Lakers take control of game, lead, 54-41, at half

May 4th, 2008, 1:43 pm · Post a Comment · posted by JANIS CARR, OCREGISTER.COM

LOS ANGELES

Kobe cont’d.
Can’t talk about the Lakers without mentioning the All-Star guard. It simply can’t be done.
Not when he scored 24 points in the first half to lead the Lakers to a 54-41 halftime lead against the Utah Jazz in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Not when he passes up a wide open 3-pointer and passes the ball inside to Pau Gasol, who scores an easy bucket with 6:03 left in the second quarter. The old Kobe wouldn’t have given a second thought to shooting the ball himself.
But the second quarter wasn’t all Kobe all the time. Sasha Vujacic, who came in for Bryant, landed an 18-footer from the right side in traffic that brought Jack Nicholson to his feet.
Gasol threw a half-court pass to Vladimir Radmanovic, who scored on a flying dunk for a 43-30 lead.
Gasol had six points, six rebounds and two assists in the first half.

BTW
Have to wonder who told Ronny Turiaf could shoot from outside? He missed all three long-range shots he attempted in the first half.

JANIS CARR/The Register

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