Booz Cruises on the Lakers
Carlos Boozer (photo. Jeffrey Salter)Carlos Boozer returned to the land of the living on Friday, playing his best game in about six weeks and ruining any plans the Lakers had of pulling a “Fo, fo, fo and fo” on the ‘08 postseason. Booz slapped up 27 points and 20 boards as the Jazz handed L.A. its first playoff loss and made the series competitive all at once. Down the stretch Boozer was automatic with his jumper, whether it was coming off the pick-and-pop with Deron Williams (18 pts, 12 asts) or facing up with any of L.A.’s taller defenders in his face. Overall, Boozer was playing with a lot more confidence and aggression than we’d seen from him throughout the playoffs so far … If you’re looking for an L.A. scapegoat, look no further than Luke Walton. With about five minutes left and the Lakers down by seven, Boozer was at the line and missed his second shot. But Walton, who was supposed to box out the shooter, didn’t get in front of Booz and he was able to get the offensive rebound and go right back up for a bucket. Then with about 15 seconds left and L.A. down by four, Pau Gasol won a jump ball but Walton promptly turned it back over. Kobe screamed at him for that one … Early in the fourth quarter the Jazz were trying to protect a lead with a lineup that included Deron, Mehmet Okur and Kyle Korver, but for some reason decided to go with “Matt Harpring posting up Kobe 1-on-1″ as an actual play. As you’d expect, Kobe put the ball back in Matt’s face. A few possessions later the Lakers exploited that matchup on their end, with Kobe getting Harpring in the air with his classic pump-fake followed by sticking an impossible jumper while being fouled … Kobe finished with 34 points, 6 boards and 7 dimes, punctuated by a dunk over Andrei Kirilenko that gave AK a Baron Davis flashback, and a self alley-oop that had shades of Jamal Crawford and T-Mac … We suspect the only reason ESPN showed the player intros was to see if Derek Fisher would get booed (which he did, and a sizable chunk of the Utah crowd booed him every time he touched the ball thereafter), which brought up some questions: (1) What was up with that weird techno music the Jazz played for the Laker intros? (2) How often is Fisher introduced last after Kobe? That seemed like a made-for-drama decision. (3) How can the Jazz in good conscience introduce their own players to the same song that Michael Jordan and the Bulls made famous? It’s one thing if the Raptors or the Nuggets used that song, but MJ dealt direct championship-hope damage to Utah … Every team has their Dap Specialist, the guy who each starter does the complicated dap and/or chest bump with as they’re being introduced. For the Knicks it’s usually Nate Robinson. For the Jazz it’s C.J. Miles. And when he’s playing in Barcelona next year, the torch will be passed to someone like Ronnie Price or Morris Almond … Does Mike Tirico love himself some Kobe or what? Whenever Kobe made a shot Tirico acted like it was the greatest bucket in the world, almost always capping it off with the standard incredulous chuckle. But when Kobe missed — specifically when he was launching threes in the final few minutes that weren’t even hitting rim, Tirico would simply deadpan “wide left” or “no good.” … OK, new rule: No complaining about flopping if your team flops, too. And since EVERYONE in the League has at least one guy on their team that does it, that means no complaining from anyone. (On second thought, we can’t really say we’ve seen anyone on the Pistons who’s a regular offender. So maybe they get a pass.) … Speaking of, all eyes are on Chauncey Billups‘ hamstring going into today’s Game 4 in Orlando. If Billups can’t go, it will fall on Rodney Stuckey and Flip Saunders to fill in the gaps, but Flip might want to think about activating Lindsey Hunter … It turns out that Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili’s 31-points-apiece show the other night was only the third time in the last 15 years that two guards on the same team scored 30-plus in a playoff game. The other tandems? Kenny Smith and Clyde Drexler for the ‘95 Rockets, and Dwyane Wade and Damon Jones for the ‘05 Heat. That’s right, Damon Jones. That was the one year when Damon was good … We’re out like Boozer’s slump …
May 10th, 2008 at 2:27 am
ya boy says:
Ist, HAHAHA. Lakers got creamed by utah enthusiasm. perion
May 10th, 2008 at 2:27 am
timmy says:
1st!!
