LOS ANGELES – Pardon Phil Jackson’s lack of enthusiasm for how the Los Angeles Lakers played in the second half.
They piled up 62 points on Utah in the first half, then got outscored over the final 24 minutes.
“It wasn’t a coach’s delight, that’s for sure,” he said.
But his players sure liked the outcome, a 113-100 victory over the Jazz in the teams’ playoff opener Sunday.
Kobe Bryant scored 24 points, Trevor Ariza added 21 and Pau Gasol 20 as the Lakers pretty much had their way against the eighth-seeded Jazz. They led by 22 points at halftime and then answered resoundingly both times Utah got within nine in the second half.
“They kept knocking on the door and we just never let them in,” Bryant said.
Allowing a Phil Jackson-coached team to win Game 1 of any series doesn’t bode well for the opposition. Jackson’s teams have never lost a playoff series after winning Game 1, going 41 for 41 with Chicago and the Lakers.
“We had a very difficult time,” Utah coach Jerry Sloan said. “We gave up 62 points in the first half and it’s virtually impossible to beat this team giving them an edge.”
Carlos Boozer led the Jazz with 27 points and Deron Williams added 16 points and a career playoff-high 17 assists. Both were in foul trouble, with Boozer getting his third just before halftime when Williams already had two.
“I didn’t shoot the ball too well,” Williams said. “I did a good job getting in the lane and distributing the basketball, I just couldn’t finish.”
The Jazz sorely missed Mehmet Okur, who sat out with a mild right hamstring strain. He averages 17 points and 7.5 rebounds and gives Utah a much-needed inside presence against the Lakers’ twin 7-footers, Andrew Bynum and Gasol.
Nuggets 113, Hornets 84: At Denver, Chauncey Billups scored 36 points and made a career-best eight 3-pointers.
Billups sank four of his 3s in the third quarter, when the Nuggets began to turn a tight game into a laughter. At one point, they led by 34.
Hawks 90, Heat 64: At Atlanta, with Josh Smith delivering one rim-shaking dunk after another and plenty of teammates chipping in, the Hawks made Miami look like a one-man team.
The Hawks tied a franchise record for fewest points allowed in a playoff game, holding Miami’s Dwyane Wade, the league’s leading scorer, to 19 points.
Smith scored 23 points and every other Atlanta starter also was in double figures.