned arrogance. Suddenly, there's a whole lot of work left in this second-round series, featuring the Lakers and those other guys from Utah, and remember that the Jazz are not the Nuggets, not even close. That much was all made clear in an exhausting Game 4 at EnergySolutions Arena on Sunday, in one of the best games of the postseason, when the Jazz beat the Lakers in overtime, 123-115. Fitting that former Jazz player Greg Foster was on hand. In a playoff series with the Lakers back in the 1990s, it was Foster who, observing a must-win situation for the Jazz, uttered a memorable description that snugly fit, again, the pressure-packed circumstances on Sunday. "It's nut-cuttin' time," he said. Bang on, Greg. The Jazz had to win Game 4. They knew it, and they deserve praise for going ahead and pulling it off, despite being outscored in the final minutes of regulation, 12-2. With the long knives in plain view, along with the virtual end of their season, and with the momentum they built earlier gone, they gathered themselves to more than double up the Lakers -- 15-7 -- in OT. Kyle Kover and Deron Williams hit four free throws each, Andrei Kirilenko converted a huge three-point play, on a sweet feed from Williams, and Mehmet Okur dusted the net for four points. All while a beat-up and worn-down Kobe Bryant shot the Lakers out of the game in the extra period, missing six of seven shots. "No excuses for me," Bryant said in the post-game, standing because his tweaked back supposedly could not handle sitting. No word on what he did on the plane ride home. "(Kirilenko) did a great job. Great defensive player. They just did a terrific job." If nothing else, the Jazz confirmed on Sunday what they initially established on Friday: They can win games at home when they have no other choice. "We know that," said Okur, who scored 18 points and hauled 12 rebounds. "We're a good team. This was a fun, physical game for us. Everybody felt good out there. We had a great time." The Lakers? Not so much. In a game that sported twists -- quite literally -- of many kinds, including Bryant's aforementioned back, which was torqued, he said, on the "second play of the game," the Lakers expended too much energy and effort trying to catch up to the Jazz twice, falling behind by 10 at the end of the first quarter and, then, by 12 in the fourth. When the cloud finally lifted, it was the Jazz left standing, grinning, fully aware of what they had just avoided: A 3-1 deficit heading back to Los Angeles for Game 5. "It was a tough game," said Williams, who scored 29 points and passed for 14 assists. "A great battle. Everyone played well for us. . . . We're playing better basketball. We're more equipped to win." Exactly what the Lakers are equipped for is now in notable question. They showed heart in the two pushes that saved them from getting blown out by the Jazz. But they also missed 11 of 22 free throws in the first four quarters, and 14 of 25 overall. Bryant finished 13 of 33 from the field, making just 1 of 10 three-point tries. Their defense allowed the Jazz to shoot 53 percent, even though the Jazz did relative scant business in the paint, where the Lakers outscored them by 18. And don't ask about the Lakers' bench, which was kicked in the chops by the Jazz reserves, 39-16. "I really had to jump our second unit a little bit again tonight, because they let us down in the fourth quarter," said Phil Jackson, who added that Bryant's teammates seemed to "bail" on him. The worst part of the Lakers' performance, though, wasn't plainly written out in the final stat sheet. It was woven into the weaknesses they revealed throughout the game, particularly at the end. They tried hard. They forced overtime. But they didn't -- and don't -- play with the cohesion and precision of champions. They aren't clearly superior to the Jazz. No way. In that respect, they fooled us all. And anyone who continues to automatically crown them, after what they've shown here, is a fool, still.(Contact Gordon Monson gmonson@sltrib.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)