Lakers, Jazz Earn First Playoff Wins

Kobe, Kwame lead Lakers to Game 3 victory. At that stage, with the home crowd booing, Lakers star Kobe Bryant figured there were two directions his team could take.
"You can put your tail between your legs or come back fighting," he said.

Bryant scored 15 of his 45 points in the fourth quarter, Kwame Brown added a career playoff-high 19 points, and the Lakers beat the Suns 95-89 to cut Phoenix's lead to 2-1 in the best-of-seven series.

"It was effort," Bryant said after the Lakers won by scoring the game's last six points. "You can go over execution and X's and O's all you want. What you have to have is effort."

Brown, hampered by a sprained left ankle for nearly four months, scored eight more points than his combined total in the first two games.

"He played well from the beginning of the game," Bryant said. "He didn't get discouraged when he didn't finish plays."

Brown looked like he might be finished in this game when he rolled his right ankle with 4 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. But not only did Brown stay in the game, he scored nine points during the remainder of the period.

"I was like 'Oh no, not again.' But it's OK," Brown said. "It's swelling up a little bit, but I'll be OK."

Game 4 will be played Sunday at Staples Center, with the fifth game Wednesday night in Phoenix, where the Suns embarrassed the Lakers 126-98 in Game 2.

Bryant scored only 15 points in that game after getting 39 in the opener, although he shot 1-of-10 in the final period of a 95-87 loss. He was much better in the fourth quarter of this game, shooting 5-of-11 to finish 15-of-26, and added four foul shots in as many attempts.

The odds remain against the Lakers, since only 11 of 193 teams in NBA history have come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a best-of-seven series. But an NBA team has never won a best-of-seven series after losing the first three games, so this was a victory they had to have.

"We still have the pressure on us," Brown said.

Bryant added six rebounds and six assists, and Lamar Odom had 18 points and 16 rebounds for the Lakers.

Amare Stoudemire led the Suns with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Leandro Barbosa scored 20 points, Steve Nash had 10 points and 13 assists and Shawn Marion also scored 10 points for Phoenix.

The Lakers won the game at the foul line, shooting 22-of-28 to Phoenix's 8-of-12. Los Angeles outrebounded the Suns 44-35.

"You've got to give them credit," Suns coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Things were so easy at the beginning. Human nature took over. Kobe down the stretch was too much to handle. They got 19 offensive rebounds - that was the game."

A 3-pointer by Bryant and a basket by Odom gave the Lakers an 83-75 lead with 9:55 to play. The Suns drew within three points before failing to score on three straight possessions. Bryant then drove for a layup with 3:29 to play, making it 89-84.

Two free throws by Stoudemire and a 3-pointer by Barbosa tied the game at 89 with 2:03 left, but the Suns wouldn't score again.

Odom's basket with 1:45 remaining put the Lakers ahead for good, and Bryant added a tough turnaround jumper from the left baseline with 57 seconds to go. He made a pair of foul shots with 20 seconds left to clinch the victory.

"I thought they played harder than we did," Nash said. "And we didn't stick to our game plan like we did in the first two games. We were a step slow and we weren't in the right spots. Defensively, we need to concentrate and be in the right spots."

Stoudemire said he believes the Suns let the game slip away, in part due to their 15 turnovers.

"We had a chance to put them away," he said. "They shot the ball well, Kobe was on fire. Game 4 will be a different story. We normally take care of the ball, but they were the aggressor."

The Suns made their first five shots - all jumpers - for a quick 11-0 lead, prompting a timeout from the Lakers and boos from the Staples Center crowd of 18,997.

Stoudemire picked up two fouls in the first 4 1/2 minutes, but the Suns kept hitting from outside, and led 31-14 late in the first quarter. Phoenix was 13-of-16 at that stage including 4-of-5 from 3-point range.

The Lakers battled back, and trailed by only three points at halftime.

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In Basketball Today........

Jason Terry scored 28 points, Dirk Nowitzki had 23 and Josh Howard led a 15-2 run in the third quarter that sent the Mavericks to a 112-99 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night, evening their first-round series.

Dallas had lost six straight to Golden State dating to last season. The Mavericks' search for a skid-buster included a new, smaller starting lineup in Game 1, but that only resulted in a 12-point loss.

So coach Avery Johnson went back to the formula that won 67 games in the regular season and saw his club back in synch from the start. The center tandem of Erick Dampier and DeSagana Diop proved they can hold their own against Golden State's little guys, and sixth man Jerry Stackhouse bounced back from a scoreless opener to put up 17 points.

"Everybody talked about the Xs and Os and the decision Avery made to go smaller, but it really wasn't that," Stackhouse said. "It was just the fact we didn't compete. I thought we came out and really competed tonight for 48 minutes and the game went in our favor."

Then again, it was easier with the Warriors' two best players getting ejected.

Baron Davis was tossed with 0.2 seconds left in the third quarter and Stephen Jackson was lost with 4:34 left in the game. Golden State already was trailing when the technical fouls started piling up.

"We're not good enough to lose a player to an ejection, much less two," Warriors coach Don Nelson said. "It hurt us when we lost Baron. I thought we had a shot at the time. It wasn't to be."

