Don't mind me while I homer up for a second here, but the officiating in this series has been brutal, especially in yesterday's game four in Utah. I don't think I've ever seen such one-sided calls in a long time. It was atrocious all game. Utah was getting every little "ticky-tack" foul all afternoon.
On the flip side, every time the Lakers did get to the free throw line, they were lucky to get one out of two. They were hitting free throws about as often as one couldn't hit water if they fell out of a damn boat. And Lamar Odom, bless his little heart for having a great game otherwise, and Luke Walton have got to be the two worst players lay-up shooters I have ever seen. It seemed like they were missing them all day. I don't understand why, when they have an open shot that close underneath the basket, they just don't go up and be more aggressive. It seemed like Utah blocked half of their attempts. I wish these two morons would just learn to be a little more aggressive and little less lackadaisical when it comes to easy, open shots under the basket.
Can't have a Laker blog that doesn't include Kobe. Another two solid performances for the MVP. But more importantly, and probably more concerning is his stiff back that suddenly developed over the weekend. If it happened during the either of the games, then I missed it. But it just pained me to watch him in the fourth quarter because as much as he was trying, he just couldn't get any lift in his legs. His shots were flat, too long, or too short.
Around the five minute mark of the fourth yesterday, I had pretty much conceded the game to Utah. The Jazz had a commanding 10-point lead, and it looked like they were about to blow the game open even more. (I had conceded to the point that I switched over to watch Hiroki Kuroda of the Dodgers take his no-hitter against Houston into the 7th inning.) To my surprise, the Lakers had made a couple of defensive stops and the next thing I knew, Utah's lead was down to 104-103 with under a minute left. The Lakers had kept chipping away at the lead all afternoon but every time they got it close, Utah would break it back open to 9-, 10-, 11-point leads. So when I heard the lead was down to one, of course I gave up on the no-hitter (smart idea, Mike!) to watch the end of the Lakers. Lamar Odom had taken over the game to score five big points down the stretch to force OT. Unfortunately, the Lakers had nothing left for OT. Kobe was basically ineffective at that point.
So we head back to L.A. and Staples for Game 5 on Wednesday night. Lakers don't want to head back to Utah down 3-2, so this is a definite must-win for either team, but more so for the Lakers. And let's hope Kobe (who intends to play) and his back don't become a hindering problem for the Lakers!
On the flip side, every time the Lakers did get to the free throw line, they were lucky to get one out of two. They were hitting free throws about as often as one couldn't hit water if they fell out of a damn boat. And Lamar Odom, bless his little heart for having a great game otherwise, and Luke Walton have got to be the two worst players lay-up shooters I have ever seen. It seemed like they were missing them all day. I don't understand why, when they have an open shot that close underneath the basket, they just don't go up and be more aggressive. It seemed like Utah blocked half of their attempts. I wish these two morons would just learn to be a little more aggressive and little less lackadaisical when it comes to easy, open shots under the basket.
Can't have a Laker blog that doesn't include Kobe. Another two solid performances for the MVP. But more importantly, and probably more concerning is his stiff back that suddenly developed over the weekend. If it happened during the either of the games, then I missed it. But it just pained me to watch him in the fourth quarter because as much as he was trying, he just couldn't get any lift in his legs. His shots were flat, too long, or too short.
Around the five minute mark of the fourth yesterday, I had pretty much conceded the game to Utah. The Jazz had a commanding 10-point lead, and it looked like they were about to blow the game open even more. (I had conceded to the point that I switched over to watch Hiroki Kuroda of the Dodgers take his no-hitter against Houston into the 7th inning.) To my surprise, the Lakers had made a couple of defensive stops and the next thing I knew, Utah's lead was down to 104-103 with under a minute left. The Lakers had kept chipping away at the lead all afternoon but every time they got it close, Utah would break it back open to 9-, 10-, 11-point leads. So when I heard the lead was down to one, of course I gave up on the no-hitter (smart idea, Mike!) to watch the end of the Lakers. Lamar Odom had taken over the game to score five big points down the stretch to force OT. Unfortunately, the Lakers had nothing left for OT. Kobe was basically ineffective at that point.
So we head back to L.A. and Staples for Game 5 on Wednesday night. Lakers don't want to head back to Utah down 3-2, so this is a definite must-win for either team, but more so for the Lakers. And let's hope Kobe (who intends to play) and his back don't become a hindering problem for the Lakers!
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