Jazz 123 - Lakers 115 - Jazz tie series 2-2

Looks like my prediction of the Lakers wrapping up this series in five games has busted in my face but have no fear Laker fans, this series is still a guarantee. The Lakers lost game 4 in Utah in a stylish fashion. Think about how well the Jazz played in this game and how terrible the Lakers played and yet the game still went into overtime. During the game the Lakers looked like a team that knew they could win in Utah and the Jazz looked kind of scared of them. What I mean is that the Lakers won the number one seed in the West but it wasn't the dominant number one seed that usually holds that honor, there was a handful of teams that could have got that seed but yet it seems everyone is looking at the Lakers like they are a team that won 69 games during the regular season. The Lakers lost this game for two reasons which I will tell you about in a minute. At the beginning of the game Utah came out on fire with Deron Williams tossing up a couple highlight alley-oop passes in that opening quarter. The Utah crowd was really into it and the Lakers were just shooting terrible and the Jazz led 31-21 at the end of the first. In the second quarter it looked like things were still going the Jazz way and the Lakers were so-so but despite all of that the score was tied 55-55 at the half thanks to a Kobe Bryant buzzer beater. At the end of the third the Jazz had built a four point lead back up and the Lakers played catch up the rest of the game. The Jazz looked like they had this game under control as they were up by 12 points with four minutes to go in the game. Then the Lakers woke up. Derick Fisher got trigger happy from the three point line, hitting three threes. Lamar Odom hit a crucial three pointer and Pau Gasol got hot and just like that the Lakers were down by two points. With 4 seconds left Kobe Bryant missed a lay up but Lamar Odom was there for the put back and it was all tied up 108-108. Utah had one more chance to win it but the main man of the Lakers come back, Derick Fisher blocked Williams jump shot sending the game into overtime. In the OT the Jazz outscored the Lakers 15-7 and that was all she wrote as the series heads back to Los Angeles tied 2-2. Now, why did the Lakers lose this game? First off, the free throw shooting was just awful. Odom despite having a good game by scoring 26 points and grabbing 13 rebounds was just 5-10 from the line. Gasol had 23 and 10 but was 1-2 from the line and Bryant despite scoring 33 points was just 6-10 from the line. As a team the Lakers were 16-25, only 56%. Despite all that we still went into OT. Since the game still went into OT you can't say that is why they lost but they should not have even been in OT if they had done what they usually do and make those free throws. Now, why did they really lose? I'm going to have to put the blame for this one on our league MVP Kobe Bryant. As much as I love Kobe I got to tell the truth here, he just tried to much all by himself. Kobe was shooting brick after brick in the OT and the ball should have been going to Fisher or Odom in that OT, they had the hot hands that got the Lakers into the OT. Now, I know Kobe is as competitive as anybody but it was so obvious that his back spasm was just killing him out there. His offense was in slow motion and Kririlenko even got a couple blocks on Kobe, something that would not normally happen. Kobe really should have let the other Lakers take the shots. Despite all that Utah did what they had to do. Derick Williams led the Jazz with 29 points and 14 assist. Okur had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Turiaf was ejected from the game for a flagrant foul on Price. You had to feel bad for Turiaf as it was unintentional and Turiaf is one of the nicest guys there is. Price had to get stitches as his head took a real hit to the floor. Well, back to Staples for game 5, even though the Lakers lost the two games in Utah they showed in both games that they can win there.