Play-By-Play-offs

Its 1:30am (Wednesday night/Thursday morning-what was life like before DVR?) and I just got back from dinner and drinks with my girl Jmama.  I know what you’re thinking.  Why, after a nice dinner and cocktails, am I writing for you instead of giving Jmama a righteous thrashing?  Well, two reasons.  One, there’s a Laker game on, which supercedes everything, and two, Jmama is engaged, and is one of my best friends and I don’t get down like that.  This blog is about basketball.  Focus…you perverts.

Just changed into my Kobe throwback M.P.L.S. jersey (Minneapolis Lakers).  Yep, I’m ill like that.

-and were live 2mins into Lakers/Jazz game 5 as the Celtic/Cavs game ran late-just heard Kevin Harland(who I love) say Kobe Bryant has hit 2 quick shots-has hit a 3 has hit a 2 and Utah has turned it over 2 times(with a start like this maybe I should stop watching)-5-0 Lakers

-Dfish for 3-what a great spot up shooter as shown in those big 3s at the end of Game 4-my problem w Dfish is about 2-3 times per game he pulls up off the dribble and takes a shot which he NEVER hits-he’s smart enough to know his limitations and should only shoot when stationary

-Lamar Odom just looks focused-maybe it’s the fact that he was ‘wired’ in game 4 and the viewers could hear everything he said or the fact that he was awesome with a 26/13 stat line-either way he’s carrying whichever it was into game 5-the boy is ready to play

-Lakers decided to not play defense tonight and have given up 3 dunks in a row-11-8 Lakers

-somehow Ronnie Brewer has 10 of Utah’s 12 pts-and Kobe’s guarding him-I don’t even have a joke here

-Vladrad hits two 3pters in a row to put the Lakers up 25-16 proving that being good looking and being able to shoot the 3 effectively have no correlation

-the Lakers decided not to play any defense in the 1st quarter tonight-I think Phil just noticed and called a timeout-luckily they are hitting shots and executing their offense and are in the lead

-Korver hits an open 3 bringing the Laker lead to only 4pts and disproving Vlad’s earlier theory that good looks and 3pt accuracy are unrelated

-so we’re thru q1 and Lakers are up 29-26 and I have one question-is Pau Gasol playing tonight? –I haven’t noticed his existence on the court once

-So Pau is playing as he slams home a Farmar miss-I guess that wasn’t him sitting next to me at diner tonight on the Lower East Side in tight jeans and a hoody

-Jordan Farmar enters the picture in the series by hitting a 3pter-before that shot he was 1 for 17 in the series thus far

-Sasha ‘the Machine’ Vujacic makes his presence felt with a 3pter putting the Lakers up 10-the Lakers are 6/7 from 3pt range tonight-tough to beat them when they’re shooting like that

-all of a sudden Pau has 9pts(all in the 2nd quarter-I must have given him a wake-up call)

-the Lakers have 18pts off of 14 Utah turnovers which is clearly the difference in the game

-you cannot stop Mehmet Okur-you can only hope to contain him-seriously he’s like a poor man’s Dirk-I almost think the Lakers should put Kobe on him as he’s strictly a perimeter threat and never ever scores in the paint

-Lakers 51-44 with 3:30 left in the 1st half

-I pause the game and go to the kitchen to fill up my water-as I go to get ice I see what is the equivalent to whatever was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction-the container holding the vanilla frozen yogurt with strawberries and oreo cookies I ordered this afternoon planning ahead for this exact moment-don’t you just love when plans workout exactly as you envisioned them-the only thing that could make me happier right now is if Michelle Tafoya were here to witness this joyous occasion

-Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker-2 of the top 5 women’s ball players of all time(or so I’ve heard) are in the front row at the Laker game wearing shirts my girlfriends wore to Marquee last Friday night-and I’m pretty sure they’re talking about me

-Deron Williams hits a 20ft jumper after a ridiculous playground crossover that leaves Odom helpless-Lakers 53 Jazz 50-if Chris Paul didn’t exist we would be discussing Deron’s soon to be place in history

