The Jazz vs. Lakers

The Lakers win!

On the 3rd game of a back-to-back-to-back the Lakers put a hurting on the Jazz by building a 25 point lead after 3 quarters. Pau Gasol got back on track with a solid game both in scoring and rebounding, finishing with 22 and 9.

Troy Murphy fouled out of the game with 5:23 left in the game. He didn't score a point, but had 11 rebounds and 4 assists. He, also, had a +11 point differential, which is good. For the casual basketball fan, what that means is that while he was on the court, the Lakers were winning by 11 points. That's not bad for not scoring a point.

Metta World Peace had 12 points and 5 rebounds as he seems to picking up his performance as one of the main bench players.

Of course, Kobe Bryant led the way with 26 points. For the 3 games, so far Bryant has scored 83 points, which is a 26.6 average. Kobe might have to lead the league in scoring this season for the Lakers to be competitive.

By the way, no one in the Jazz starting line-up scored more than 8 points. Can you believe that? Millsap scored 18 and Josh Howard scored 10 for the Jazz off the bench. Since Al Jefferson has come to the Jazz his scoring production has come way down.

As for the Lakers and their fans, we await Bynum to see how the Lakers really play and how Murphy and McRoberts will be used off the bench. Who'll get most time off the bench when Bynum comes back? Murphy or McRoberts? I'd go with Murphy.
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Around the league:

Kevin Love seems to be continuing his rebounding ways by grabbing 20 rebounds. He had 12 in his first game of the season. That's 32 boards in 2 games. That's 16 boards per game. Huge! Too bad the 'Wolves lost both of their games as the 'Wolves fell to the Bucks tonight. The point? Don't be fooled by stats when your team is losing.

The Celtics fell to 0-2 by losing to the Heat 115-107. The Celtics are playing without Paul Pierce so we can't get a real feel for what they're all about this season, yet. But, right now, Jermaine O'Neil is not producing for them at the 5 spot. And a team without a defensive center will not win a championship.

The Heat are 2-0, but they don't have a defensive center, either. Keep your eye on that team. Mark my words: come playoff time, no defensive center, no ring for that team.

After beating the Lakers in their opener, the Kings get crushed in Portland 101-79. Gerald Wallace scored 25 for the 'Blazers and LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24. I guess the Kings aren't really that good or the Lakers are really bad. Too early in the season to tell.

Atlanta vs. New Jersey...snoozer! I'm sorry if that's offensive to the players of both teams. They are professional players, but, I don't think either team is going anywhere anytime soon.
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Games of interest tomorrow:

New York at Golden State:

New York has the big 3: Anthony, Amare, and Chandler. Mark Jackson is said to be having the Warriors play defense. Let's see how this works out. The Warriors seem to have more balance on their roster as opposed to the East Coast's big city's 3 superstar roster model.

Los Angeles Clippers at San Antonio:

Let's see how good the Clippers really are, and how old San Antonio really is.

Oklahoma City at Memphis:

Let's see how good little brother Gasol really is. This should be a good game. Perkins vs. Gasol in the middle. Randolph vs. Ibaka at the 4 spot. And Durant vs. Gay at the 3 spot.

I give the edge to the Thunder because they have Mohammad to relieve Perkins. Mohammad always gives good relief minutes.

We shall see!

mike t.