So I am jumping on the Utah bandwagon today...Salt Koast is my new name

[Skandery]

-- Free throw shooting.  Utah has the reputation and often-times it comes back to bite them in the most inopportune times.  The series cannot turn into a parade to the line for Kobe, Odom, and Gasol.  Utah has to play tough but clean.

Game 1:  46 free throws

Game 2:  43 free throws

89 free throws in 96 minutes of game time.  Man I hate it when I'm right.

[westkoast]

-- Free throw shooting.  Utah has the reputation and often-times it comes back to bite them in the most inopportune times.  The series cannot turn into a parade to the line for Kobe, Odom, and Gasol.  Utah has to play tough but clean.

Game 1:  46 free throws

Game 2:  43 free throws

89 free throws in 96 minutes of game time.  Man I hate it when I'm right.

You were also dead on in this spot as well....

"-- Defense.  There is no two ways about it, Utah can't defend the chair I'm sitting in.  I think they need to play with a sense of urgency, almost a sense of panic on the defensive end for 48 minutes in order to stop the offensive firepower of the Lakers.  Kobe is unstoppable and if I'm Jerry Sloan, I would let him have his 60 points rather than 20 - Kobe, 20 - Gasol, 20 - Odom.  Pick your poison and I think it'll be easier to stop Odom/Gasol and let Kobe go nuts rather than try to stop all of them, have two of them go nuts and bury you.  Play with defensive intensity.  Stay home on the shooters --- I will repeat that --- STAY HOME ON THE SHOOTERS (Derek Fisher will stab you right in the chest if you let him).  So will Walton.  So will Radmanovic.  So will Vujacic.  And hopefully you can lull Kobe into falling love with his perimeter shot.  If Utah holds L.A. to 95 points and all Lakers not named Bryant to 44% shooting or less, they'll have done a good job on defense  "

Staying home on shooters?  2nd quarter of game 1 when Sasha rattled off 9 straight and Derek Fisher the entire night comes to mind.

Let Kobe score a lot but don't let anyone else?  4 of the 5 starters last night were at 20 points (Odom had 19) or over 20 points.

[Reality]

^^ perfect example of this last night* was after the Jazz had crept to within 99-94.  Kobe with the ball, drove from top of arc to down near the side of the key.  Great D by Jazz, Kobster basically hit a dead end as another Jazz come over to help for a wall.  Kobster slipped, almost fell down but before he bit it he tossed the ball out to Sasha outside the arc.  Korever was caught 6-7-8 feet away, looking in at Kobe.  Korver overeacted on his recovery and went sprinting at Sasha like a bull after the red.  Sasha very nicely faked the jumper, watched and waved goodbye as Korver joined the paratroupers club and went barraling into the sidecourt seats, then Sasha put the ball to the floor, took a step or two in, gathered himself and slowly and calmly went up for the jumper.  All net, nice form.  Point cushion restored, Jazz never got within sniffing distance the rest of the way. 

Stay at home!  Is this a Jerry Sloan coached team or not?  They've been playing like amatuers on this issue.
WoW correctly called out LFD who was trying to compare Byron Scott as a rookie compared to Pop.  Are the Jazz tuning out Sloan or what is up?

[Skandery]

Let Kobe score a lot but don't let anyone else?  4 of the 5 starters last night were at 20 points (Odom had 19) or over 20 points.

Yeah but don't you think it sort of goes hand in hand.

11 of Kobe's 34 points on the line

8 of Gasol's 20 points on the line

5 of Odom's 19 points on the line

In Game 1:

21 of Kobe's 38 points on the line

6 of Odom's 16 points on the line

Obviously not yesterday, but in Game 1, I think Utah did a good job defensively holding the other guys in check. 

They have to just find a way for the refs not to blow the whistle so much.  Its so ingrained in NBA culture that Utah fouls, its what they do.  They foul.  Utah fouls.  The Jazz, they'll foul you.  The announcers remind you about 4 times a quarter.  That just normal, hard-nosed playoff defense is automatically whistled.  I knew their reputation would hurt them but its bordering on the silly.  Maybe everyone in a Jazz uniform should have both arms in the air at all times.  I don't know what the refs will allow them to do to be honest.

[westkoast]

Odom shooting FTs is because he is attacking.   I have seen him take 2-3 jumpers the entire series.  When he gets the ball he is going right into the paint.  Gasol is getting FTs because he is getting fouled when getting good interior passes or going to the rim (they are bringing help wayyyy too late).  It's less of the Jazz physical style of play as it is just poor defense all the way around that is sending the Lakers to the line.  I'd agree that the FT totals between the two teams are fishy if you didn't look at the Lakers shooting %, assists to baskets ratio,  and fast break points  it's easy to see why this is happening.  They foul teams that don't even move the ball well at a very high clip.  So to see them foul a team who moves the ball well and is obviously much quicker then they are should not be very surprising.   If you are fouling the Sacramento Kings  and Los Angeles Clippers of the league 25-28 times per game then when you face a much better offensive team it is going to jump up even more.  They are getting caught by surprise and are just reaching out instead of bodying up.

What you see on TV and what you see when you attend the games is obviously much different.  There was a lot of things off the ball on Sunday that I saw that did warrant a whistle being blown but was not.  So that rough play is not being called all the time.  That is why I said it's not as much their physical style of play as it is just poor defense.

As for all the fouls being called...I didn't see anyone mention the 4th quarter of game 1 at Staples Center where the Lakers were whistled for fouls 5 straight possesions.  The reason I bring it up is because a lot of those fouls were on the floor.  Whereas a number of Jazz fouls are coming as Pau is making a sweeping hook move towards the rim and  Kobe is making a move in traffic to the rim.  In game 3 I think we all should focus in on where the fouls are coming for each side. 

[Randy]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Utah's fouling under the basket.  A lot of the fouls that Boozer had (and half of Mehmets) were under the basket pushing Laker players from behind in order to try and get the rebound.  It's one of the easiest calls to make because it's so obvious.  Millsap is at least a little more sly about it but with Boozer it was so obvious that even Reality would have had to call the foul in favor of the Lakers.

Also, the Jazz have to quit playing defense on the perimeter with their hands -- Brewer is the worst but Kirilenko did it as well.  Harpring actually did the best job against Kobe but nobody in the NBA could have guarded Kobe last night.  He made two shots that ranked among the toughest shots I have ever seen made.  Harpring played defense against Kobe with his body -- the refs aren't going to let you use your hands on the perimeter.