-with less than 1min left in the half Kobe gets his 1st FG since midway thru the 1st quarter for a very quiet 13pts

-Pau tips in an Odom miss with 1 sec left in the half to go up 61-54-after a no show in the 1st quarter Pau leads the game in scoring with 15pts-maybe that was him next to me at dinner

-overall kind of a sloppy 1st half-both teams scoring at will-a lot of turnovers

-I throw on my Laker sweatshirt as the frozen yogurt plus the rapidly dropping temperature plus listening to Avery Johnson’s voice at halftime give me the chills

-there have been no lead changes in the last 35 minutes in any game of the series-with the Lakers up by 1 I hope this stat continues

-Deron hits a 3pter from the corner tying the game at 69-the way this game is unfolding is very strange-no rhythm whatsoever-it feels like anything can happen at any moment-Kobe started off hot and then hasn’t put his stamp on the game since only taking 7 shots-Pau didn’t show up till the 2nd quarter-Boozer not much impact-Deron starting to emerge-I feel uneasy(but that could be the foie gras from dinner)

-I think Kobe’s back is bothering him-he hasn’t been assertive and he just went up for a dunk that a healthy Kobe would normally throw down (he missed but was fouled)-he needs to get on the block and run the offense from there-73-73

-Kobe scores 7 in a row and takes the Laker lead to 4-maybe he heard me too

-Ronnie Price (who?) comes thru with a bucket to tie the game at 81 as the 3rd quarter comes to an end-not sure what’s going on here-neither team is playing ‘their game’-no one star has begun to assert themselves-I assume the 2nd units are about to take over as the 4th qtr begins per the usual rotations-it’s anyone’s game at the moment-if somehow the bad guys in blue pull this out I will not be pleasant to be around for the next 48hrs (I know that doesn’t seem possible-but trust me its for real)

-I apologize in advance for the lack of 4th quarter analysis but I need to be away from my laptop as the potential for me to throw it across the room escalates

-Deron makes a sick coast to coast drive to the hole for 2 and Farmar comes right back at him with a drive to the hoop for 2 plus the foul-he hits the free throw putting the Lakers up 4 with 830 to play-this kid is going to win some titles next to Kobe the next few years

-Deron Williams is just great-he’s keeping the Jazz alive-just hit a 3pter to give him a game high 24pts-this kid is special-Lakers 94 Jazz 91

-when executed properly the Jazz can’t stop the triangle offense-the Lakers precision passing and cutting keep resulting in dunks and lay-ups-Odom gets his 2nd dunk in 3 possessions to put the Lakers up 6

-neither team can hit a shot-Lakers up 99-94 with 3mins to go-time for Kobe to win this thing

-Sasha gets elbowed in the face by Korver and gets a technical called against him for talking smack to Korver back down the court-not the best time to lose your cool-I thought ‘machines’ don’t have emotions-Korver hits the free throw and Deron hits a ridiculous 3pter as the shot clock hits 0 to put the Jazz within 1pt with 2mins to go

-Kobe drives breaking down the defense leaving a wide-open dunk for Lamar-Lakers 103-101 w 1.5mins left

-Kobe hasn’t taken 1 shot the entire 4th quarter-he’s not playing like himself-Pau makes a nice post move for a basket-Lakers up 105-102 w :45secs left

-Sasha misses a wide open 3 handed to him on a platter by a Kobe drive but Pau gets the offensive rebound and puts it back up for 2 to give the Lakers a 5pt lead with :20secs left-huge play by Pau potentially putting the Jazz out of their misery

-The Lakers hold on to make the home teams a dominant 19-1 so far in this round of the playoffs with the only road win by Detroit in Orlando-Lakers 111 Jazz 104

-every Laker starter finishes the game in double figures-a nice team effort-back to Utah for game 6 on Friday night with the Jazz’ backs against the wall-I will be bearable to be around-till then