In hindsight, it's going to look as if the Los Angeles Lakers were a minor obstacle in the Utah Jazz's inexorable march to the NBA Finals, that they were just one game better than Utah's previous playoff victims, the Los Angeles Clippers.
That's why hindsight has such a bad reputation.The fact is, the Lakers, expected by many to pack it in at the first opportunity and go lie on a beach somewhere after talling behind 3-1 in this best-of-seven series, showed a lot of heart and pride (and even some nasty) in losing to the Jazz on Monday night at the Delta Center, 98-93 in overtime.
"We knew it was going to be a tough game because they'd come at us with everything they had and they did," said Jazz coach Jerry Sloan.
The vistory closed out the Lakers' postseason and advanced the Jazz to their second berth in the Western conference Finals in a row, their fourth in six seasons. Utah now awaits the winner of the Houston-Seattle series, which the Rockets led 3-1, with Game 5 scheduled for Tuesday in Houston. If that series ends in five or six games, the Jazz will next play on Saturday at the Delta Center.
Against the Lakers, attrition favored the Jaz. Already without verteran guard Byron Scott, out with a sprained writs, the Lakers lost starting small forwrd Robert horry in the third quarter to an ejection. They then lost center Shaquille O'Neal to a sixth foul.
All the personnel losses left the Lakers with a shorthanded overtime squad that included Nick Van Exel; Eddie Jones, who struggled to a 4-of-14 shoting efford; forward Elden Campbell, who missed 12 of 13 shots; forward Jerome Kersey (before he, too, fouled out) and 18-year-old rookie Kobe Bryant.
The composition of that group limited the Laker's offensive options, and they ended up putting their game in the hands of the youngster, who missed four 3-point shots in the period, three of which failed to draw iron. The kid's going to be a terrific player someday, but on this night he looked like any other 18-year-old playing against men.
The Jazz made just two of five shots in OT, but they scored on five of eight possessions and made five of six foul shots. The Lakers made one of 11 shots. Karl Malone scored the first two points of the period, and four more, and Bryon Russell nailed two free throws with 3.4 seconds left to secure the win.
Malone led the Jazz with 32 points and 20 rebounds, but once again, other starters stepped up.
Point guard John Stockton made 11 of 13 shots for 24 points, with 10 assists, and kept the Jazz from going under down the stretch with eight points in the final four minutes.
Russell hit a pump-fake, hanging jumper - a shot that was nothing short of miraculous - that tied the game with 1:13 left in regulation. Russell made seven of 13 shots for 22 points, helpd hold Jones to a subpar shooting night, and defended Bryant's airball three at the end of regulation.
Center Greg Ostertag didn't score, but he had 10 rebounds and blocked nine shots, including a stuff of an O'Neal dunk attempt, which doesn't happen often. Asked if he was tempted to trash-talk O'Neal, Ostertag said, "No. I didn't want to stoop to his level. It doesn't matter what kind of game anybody has against Shaw, he's not going to give them any credit."
For much of the early part of the game, the Jazz looked tight. They shot well, but they suffered defensive lapses and couldn't put together a sustained run, settling for an eight-point halftime lead.
"We were trying so hard, the guys wanted to win so badly that our energy level left us a little bit," Sloan said.
Utah started to pull away in the third quarter, moving in front by 11 on an incredible one-hand bank shot by Jeff Hornacek (one of only two field goals he made all night) at the 9:16 mark. On the Jazz's next possession, Malone took a psss on the low block and raised for a shot, only to be whacke din the head by O'Neal.
"I didn't think my buddy would hit me that hard," Malone said. "He went at my head. He didn't try to hit my body."
Malone jumped up and had words with O'Neal, and other players got involved and Horry ended up poking his hand into Hornacek's face. Horry was ejected, Malone got a technical foul, and O'Neal earned a much-deserved flagrant foul. Of his tussle with Horry, Hornacek explained, "he was in the mix there and I grabbed his arm and pulled him out of there. he took his other arm and pushed me in the face."
That unpleasantness has served to arouse the Jazz to some stretches of strong play this season, but this time it seemd to them off their game. After Malone made two foul shots for the flagrant foul, Utah got just one free throw - for an illegal-defense call - in five possessions.
The Lakers struggled, too, but they shook it off quicker and whittled a 13-point Jazz lead to five in the final five minutes of the quarter. Utah made four of 18 shots in that third period.
L.A. then opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run to take a 69-68 lead - their first lead since early in the first period.
Lakers lad by three several times in the final minutes, as O'Neal dominated the paint. But Stockton scored six straight Jazz points to keep the home team close, and his drive past Bryant with 39 seconds left tied the game at 89.
After a timeout the Lakers ran in in-bounds play to Jones, who drove the lane and attempted a bank shot that was swatted away by Ostertag. On the other end, Ostertag rebounded a missed jumper by Malone and tried to go up for a shot with 12 seconds left, but Van Exel stripped the ball, setting up Bryant's last-second miss.
Sloan was visibly upset with Ostertag's decision to shoot.
"Obviously, we'd have liked to have the ball the ball in John's hands," Sloan said. "But he'll learn. He hasn't played a lot fo minutes down the stretch for us."
"In my mind I did the right thing," Ostertag said. "I was trying to put it up and wind the game."