Lakers use a Solid Team Effort to Take Game Five

The thought going into Game Five was that it was a must-win for the Lakers after losing twice in Utah. Another school of thought was that the Lakers needed Kobe Bryant to have a huge scoring game from the Lakers to win the game. That thought couldn’t be further from the truth.

Kobe Bryant’s role was limited, but other Lakers stepped up. The Lakers used a total team effort to take Game Five with Bryant playing a perfect game. He had a very efficient performance and, taking only 10 shots, finished the game with 26 points, six rebounds and seven assists despite not attempting a field goal in the fourth quarter.

His 10 field goal attempts were the fifth fewest he’s taken in a playoff game as a starter. Get this: the Lakers have won four of the five games in which Bryant has taken 10 or fewer shots.

The Lakers had a good start to the game, racing out to a seven-point lead. Vladimir Radmanovic came alive with his best game of the series. He scored 10 points in the first quarter, going 4-for-5 on three-point shots.

However, 11 Laker turnovers led to nine Utah points and a bad finish to the first quarter.

Ronnie Brewer, by design, was the guy left open to knock down the outside shot. He made the Lakers pay by scoring 10 points on three dunks and two lay-ups. The Lakers had a 29-26 lead at the end of the quarter. 

The Lakers stretched their lead to 11 points in the second quarter. The team capitalized on 14 Jazz turnovers, converting them into 20 points.  

The Lakers used the speed of Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom to their advantage.

Gasol scored 15 points. Lamar Odom had a great game, scoring nine second-quarter points. The Lakers did a lot of cross matching on defense that saw the taller Pau Gasol guarding Carlos Boozer and the faster Lamar Odom guarding Mehmet Okur.

This decision limited Boozer’s scoring inside, as it has done for four of the five games. The decision to place Lamar Odom on Okur allowed the Lakers to chase him off the three-point line.

The versatility of Pau Gasol showed, as the Lakers displayed an obvious speed advantage over the Jazz. The pace of the game was too fast for Utah but just right for the Lakers. The Lakers led at the half 61-54.

The questions I had at the start of the third quarter were:

1. Who will do a better job of executing their offense?

2. Will the Jazz go back to their pick-and-roll game to slow the pace? The game was close throughout the third quarter and ended with an 81-all tie.

The Laker faithful erupted when Jordan Farmar knocked down what seemed like his first basket since Game One of the series. He shot 2-for-5 and scored six points, including a three-point play with 8:38 remaining that gave the Lakers a 90-86 lead.

This was shaping up to be another excellent playoff game between two solid teams. Like two boxers in a championship fight, the teams slugged it out. The winner would be determined late in the quarter. Utah Jazz point guard and developing superstar Deron Williams carried the Jazz again.

Deron Williams has been phenomenal all series long. He is already one of the best point guards in the game and, barring injury, will be a superstar in this league for the next 10 years.

The game was over when Sasha Vujacic missed a corner three-pointer and Pau Gasol grabbed the offensive rebound and dunked.

Every starter for both teams finished in double figures. The home team has won every game this series, and the Lakers held serve in game five to take a 3-2 series lead.  

The Lakers will head back to Utah for Game Six with a strong desire to close out this series with a win. The Lakers can advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2004. To accomplish that goal, the Lakers will need to play well for 48 minutes at Energy Solutions Arena on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. Pacific Time and finally change the trend of the second round of these playoffs when the home team has won 20 out of 21 games, with Detroit's victory in Orlando as the lone road victory so far.