The Lakers were on their way to a breezy victory, with visions of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol lounging on the bench for the entire fourth quarter, until Foulapalooza '09 took the stage at Staples Center.
The Utah Jazz served a reminder that, yes, it actually made the playoffs too, going to the free-throw line 28 times in the final 24 minutes and cutting the Lakers' 22-point halftime lead to nine.
It left the Lakers in a strangely defensive mood after winning their playoff opener, 113-100.
Losing large leads is a way of life in the NBA -- nobody extends 15-point halftime leads into 30-point victories every game -- but the Lakers are a little more sensitive to the issue because of what happened last June against the Boston Celtics.
This season, after the Lakers escaped with a two-point victory at Washington despite leading by 20 in the third quarter, Derek Fisher wrote "Boston Finals" on the locker-room whiteboard, followed by the number 24. It was a direct reference to their Game 4 Finals meltdown against Boston, where amazing happened only after a 24-point lead somehow turned into a 97-91 loss.
There's a lose-the-lead pattern now that the Lakers want to end tonight in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series at Staples Center.
"It showed up in the second half of the game [Sunday] and I think we all realized it," forward Trevor Ariza said. "For some reason, I think it's going to be a little different this next game."
The Lakers are expecting more from Andrew Bynum (seven points and three rebounds in Game 1) but also more from the Jazz after Coach Jerry Sloan said, "We're not a nasty team."
The Lakers chuckled at Sloan's supposition that Utah's chances against the Lakers were dreary, though they believed him this time.
"He's going to say, 'We're not mean enough, we're not aggressive enough, we're not tough enough,' " Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "He's going to drive that message home."
Jackson has some message-delivering to do as well.
He wasn't happy that Utah point guard Deron Williams picked apart the Lakers' defense, finishing with 17 assists.
"Penetration," Jackson said. "That puts our big guys in jeopardy."
Bynum's disjointed Game 1 effort was partly because of five fouls in only 20 minutes. Gasol had 20 points and nine rebounds but fouled out with 3:32 to play, the first time he had six fouls in a game since Feb. 24, 2006.
