THE A-TEAM IS ON THE JAZZ

Some girl wants to Lynch me, others wanna Decker… Obviously, I’m not going for a Fullbright Scholarship here.

Nice, L.A.!  I love it when a plan comes together, and I pity the fool who bet the Van on Utah, as the explosive Lakers hit 13 bombs to barely survive, 111-110, and build a 3-0 Series lead over the soon-to-be-underground Jazz (who Face elimination and are Howling Mad over crimes L.A. didn’t commit)

Utah doesn’t have a Colonel of a chance, Sucka.

Never in the History of the NBA has a team come back from 0-3 to win a 7-game Series, and that is where the Utah Jazz now find themselves, after missing by inches — twice in the final 2 seconds — of winning the game and changing the face of the Series.

The Lakers had won the first two games at Staples Center by taking advantage of their superior Big Men.  So Utah Coach Jerry Sloan smartly devised a plan that shut down the Lakers’ Paint game, and forced L.A. to shoot from outside.  Andrew Bynum never even scored a Point, in 20 minutes, while the Lakers actually took 29 three-point attempts for the game.  Sloan’s plan worked for a while, as the Jazz built a 13-point lead.  But then the Lakers started hitting their jumpers, and they quickly came all the way back.  Believe or not, the ABC TV Announcer actually said that the Lakers were carried in the 2nd Quarter by Shannon Brown, and by JORDAN FARMAR, who scored 5 Points including a 3.  The Lakers were down only 4 at Halftime 54-50.  Besides Brown and Farmar, Kobe didn’t suck in the 1st Half either, scoring 20 of the Lakers’ 50.

In the 3rd, Pau Gasol broke out of the shackles, scoring in double-figures.  Gasol ended with 14, and SEVENTEEN Rebounds.  Also in the 3rd, Ron Artest — who was fighting with Phil Jackson on Twitter about his bad outside shooting — broke out of his shooting slump to hit 3 3’s in the Quarter.  Artest ended with 20, including 4 3’s.  However, he also missed a 3 with a minute left, and threw an inbounds pass with 4 seconds left in the game that was intercepted (but it wasn’t really his fault, as intended receiver Derek Fisher was HELD on the play).

The Lakers went from down 4 to up 2 in the 3rd Quarter, but Utah regained a small lead in the 4th.  The return of Andrei Kirilenko was a big help to Utah to get them to the 4th in contention, as was Kyle Korver, who went 9-10 for 23 Points.  The Utah bench scored 46 Points, to the Lakers’ 22.  But 3 of those 22 came on a 3-pointer by Lamar Odom that gave the Lakers the lead with 2:25 to go.  And then, as usually happens in the Playoffs, the veteran Stars took over.

Down by 1 with 1:43 left, Kobe hit a beautiful fallaway;  Down by 3 with a minute to go, Kobe hit a game-tying 3;  Then down by 2 with 28 seconds left, Fisher made another 3.  It was the Lakers’ 13th made 3 of the night, and it gave L.A. a 1-Point lead.  Then with 10 seconds left, Wesley Matthews missed a 3, but Carlos Boozer got the Offensive Board.  When he went up for the game-winning put-back, ala Pau Gasol, that very same Pau Gasol blocked, or at least altered into a miss, Boozer’s shot.  Boozer was howling that he was fouled on the play.  Maybe so, but it wasn’t obvious in real time, and the Announcers didn’t seem to think it was a game-changing non-call.

But even after Boozer’s miss, the Jazz still had TWO more chances to win.  Kobe was fouled intentionally and made two Free Throws, giving him 35 for the night — his third straight game at 30 or more — and putting the Lakers up 111-108.  Then the Lakers fouled Deron Williams intentionally, with 6 seconds left, so that Utah couldn’t tie with a 3-pointer.  Williams made both Free Throws, even though the Announcers thought he might miss the second intentionally.  But Sloan’s strategy to have Williams NOT miss, worked.  Because with 6 seconds left, Matthews HELD Fisher on the inbounds play, and Artest’s pass was picked off.

