[0] HOME CHOKIN'; LAKERS FOLD AT FORUM, FACE EXTINCTION : UTAH 109, LAKERS 98.Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer The series-opening rout by the Utah Jazz was a presumed anomaly. The 2-0 deficit? An annoyance, a product of home-court advantage even. But this, this is serious. The Lakers See Lake poets , described a week ago as teetering on the edge of arrogance, are now teetering on the edge of elimination from the Western Conference finals. The Jazz pushed them to that cliff Friday with a 109-98 victory at the Forum, creating a virtually insurmountable 3-0 lead in the series. Now the Jazz isn't even the Lakers' greatest obstacle. Now they must beat history as well - no NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. And now, even the Lakers, aka Team Confidence, are pondering The End. ``Do I have doubts? We're down 0-3,'' said Nick Van Exel Nickey (Nick) Maxwell Van Exel (born November 27 1971 in Kenosha, Wisconsin) is a retired American professional basketball player in the NBA. Van Exel, a 6'1" left-handed point guard, was most well known for his flashy style of play and his ability to hit critical shots during . ``Do I think we can come back and win this series, beat the Jazz four straight?'' The words hung in the air while Van Exel tried to muster a reasonable answer to his own question. A wistful wist·ful adj. 1. Full of wishful yearning. 2. Pensively sad; melancholy. [From obsolete wistly, intently. smile and a hearty ``No comment'' was all he could manage. That Van Exel couldn't find an answer was appropriate, seeing as how he couldn't find his shot either Friday in a 2-for-13 outing. But none of the Lakers' key scoring threats fared much better as the team shot 41.2 percent, and even Shaquille O'Neal's 39 points and 15 rebounds couldn't bail them out. Eddie Jones' 16 points (on 6-of-19 shooting) and Van Exel's 10 were the only other double-figure performances. Meanwhile, their Karl Malone Utah was practically flawless with a 52 percent shooting night, just as the Jazz have appeared near-flawless for the entire one-sided series. ``The Utah efficiency,'' Lakers coach Del Harris said, ``did us in.'' And now the Lakers are one loss away from being done in permanently. This wasn't the way it was supposed to happen. The Lakers could stomach returning home from Salt Lake City down two games because every team expects to defend its home court, as the Jazz did. So the Lakers returned to the Forum fully expecting to do the same. Their early 9-2 lead made that appear promising, and even the 74-71 deficit at the end of three quarters looked encouraging despite the Lakers' lousy shooting. O'Neal's dunk with 6:20 remaining cut the lead to a point, 86-85, but the Jazz came back with a quick 8-2 run that included five points from Shandon Anderson Shandon Rodriguez Anderson (born December 31, 1973 in Atlanta, Georgia) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA, currently a free agent who most recently played with the Miami Heat. , and the Lakers faced a 94-87 deficit with 4:35 remaining. The Lakers cut the lead to 96-92 and had the chance to turn the momentum back their way, but Robert Horry's 3-pointer rimmed out, and led to a Bryon Russell Bryon Demetrise Russell (born December 31, 1970 in San Bernardino, California), is a former basketball player in the NBA. During a 12 season NBA career that spanned most of the 1990s and into 2005, he played for the Denver Nuggets, Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Lakers and was 3-pointer in transition. One six-point swing. No more chances. And now, the brink of elimination. ``It's very frustrating frus·trate tr.v. frus·trat·ed, frus·trat·ing, frus·trates 1. a. To prevent from accomplishing a purpose or fulfilling a desire; thwart: ,'' O'Neal said. ``We played with no emotion. I just think they wanted it more than we did. Now we're in a terrible hole and we can't give up.'' ``Anything's possible.'' A new mantra mantra (măn`trə, mŭn–), in Hinduism and Buddhism, mystic words used in ritual and meditation. A mantra is believed to be the sound form of reality, having the power to bring into being the reality it represents. for the team that a week ago felt it couldn't be beat. ``We feel like this series isn't over until it's over,'' Derek Fisher Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9 1974 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American professional basketball player with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was with the Utah Jazz but asked to be released from his contract to care for his 10-month-old daughter, who has cancer. said. ``(Saturday), moreso than anything, everybody's going to have to decide what they want to do. It's about pride, and it's about your manhood.'' GAME 3: A CLOSER LOOK RATING THE LAKERS OFFENSE: Poor If not for Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). , the Lakers would have struggled to reach 70 points. The guards couldn't shoot, and the forwards . . . what forwards? Still waiting for the half-court offense to appear. DEFENSE: Poor A bad shooting game is one thing, but there was no excuse for the Lakers' horrific defense, which yielded transition baskets, second shots and open jumpers at a surreal rate. And when crunch time came, the defense collapsed. FREE THROWS: Poor A season-long deficiency finally buried the Lakers, who made just 23 of 38. O'Neal was 5 of 13. HERO Chris Morris The Utah reserve forward scored 15 points in 24 minutes, including 10 in the first half when the Jazz established the momentum. His fellow reserves were almost as effective. GOAT Every Laker lak·er n. 1. A fish, such as the lake trout, that lives in a lake. 2. A ship used on lakes. Including the coaches, not named O'Neal. In the most important game of their season, the Lakers showed no heart, no courage and no smarts. They got what they deserved. CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box PHOTO (1--Color) Utah guard John Stockton This article is about the professional basketball player. For the U.S. Senator from New Jersey, see John P. Stockton. John Houston Stockton (born March 26, 1962) is a retired American professional basketball player who spent his entire career (1984–2003) as a has a determined look as he starts to drive past Lakers' Eddie Jones. (2) Utah's Byron Russell finds himself tangled with Lakers' Eddie Jones. David Sprague/Daily News BOX: GAME 3: A CLOSER LOOK (see text) |
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