May 10th, 2008 at 2:32 am
ya boy says:
oh and seriously, mike brown can’t coach worth a damn. i mean I know lebron can hoop but do you have ANY plays that can be run outside of Lebron who next to Kobe an awesome double team decoy.Huh mikey,anything, anything. thought so. Can’t wait to see West put a spomping on the spurs.That incredulous look on timmy’s face:priceless !!NO in 7
May 10th, 2008 at 2:32 am
2 Easy says:
Thank god Booz finally woke up and the Jazz made this a series. I kinda wanted to see Deron vs CP3 in the conference finals so this was good. Not one word about Memo tho? Dude was a beast all game long
May 10th, 2008 at 2:43 am
kb24! says:
Memo was a beast in the first half. Nothing in Second. Lakers had that one…let it slip away. I blame Waltons dumb ass….Box out the shooter stupid! your an NBA player. Fundamentals! Lakes in 5.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Oscarisalakerfan says:
wow lakeshow play their worst ball since the memphis game and only lost by 5
May 10th, 2008 at 2:54 am
cheesedic says:
TUFF JUICE!!
May 10th, 2008 at 3:21 am
Oscarisalakerfan says:
go lakeshow wooooo
May 10th, 2008 at 4:00 am
the_don_mega says:
“How can the Jazz in good conscience introduce their own players to the same song that Michael Jordan and the Bulls made famous?”
damn right… what were those cats thinkin’???
May 10th, 2008 at 5:04 am
joe says:
no sweep too bad booze woke up
May 10th, 2008 at 5:21 am
Stefan says:
Koby is outstanding!
http://www.squidoo.com/KobeBryantDunk
May 10th, 2008 at 5:49 am
sans says:
Nawlins won’t win a game 7…take them in five if your a tru fan, damn. And, as an official, I hate flopping. It’s a technical foul on three levels. It’s unsportsmanlike, it is a taunt, both to the opposing team as well as the referees involved, and it is a faking a foul. Seriously, a legitimate flop is a direct insult the referees working a game, as well as an insult to the game itself. I T up players as often as I can for this, but it isn’t supported because I can’t get every official to call flops this way. My AAU assigner has already asked me to stop doing this for his games, which sucks, especially when, in principle, he agrees with me.
Dime, you forgot to mention Kobe busted Harpring in the face with his elbow the possession prior to rejecting him. Does Kobe have an angel dust influenced twitch to him or what? That ish looked incidental, but he does it so damn often it’s insane. I’m out like Smokey hanging out with hector and Dee-Bo’s pigeons…
May 10th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Danny says:
Dime, dudes, seriously. You guys have been around long enough to not just bust on the guy who screws up in the tail end of the game and forget about everyone else. How about Jordan Farmar turning it into a turnover-fest and getting eaten alive by D-Will for pretty much every minute he was on the court? They wouldn’t have spent the game in a 10-0 hole if hadn’t choked after Fish caught 2 quick ones. How about Jackson leaving Vujacic and Radmanovic on the bench while they’re down 10 and going to Walton for 3s to close the gap at the end? How about nobody guarding Memo for the entire first half while he’s unconscious from downtown?
May 10th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Danny says:
Switch that “10-0 hole” for “10 point hole”
May 10th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Flying_Dutchman says:
All I can say is.. Yall bunch of floppers (Im a Piston fan
)
May 10th, 2008 at 7:46 am
Amar says:
I don’t have an explaination for the bulls intro music, my cousin txted me with that same question and i didn’t know what he was talking about, because ‘welcome to the jungle’ was playing when I turned the game on.
Fisher gets the same love/hate as any guy who playED for the jazz and returns as a visiting player. Bryon Russell got booes, and he was on two west Championship teams, when Ostertag was on the kings he was booed, and you can bet your black ass that if Malone wasn’t injured against the jazz that he would have been booed. People seem to misinterpret the reason for the booing. IT’s not because Derek is a bad guy, or that he did something shady, it’s because he’s not on the jazz anymore, and moreso, because he’s on the Lakers. He wouldn’t be booed like that if he was on the Knicks. The jazz fanbase has been pretty much on a ‘boo only’ policy when it comes to the lakers since back when the Jazz used to play at the Salt Palace.
Memo plays well, but he’s not really smack worthy. He’s a tall euro who can hit the three and has been boarding like crazy. He has owned Gasol statistically.
Glad to see Boozer play like he is capable. Hope the jazz win the next game as well.
May 10th, 2008 at 8:29 am
kobeef says:
I don’t get Jazz fans boo-ing Fisher.
The guy moved so he could get his kid cancer treatment in LA instead of flying back and forth every day…the kid almost lost her eye…..so are Jazz fans booing that decision? That is pretty lame.
Maybe they should also boo owner Larry Miller for not attending game 4 on sunday because his church says he shouldn’t…but they probably won’t because eveyone in Utah is a mormon…which begs the question…who decided to have the sunday game in Utah?