The series shifts to Oakland for Game 3 on Friday night, and there's little doubt the emotions will remain high.

The Warriors certainly won't be unhinged by this loss, just their second in the last 12 games. Nelson won't allow it. He's kept his club loose, telling everyone they were lucky to win the opener and that there was a better chance of him being hit by lightning than of his team winning Game 2. His task now will be harnessing Jackson and Davis' emotions.

Johnson expected Dallas to bounce back strong. The Mavericks have lost consecutive games only once since starting the season 0-4, and last year they recovered from two Game 1 losses to win Game 2 both times. They went on to win both series, too.

Still, this victory was a bit of a relief to the Mavs because it ended a five-game postseason losing streak that started in last year's NBA finals and it should quiet talk of Nellie and the Warriors having their number.

"We needed to turn it up," said Howard, who had 22 points and 11 rebounds. "They were aggressive at the start of the last game and we didn't respond. This time, we turned it around."

Dallas was finishing off its game-changing stretch when things started getting out of control.

The bad blood started when Terry dribbled into Jackson, drawing a foul, then kept going into Davis. Words were exchanged and there was some shoving, but officials broke it up by giving those three players technical fouls.

Davis got another tech, and an automatic ejection, for arguing about a foul with 0.2 seconds left in the third quarter. He was smiling and clapping at the time, which he said was to keep his teammates' spirits up.

"I wasn't trying to show up the refs," he said. "I was trying to keep my emotions in check. Emotion is what got us to the playoffs. We have to channel that emotion into playing better defense."

The game was turning into a rout when Jackson got his second technical. Whatever he said to get tossed wasn't nearly as bad as his reaction afterward. He wouldn't stop screaming at officials as he headed to the locker room, with teammate Matt Barnes trying to cover Jackson's mouth with his arms, then with a towel.

Jackson, who declined to comment, led the Warriors with 30 points, his most ever in a playoff game. He also had eight turnovers. Davis had 13 points, two assists and one rebound; he had 33 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in Golden State's victory in the opener.

"I feel we're in good position," Davis said. "They're supposed to beat us by 20. There's no pressure on us. Tonight we were just out of fire."

Golden State opened the game strong, going on an 11-0 run in the opening minutes. The Warriors were up 23-16 soon after, but all their points had come from Jackson and Monta Ellis. That duo was a combined 9-of-10; everyone else was 0-for-8.

Ellis had 13 points in the first quarter but didn't score again until the final minute of the third quarter. He finished with 20 points. Jason Richardson had 14 with 10 rebounds.

Howard filled his stat sheet with five steals and two blocks. Nowitzki was 7-of-15 with seven rebounds.

"It was a physical game and emotional," Nowitzki said. "I think they got us in the first game and took us out of our game. I said after Game 1 we need to execute a lot better. We made a couple of adjustments that worked. Now they'll make adjustments going home and we'll go from there."

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(NBA's) The Matrix

Some songs are so over played till it makes you sick, so quotes are so overused till it makes you mad, one thing that is starting to make me both sick and mad, is the saying that Shawn Marion is underappreciated.

One thing I should be mention before I get into this. He has one of the coolest/bad ass nicknames in the league, The Matrix, this is how he signs his name, people who know him call him 'Trix.

First of all He is the highest paid player on a team that includes the 2 time MVP (nash), Rookie of the year (Amare) and sixth man of the year (barbosa). Second, 'Trix always complains that he does what he does with no plays run for him, but in the Suns system who needs plays run for them!!! All you have to do is run the floor or make yourself open and Nash will find you. And what about that high post screen-and-roll with Boris Diaw that they run twice a game? when was the last time that failed?!

Third, no one around Shawn treats him like he's not the best at what he does. "If San Antonio calls and offers Tim Duncan and Ginobili maybe we'll think about it", that is what coach D'Antoni said when was asked if they're willing to trade Shawn Marion. Also, Amare , who's no short on arrogance and ego, has respect for Shawn's game and always makes a point to speak highly of him.

I thought deep inside, Shawn knew it. But last week I read on ESPN an interview titled "The invisible man"!! Come on!! In the interview Shawn entertains the idea of going to a medicore team to show what he can do. This is B.S.! I think he needs to get Joe Johnson on his speed dial right now, ask him how it feels to lose more around 100 games in 2 seasons. Shawn is already on everyone's top ten players list, he's a top 3 fantasy player for everyone, what more recognition does he expect to get??

Well he's not going to get the attention Kobe or LeBron get, NEVER. Shawn can't create his own shot, he doesn't have the mechanics. He's also still to perform steadily in the playoffs. I know Shawn complains about people not mentioning the good things he does, but he's gotta ackknowledge the flaws in his game. Trade Shawn for KG and it won't make the T'wolves a better team, but it'll win the Suns a championship. Shawn has played with two of the top point guards of our time, Nash and J-Kidd, imagine him playing off Marco Jaric, something gotta give.

Bottom line is: Matrix you'll loved appreciated and indespensible to your team and they know it. Guess it's about time you relize that.

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