LAKERS vs JAZZ: GAME 2(POST-GAME REPORT)

LAKERS 119 - JAZZ 109

There you go! Now it feels like the Playoffs. The Lakers take another win to improve 2-0 in the series against the Utah Jazz. The Lakers are 37-1 when leading 2-0 in a seven game series. But round one is far from over. "We're not thinking about it being over at all," Bryant said. "We're thinking about Game 3."

Aside from giving up 29 points in the first quarter, the Lakers had a near flawless first as they shot 86%, 18 for 21 from the field. Which is the best shooting quarter in the NBA playoffs since official play-by-play tracking began in 1998. Where was the "Nasty"? Defense? What defense? The Jazz only had one foul in the first. And probably had a couple more in the 2nd. Was that the Nasty? The second quarter started slow but the Lakers brought the lead up to 20 till the Jazz went on a 9-0 run to end the quarter.

The second half was when they started to bring the Nasty. The third was odd with both teams going back and fourth but eventually finished even with the Lakers still leading by 11. In the fourth things started to heat up. And with a 5 point surge by Boozer, the Jazz only trailed by 3. But careless pass by Utah ended with a 2-1 break with Odom and Ariza. Kobe had some clutch shots towards the end but it was Ariza's dagger 3 with less than a minute that sealed the game.

Kobe led the Lakers with 26pts and 9ast. Pau followed with 22pts and 6rebs on an efficien 9-11 shooting. Ariza also had 9 assists himself while also adding 13 points. Odom was huge off the bench shooting 8-9 for 19 points. Shannon Brown continued his great play from game one and chipped in 12 points off the bench. Bynum still seems to stuggle a bit who finished with 10 points while playing 31 minutes. Seven Lakers finished in double digits including all 5 starters.

D-Will(whom Charles Barkley calls a 'stud') didn't have another 17 assist night. He had only 9asts but compensated it with 35pts shooting 6-11 from three. Boozer finished with a double-double of 20pts and 10rebs. Brewer had himself an annoying 14pts. Korver added 12 points while Kirilenko added 10. Paul Millsap who was pretty much their back-up center for Jarron Collins, had 13pts and 7rebs off the bench, playing 36 minutes.

Everything was pretty even, both had 30rebs, 6blks. The Jazz only had two more fouls than the Lakers did. But there was a total of 39 turnovers in this game with the Lakers having 3 more than the Jazz did. The Lakers just need to give a little more effort on the defensive end and take care of the ball more. Up next, Game 3 @ Utah. I don't see this being an easy game for us.