After Game 1 thoughts

[jozef]

What the Jazz players did wrong:
Matthews - passed out open 3-pointers in 1st half, did not realize that he should attack the hoop with hook shots in 1st half
Williams - got too free-lanced when Lakers were trapping him in 2nd half, it hurted the execution
Fesenko - needs to get hit in the face early to be more alive, we need above average performance from him
Miles - he needs better wrist/fingers involvement on his 3pters
Millsap - stupid cutting action when Boozer got the ball in the post, he should clear the space and be active on sides of the paint

What Sloan did wrong:
- forgot to call picknroll situation for Miles in 1st half and on last possessions of the game
- he should stop play help defense on Bryant with big man (Boozer or Millsap) cause Lakers big men score off passes or offensive rebounds, there is no way one Jazz big man could block out two of Gasol-Odom-Bynum, rather let Bryant to go 1-on-1 => play help defense off Artest, he is the weakest link, do it early to get them under pressure


Otherwise I was proud of the Jazz. Unfortunate and-ones fouls and missed dunk and open trey made the difference in last two minute.

[carrottop12]

Rebounding.

If the Jazz had rebounded the ball on the defensive end in the last 4 minutes we would have won.

We gave up at least 3 possessions and 4 points to the Lakers when we could have pushed a lead to 5 and had a much more comfortable lead.

[Lava Rock Kid]

I want to see our bigs drive the ball into Gasol and Odom, Force a call from the refs. Not one free throw was attempted by our PFs or centers. Dont allow a shot blocker to intimidate. Take it at them.


I also want Kirilenko to start practicing soon.

[Beto]

My observations...

Open Shots - There several times when we had wide open shots and Mathews, Miles, and Korver passed on them. Can't have hesitation; if you're open take it!

Turnovers - The Jazz need to limit turnovers as much as possible. We didn't have a lot but enough to still hurt us.

Rebounding - I think that's what killed us yesterday down the stretch. The whole team needs to rebound. That means including the guards. We can't allow the Lakers to get second chances; we need to try to limit that.

Spread the floor - The Lakers are too tall inside so we need to limit their height by spreading the floor. They also reach-in every chance they get. Since they try to clog the paint it is very easy for them to strip the ball. By spreading the floor I think we would limit this and also be able to run our pick-and-roll more effectively and/or to pass to cutters more effectively.

Sloan, Deron and Boozer - I hate to call out anyone but Im going to. Sloan needs to do a better job of managing the game especially at crucial times. Yesterday, I could sense when the Lakers were making a run but no timeout or no special play was called. Whereas Phil called a timeout the first sign he saw the Jazz getting some momentum.

Deron and Boozer are our leaders and need to play like it, make smart decisions. They both played well yesterday but at crucial times they made some silly mistakes. Deron seemed to pass the ball and not be assertive or set up a play to stop the Laker run at the end. Boozer needs to box out. And if you're going to foul a guy, foul him hard making sure not to give him the three point play.

Boozer and Millsap - Both are undersized PF's. So we can really post them up against the bigger Gasol, Bynum, and Odom or at least be very effective. Boozer and Millsap are not great shooters. So instead I think we need to run more plays where they can use their speed against the taller defenders. Remember a couple years back when Boozer played against Yao in the playoffs, he would catch the ball at the top of the key and immediately make a quick move to drive to the basket or dish it out to a cutting player. I think both Millsap and Boozer need to try do this more.

Deron is our Kobe, and just like Kobe wants the basketball at crucial times, Deron should want and have the ball too. Deron doesn’t have to shoot it every time but the ball needs to be in his hand so can either make a play for himself or set it up for someone else. It seemed down the stretch that the Lakers were able to get the ball out of his hands.

We were very close and I’m optimistic that we can make some changes.

[ShowtimeFan]

The Jazz REALLY miss Okur, he draws a Laker big man out because he can hit long jumpers. That would intern open up more oppertunities for offensive rebounds. Not being at full strength, I just don't see the Jazz beating the Lakers in 4 of the next 6 games.

Now, I don't mean to denigrate those who do. And for the people who think that the Jazz can do it, denigrate means 'put down'....

[qman]

Rebounding.

If the Jazz had rebounded the ball on the defensive end in the last 4 minutes we would have won.

We gave up at least 3 possessions and 4 points to the Lakers when we could have pushed a lead to 5 and had a much more comfortable lead.

When Price was in he was crashing down hard for defensive board and taking the ball away from the laker bigs. Our guards need to crash the boards a little harder.

[jozef]

Rebounding. If the Jazz had rebounded the ball on the defensive end in the last 4 minutes we would have won. We gave up at least 3 possessions and 4 points to the Lakers when we could have pushed a lead to 5 and had a much more comfortable lead.

The Lakers had 2 offensive rebounds. With 4:53 to go Odom rebounded Bryant's missed layup and with 0:51 Odom rebounded Bryant's missed jumpshot. I mentioned it there that the Jazz "should stop play help defense on Bryant with big man (Boozer or Millsap) cause Lakers big men score off passes or offensive rebounds, there is no way one Jazz big man could block out two of Gasol-Odom-Bynum". That's what happened. There is also no way that Miles or Matthews could rotate effectively on Lakers big men.

I want to see our bigs drive the ball into Gasol and Odom, Force a call from the refs. Not one free throw was attempted by our PFs or centers. Dont allow a shot blocker to intimidate. Take it at them.

They took it to the hole but they don't have stop-and-fake moves to buy them into fouls.

When Price was in he was crashing down hard for defensive board and taking the ball away from the laker bigs. Our guards need to crash the boards a little harder.

Price is the quickest helper, that's for sure.

[Soul Patch]

The big thing I noticed was that a lot of times they passed the ball to death. It's fine to pass up a good look for a great look but if it's not a better look shoot the damn ball.

[jozef]

Game 2 was similar to Game 1 as far as help defense: it did work great off Artest (he did score all his points on fastbreak or offensive rebounding) and it was hopeless when the Jazz helped off Lakers big men.

Despite Fesenko's poor shooting his presence alone altered Lakers decision making and it's no wonder that he had positive +/-. Sloan should yell at him more cause he is not quick enough. In fact if the Jazz had tall athletic center who can dunk and make short hook shots then they would dominate the Lakers. Koufos seems to have no business playing against Lakers bigs.

Boozer was dominated with hook shot by Gasol and Bynum. Millsap and Miles did good job defensively. Price was again the best defender, sparking a run but Sloan had no guts to keep Williams on the bench.

It did look that just good things happen when Miles make plays. He has the ability to get over Lakers bigs and he has great feeling for the game, finding teammates.

The Jazz played too much through high post, Boozer made some drives and Millsap used some stop moves but generally the Jazz just tried to attack their Twin Towers. Lack of inside-outside pass (especially Boozer) and lack of perimeter ball movement hurted the execution. Only really good things coming off high post were Korvers jumpshots off the screen. Otherwise Korver should just spread the floor on weak side.

Williams did not make good job in running the team. He needs to use screens tightly cause his hesitation moves works in favor of Lakers floating defense. Watch Miles taking it straight to the hole. Simply force Lakers to make strong defensive commitment to certain player and then find an open teammate with crisp pass.