According to Kobe, Artest got an immediate chance to “redeem himself,” even though I don’t think the turnover was Ron’s fault.  Nonetheless, Artest was guarding Williams for the last 4 seconds, with Utah down only one, and their Playoff lives on the line.  Well, Artest says that he forced Williams into an off-balance shot, which Williams missed.  Another view is that he wasn’t tight enough on Williams with only 4 seconds left, and he ALLOWED Williams to get a GOOD LOOK, which he just missed.  I’d say the answer lies in the middle of those two extremes, but closer to the latter.

Williams’ miss was still not the end.  Just like against OKC, when Gasol got a game-winning put-back on a Kobe miss, when the opponents sort of fell asleep thinking that time had expired, this time, the same thing sort of happened to Gasol.  Matthews managed to get around everyone, and he tipped the miss back up onto the hoop.  But the ball trickled off, and the game was over.

As everyone knows, a 3-0 Series lead has never failed in the NBA, but the Red Sox overcame it in Baseball, and there is a first time for everything.  The Jazz have certainly played the Lakers tough as hell, and with a bounce here, or a call there, could have a 2-1 lead in the Series.  With Kirilenko shaking the rust and with the Lakers getting understandably complacent, a Sloan-coached team is capable of coming back.  I bet you don’t read THAT anywhere else!

Assuming that the 3-0 RULE holds, the Lakers will play Steve Nash and the Phoenix Suns in the West Finals, as the Suns have a 3-0 lead on San Antonio.  The Spurs, with their core of 3 solid veterans, are an even better candidate to break the 3-0 curse, since their Big 3 won’t be rattled by having their backs to the wall.  But with Channing Frye hitting from the perimeter for Phoenix, even the Lakers are going to need their best effort to beat them, so the Spurs are in trouble.

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Below is basically the FINAL batch of (22) Audition Photos that I am going to share.  I still have hundreds more, but the best ones have been posted — the rest are even more grainy, and even more blurry.  Make a donation, and if I receive enough, I’ll buy a better camera for next year.

The Lakers won with 13 Rainbows.

One surprise:  Luke Walton did not play, after looking pretty good in earlier games.

Derek Fisher scored 20, including a huge three, in one of his best games of the year.

Matt Barnes and Orlando are up 3-0 on Atlanta, so there is still a chance of a Bruin vs. Bruin Final.

Deron Williams tallied 28, 4, and 9, and he shredded Fisher all night (but Fisher made up for it).

That’s “283,” as in:  “On a scale of one to ten, Nikki is a two-hundred and eighty-three.”

I wonder if these Audition Results say when someone is a UNANIMOUS choice?

“Talkin’ ’bout My Jenna Ration.”

#247, as in:  Maya rules, 24-7.

Jazz Hands…Lakers a victory.

  #286, as in:  “She’s way too cute 2 86!”

That top is like Laker Girl Gold, which is fine, since it’s being worn by a Girl of Laker Girl quality.

The Black & Gold are like the colors of the Steelers — Again, fine, since the wearer is a heart-Stealer.

I guess this deal wasn’t “No hottie left behind.”

I have a feeling I’ll be posting more Cheer Squad pics this coming year.

I don’t know if there’s any crossover between Dance and Cheer — They seem to have different physical requirements.

Too bad we can’t “Redshirt” Cheerleaders.

The only girl I know for sure has “good breeding.”  [I just mean that I met her parents, and they were good-looking, intelligent, and nice.]

Nice, natural smile — That’s not always easy when you HAVE to smile non-stop for a long time, under pressure.

No “leap deprivation” here.

Sir Isaac Newton would hate this girl… because she defied gravity.

Last One!  But there will still be more, never-before-seen, UCLA Spirit Pics, landing soon.

Comments

3 responses to “THE A-TEAM IS ON THE JAZZ”

  1. J Avatar
    J

    Unlike others who have posted, I won’t single out any of the girls by number. They’re all talented obviously otherwise they wouldn’t be there so applause to all who tried out and to those who made the teams.

  2. Newton Avatar
    Newton

    Second to last picture: What goes up must come down. 😉

    What happened with the email, did you get that sorted out?

    [T-H’s Note: Thanks for asking. They never responded to my honest request for an explanation, so I am assuming that it was not really from a squadmember.]

  3. Robert C. Avatar
    Robert C.

    Thanks for pointing out some of the new girls on the teams…UCLA is just simply reloading this year, the talent and the dance skills will be there as always, and I’m so happy the physical talent won’t be lagging AT ALL this year. I can’t wait to see the new squads.