May 10th, 2008 at 8:39 am
rangerjohn says:
man the booing is just part of the game. look at mike finley, he didnt leave the mavs, cuban let him go, FIRED! and he got those same “thanks for leaving jackass” boo’s every time he set foot in dallas.
the fans that start the booing dont know, they dont keep up with that stuff, all they know is fisher was here last year, now he is on the enemys team who cares why.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:15 am
ERIC says:
Gotta say, the Jazz were on their “A” game and only won by less than 10 pts. The LakeShow had the game and momentum when they stormed back within 4 UNTIL Luke “Butter Fingers” Walton botched the EASY catch and pass off the jump ball from Pau.
I’d be really pissed if I were Kobe too.
May 10th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Remy Nguyen says:
I wonder what Luke Daddy would say?
May 10th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Dennis Castro says:
Amar, nice job of explaining why the fans boo Fish. I was getting ready to hop on and call out the Jazz fans, but still, it’s not like he left for money. I mean it was to get his daughter closer to a hospital that can treat her effectively.
It’s just funny that if we Philly fans did the same thing, we’d get skewered in the public media as deplorable and moronic.
Kobe took over in that second half. He showed that Lebron or anyone else isn’t on his level, except maybe CP3 for this season only. Kobe has multiple moves that can get him anywhere he wants on the court or pump fakes that can get him to the line.
Boston is doing a good job of crowding Lebrons path when he gets close to the lane and when that happens he usually justs passes it off. He’s still got time to develop this, but watching Kobe single-handedly bring his team back into the game was fun to watch, and further solidified his MVP status.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:08 am
mike says:
Man the pistons flop a ton. Billups and Hamilton are two of the worst (with the ball). The feel the slightest touch of contact and they throw their arms around like they got shot and try to get the ball at the rim.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:25 am
Amar says:
kobeef — the jazz fans boo fisher just because of the jersey he is wearing, don’t be so vapid. for the record, his cancer specialist is still the one in NYC (the city that’s closer to slc than la), and that utah has state of the art cancer treatment centers. but it’s not about his personal life, it’s just basketball. jazz fans boo tmac, and he never got out of a contract with the jazz, he’s just a guy on the other team who is good. jazz fans boo wade, they boo michael redd, you know, it’s called a home court advantage.
eric — utah didn’t play their A game, they didn’t control the boards, they didn’t go to the foul line MORE than the visiting team, they didn’t hit a lot of threes. they won a close game, that doesn’t mean that it’s more than just 1 W in the win column, but it doesn’t mean that the lakers are automatically going to win game 4 either. all we know is that it’s not going to be a sweep anymore.
remy nguyen — he’s say that luke’s turn overs and farmar’s turn overs in the 4th planted the seeds for the fall of the entire western civilization, and that the shattered dreams of thousands would mirror the strife due to natural disasters in asia, and wrap it up with either a comment about myspace or how pau gasol should throw it down, bigman.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:31 am
KenAdams says:
It wasn’t like the Lakers brought their D, C, or B game. They were playing great basketball too. I say both teams had their A game….. but it is tough to win in Utah when they have their A game going for them.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am
BxBaller says:
@ Amar, no Salt lake City is closer to LA than NYC.
I also think that however the home team is introduced is how the visiting team is introduced. Like last night the order of intro went from forwards-center-2 guard-point guard. I don’t think all teams flop, especially not as bad as the Spurs do.
May 10th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Amar says:
Dude, Fisher’s daughter Tatum is still seeing the cancer specialist in NYC, she’s part of a clinical trial about this type of retinoblastoma surg. She has to go to NYC every few months. it’s a shorter flight from SLC to NYC than LA to NYC. everyone knows that LA to SLC isn’t that far, but that’s not what I was writing about.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
JHov says:
Dime you’re slipping for not mentioning this dunk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9lqWZ-Lxgs
and guys the Jazz are actually good..I expected them to win at least one game. Lakers in 5! Hornets in 6!
May 10th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Oscarisalakerfan says:
@ KenAdams
lakers played horrible on both ends…..
turnovers leaving shooters open….
it was a d+ at best
May 10th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
djKianoosh says:
castro, you’re so right man.. philly fans get unfairly criticized for stuff like that. this happens everywhere… maybe we popularized it, though
hahah, just kidding. i always thought it was a northeast kinda thing though. I figured we take sports much more seriously than fans out west, espcially in cali. but it happens everywhere. it’s just being a fan of your team and not the “enemy”. no big deal.
