Lakers ring in the new year, wring out the Jazz

Los Angeles, Ca

At Staples center Friday night the Lakers beat the visiting Utah Jazz 113-100 after a four day lay-off. It was the Lakers 7th wire-to-wire victory of the season. Los Angeles came into the game fully rested and played with tons of energy in the first half. The Lakers paced by Kobe Bryants 40 point, 7 board, 4 assist effort were able to hold on late for the win. Leading by as much as 20 points, the Jazz were able to control the energy and effort in the thrd and final quarter pulling as close as four, at 97-93. It was the quick hands of Trevor Ariza that saved the game for Los Angeles. Slash had two steals and two resulting layups, plus a nice jam after a Pau Gasol circus pass in the final 2:38 to seal the deal. "Trevor takes risks at a time, but he's very limited in the risks he takes. Obviously steals is not a perfect analysis of good defense but in his case he anticipates well. When a person crosses over in front of him, he has very quick reflexes. He's a cobra out there and he just strikes and takes that ball and he's terrific at it.", said Lakers coach Phil Jackson on trevor Ariza'a defensive ability.

Pau Gasol matched Utah's Mehmet Okur with 21 points a piece. Carlos Boozer missed the game, and will undergo arthroscopic left knee surgery on January 9th. Ronnie Brewer added 20 and one of the leagues best point guards, Deron Williams only scored 10 points on the night. "I thought we gave ourselves a chance, said Williams. "We have a chance to beat them once we get healthy and once we get everyone back and start playing like what we are capable of." This Jazz team coached by Jerry Sloan will definitely be a contender once everyone is back healthy. I know Utah fans are pretty weray of losing Boozer to free agency after his contract is up though. He seems pretty optomistic about his value on the open market, and rightfully so. Carlos Boozer is going to be a gem for some team in one of the most anticipated free agent markets in recent history. 

The Lakers do need to work some more on defensive intensity before matching up with a good Portland Trailblazers team coming up this Sunday. Los Angeles jumped out to an early 17 point lead on 55% shooting and scored a season high 37 points in the first quarter. With the Lakers dominating the first half and then allowing the Jazz to get back in the game late, we see lapses in effort.

"The only thing I'm disappointed about is that we didn't get tacos for our fans, it bothers me. Our defense should've done better; it's not about the tacos, it's about the defense."

said Jackson, when asked if he was happy with the win or unhappy that the team didn't close the game well.