Game5: THE LAST STAND

[Turtle Eater]

Tonight, HEART beat both EXPERIENCE and $$$$.

Until next year.

[HammerDunk]

If the Lakers ever got a 58 point lead on a team they would surely only win the game by 10.

I hope Portland beats them in the semis.

That's OK we beat ya'll.............stop hating (GO LAKERS)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IS your board really that boring? Think about all the hating you would be doing right now if we won the series, so STFU.

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

I have wanted Price playing the backup all year but I don't blame Sloan for playing Knight, we all wanted a vet and that is what we got. And yes we should get excited about Price because that is the kind of player he has been since he got here.

What was with that dunk by Odom at the end? Seriously Odom? Have fun getting dunked on by Lebron in the finals...if you make it there...

It really was a shame Price didn't lay one on Fisher for payback...oh well, maybe next year.

I don't see how the Laker fans expect to win a championship when they blow such big leads to the 8th seeded team. And from what I can tell its been going on the whole season. Lebron and the Cavs would eat the Lakers for breakfast if they relax like that against them. I can even see Houston or Denver taking the Lakers down in 6 or 7 so I wouldn't be so...enthusiastic about your title hopes just yet.

[Duiz]

Let's not lose our minds about Ronnie Price. He is a good energy player and single-handedly led that comeback, but does no one remember the holes in his game?

Don't get me wrong -- I agree that he should have gotten Knight's minutes this series; I'm just saying we shouldn't canonize him as the league's premiere back-up.

QFT

Don't get too cocky here people. Price wasn't the one singlehandedly manhandling the Lakers frontline. He helped, but Millsap helped even more during that run.

[butter17]

If the Lakers ever got a 58 point lead on a team they would surely only win the game by 10.

I hope Portland beats them in the semis.

That's OK we beat ya'll.............stop hating (GO LAKERS)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

IS your board really that boring? Think about all the hating you would be doing right now if we won the series, so STFU.

Like i said HD......... you are a cool cat. STAY LOYAL i'm out!

[outerspacefella]

I think people's not jumping into a Price bandwagon or anything like that... it's just the guy run the team, played with heart, and actually make some of the passes Deron has been consistently missing during the whole series...

Price has already gave us several eye friendly glimpses of a real backup PG, and a SG on occasion... I hope he stays...

[Racer X]

Steve Luhms assessment of the final minutes of last nights game:

"With about 2:30 remaining, the Jazz had rallied from a 20-point deficit. They trailed 95-89 when Memo Okur missed a jump shot.

Ronnie Price outworked everyone for the rebound, took the ball back to the basket and collided with Derek Fisher. His shot missed and Zielinski, who was the official stationed under the basket, did not make a fairly obvious call. Fisher stepped into Price and fouled him.

Next possession: It was still 95-89 when Deron Williams blew an uncontested layup.

After a free throw by Trevor Ariza made it 96-89 with 2:04 remaining, Okur put the ball on the floor and got into the lane, where he was bumped by Fisher as he shot. It could have been a foul, and it could have been a no-call. No foul was called.

Millsap kept the Jazz alive, however, when he rebounded Okur's miss and got the ball to Price, who went to the basket again. He drew enough contact so a foul probably should have been called by Zielinski. But it was not.

On the other end, Lamar Odom scored to give the Lakers a 98-89 lead with 1:30 to go.

The Jazz hurried up the floor and Millsap blew another uncontested layup. Price took the rebound away from Odom and tried to go back up with the ball. Again, it looked like a fairly obviously foul. But Javie, who was positioned under the basket this time, shrugged his shoulders and threw a backhanded wave at the Jazz bench, as if to tell the players and coaches, 'Sit down and shut up.'"

After Price's attempted shot, the ball squirted out of bounds just beyond the Jazz bench. That's when Javie hit coach Jerry Sloan with a technical and ejected him. Fisher made the free throw and the Jazz's rally was officially dead.

My final observation, after double-checking the replay:

-- During a 90-second span, the Jazz took the ball to the basket on six straight possessions.

-- They missed uncontested two layups (Williams and Millsap).

-- They were possibly fouled once (Okur).

-- They appeared to be clearly fouled three times (Price), although they did not get the the free-throw line.

Game, set, match, season."

[Vincent 666]

The Rockets and Cavs simply dont match up well with the Lakers. The Lakers would beat both teams pretty easily imo. In 5 against the Rockets and 6 at most against the Cavs. The Lakers are 6-0 against those two teams in the regular season.


The only two teams that I think can beat the Lakers and match up well with them are the Blazers and Celtics (with a healthy Garnett).

And in order to lose big leads you have to be good enough to build the lead in the first place which most teams dont have to worry about to begin with.

[HammerDunk]

How can you think Houston doesn't match up well with them? They have Yao underneath and Artest on Kobe. I think this could be a very tough matchup for LAL. Battier will also keep a lid on Ariza.

[Vincent 666]

imo a team needs a very good point guard to beat the Lakers. The Rockets simply dont have one. And they dont have anyone to matchup with Gasol or Odom. Both those guys should absolutelty dominate Landy and Scola.

Its not a coincidence that the Lakers are 4-0 against the Rockets this year.

Kobe has torched Battier and Artest in the past like he does everyone else. Hes going to get his.

[HammerDunk]

Hate to say I told you so, but... I think the Rockets have a legitimate shot at beating the Lakers, and they proved it tonight. Rockets are a team built for the playoffs and built to beat teams like the Lakers. I hate the Rockets, but right now, I hate the Lakers more, so this makes me somewhat happy... Bittersweet if you will...

[Sloanfeld]

LA was 2/18 from 3 last night. I only saw the last eight minutes so I don't know how many were wide open, but Ariza was 0/4. GO FIGURE. Brown didn't take any and Kobe was 1/7. I'm sure some of it had to do with good defense and other just **** luck against us.

Yeah Houston is a great defensive team and they certaintly deserved to win last night, but I would still expect LA to win if they were down 3-0. Kobe was 14/31 overall. If Houston can force him to beat them every game they have a chance to win the series. I hope they do.

[seejaydeja]

i watched the majority of the game last night. i was dumbfounded at how many shots ariza/fisher/all the rest of the lakers roleplayers missed. these guys completely tore us up, i remember seeing fisher airball a wide open 3 sometime in the second quarter.

i dont think its purely coincidence in all honesty though. i DO think that the lakers hate the jazz mainly because of the whole fisher ordeal (i.e kobe throwing a temper tantrum at the fans at the end of the 07-08 season finale in utah) so i think this plays into them stepping it up against us.

BUT

Rockets defense is damn good. I thought they did a wonderful job with help defense in the paint (whats that?) making kobe take jumpers. As much as we might hate the Rockets, don't play like you wouldn't love to see Yao/Battier/Scola in a jazz jersey. hell, after how he played last night i'd even let brooks back up deron next season, kid played with spunk.

[HammerDunk]

Well they actually are able to defend the perimeter as well, which makes a HUGE difference. This is something we have trouble doing since we have such a defensively soft/short frontcourt...