“Killer instinct” and “focus.” Expect to hear those words a lot over the next couple days in terms of whether or not the Lakers possess those things in adequate quantities, which is why a 14-point lead against the Utah Jazz today fell apart and became a three-point deficit. Of course, as Laker blog Silver Screen And Roll points out, that three-point deficit quickly disappeared and became a five-point win.
Lakers Blog: The Victory That Almost Wasn’t...But Then Was
What we saw from the Lakers in the final minutes of the game I found very encouraging. There was Kobe, and there was Pau, executing a patient and coordinated attack to seal the win. Kobe looks better now than he has at any time since the early days of the season. He’s getting great lift on his jumpshots and is finding the right balance between distribution and finding his own points. Special kudos as well to Lamar Odom. His three balls are still off-target, but he did fine work on the boards today. Just in the fourth quarter, Lamar collected four offensive rebounds that led to six Laker points.
What must be frustrating for Utah is that they lost despite getting decent production from second-tier dudes Miles and Matthews. Those contributions aren’t going to be there every game, so they’ll need even more from Williams, Boozer and Millsap. They also need Fesenko to give them something. There are almost four full days of rest between Tuesday’s Game Two and Saturday’s Game Three, so by the time this series gets to Utah we could see Bynum functioning at something closer to 100%. If we get to that point and the Jazz still haven’t stolen a win in Staples, the series could be over fast.
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