May 10th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
SAS Sizzle says:
Good to see Utah play like they dropped a pair
May 10th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
SWAT says:
WOW DANTONI IS GOING TO THE KNICKS!!
May 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
word says:
am i the only 1 who thinks d’antoni in NY isn’t going to be a good fit? carlise should work out good i think but mike?
May 10th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
word says:
calise in Dallas i mean, but seriously I am glad the suns will get a new coach but i can’t see why mike would want to leave and coach the knicks? mark jackson is extra pissed right now i’m sure.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Amar says:
btw, lost in the utah win is the fact that Kobe is the best player on the planet and had a good game littered with amazing individual plays. I’m not a fan the lakers (last time I lived there was 1984), and I’m not a fan of Kobe (but i’m warming up to him), but to deny his skills as a player is hater-folly to the highest degree.
May 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
daquest?on says:
D’ANTONI SIGNED WITH THE KNICKS!!! THOUGHT I SHOULD LET U KNOW
May 10th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Austin Burton says:
@JHov #27 — “Kobe finished with 34 points, 6 boards and 7 dimes, punctuated by a dunk over Andrei Kirilenko that gave AK a Baron Davis flashback, and a self alley-oop that had shades of Jamal Crawford and T-Mac”
May 10th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
JHov says:
My bad,my bad I stand corrected! That’s what I get for skipping thru!
D’Antoni is going to be wiping his tears away with hundred dollar bills! Horrible fit in NY!!!!
May 10th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Joe says:
New rule: Player should be called for a technical foul if they flop. Floppers suck. Ginoboli is the biggest flopper out there!
May 10th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
rangerjohn says:
@ word
no your not the only one, listening to the herd with colin cowherd yesterday he was GOING OFF on dantoni and the knicks and how dantoni is not a good coach and how bad things will be in NYC. as cowherd said, what has dantoni done? NOTHING, sure he has gotten some nice regular season records but he has done nothing in the playoffs when it counts but everyone is all on his nuts like he is the best coach in the league. he was saying he could not even get a team with amare, marion, barbosa, joe johnson, and the 2 time mvp to the finals, not even to the finals to comepete for a title more or less a title.
he thinks he had problems with chemestry on the suns wait till he gets to the practice court with the knicks players.
May 10th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
djKianoosh says:
what the hell does colin cowherd really know? it’s just another radio guy talking trash to get ratings..
i can think of 24 million reasons why D’Antoni would take this job (TO reference). and not one of them is the roster. they got two more years of bad contracts to get rid of.
btw, daawight howard is playing inspired ball in the first quarter.. he’s jumping through the roof practically every possession..
May 10th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
Austin Burton says:
If you’re gonna start handing out technical fouls, how exactly do you determine what’s a flop and what isn’t? It isn’t black-and-white enough to have refs trying to determine what’s a flop and what isn’t without using replay. So should they stop a play during the action to call a tech on a guy who seems like he might be overacting? I just think it’s too hard to enforce giving out techs for flops. And what exactly qualifies as a flop anway? Instead, just swallow the whistle and guys will stop doing it if they’re not getting calls.
May 10th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
rangerjohn says:
@dj
yes whole cowherd is just a talking head, he makes very good points, what has dantoni done? he could not even get the group of amare, marion, nash and a few other decent players to mesh well enough to get anywhere. there is nowhere near that much chemstry in NY and he is not a good coach for creating chemestry. you think he will be able to get curry, randolph, STARbury, crawford, q rich (who he didnt like whe he had him) and all the other high priced nobodies to mesh? if larry brown cant do it, mike “porn-stash” d’antoni isnt going to be able to do it
May 10th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
djKianoosh says:
yeah, true.. just saying the radio heads usually blow things out of proportion or just exxagerrate things to get ratings..
but you’re right, no way D’Antoni turns this thing around until the entire roster is remade. Unless he can get them to play as a team.. how? don’t ask me. that’s a nightmare job. at least he’s gettin paid in full.
May 10th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Lakers Blog says:
Lakers play bad, only lose by 5. Jerry Sloan makes remarks about Kobe playing at will because no one is allowed to touch him or else they are called for a foul… is this guy serious?? Sloan seems like a smart coach, how does he make stupid comments like this? Phil Jackson said it best, Sloan is better off not saying anything about it considering the kinds of calls Boozer and the rest of the guys got away with. boozer was pushing off and fouling all game, didn’t get called for anywhere near as many calls as there should have been. I can’t wait to see how Kobe play pissed and draw foul after foul against these guys…