Utah Jazz Basketball Team

When the Utah Jazz takes the court on Thursday at Salt Lake City, against the Lakers in Game 3, there will be an empty, lost feeling, a sentiment having absolutely nothing to do with an emotional state of the series. The emptiness won't only come from a courtside absence of a khaki-clad, auto-sales mogul but a loss of a larger-than-life, excitable presence in the huddle, and, at times, in the locker room. Larry Miller, who owned the Jazz for 24 years, died on Feb.

Exactly 306 days after their last playoff game, the Lakers begin anew, their first step into the corridor of redemption coming today at noon against the Utah Jazz. If 10 months seems like forever ago, the Lakers think so too, ready to shove their 39-point loss to Boston in Game 6 of last season's NBA Finals that much further into the past.

What comes after bleak? Impossible? Where's Tim Donaghy when we need him? Vacation? If desperation leaves the best wake-up calls, the Utah Jazz had the added advantage of a noon tipoff, which is the crack of dawn in the NBA, and was still 22 points down by halftime Sunday. At that point, they were a perfect 10 on the Jerry Sloan Bleak-O-Meter, before cutting the lead to single figures in the second half of Sunday's opener of their first-round series against the Lakers, and losing only 113-100.

The Lakers actually won a playoff opener on their home court, which Boston, San Antonio, Orlando and alleged up-and-comer Portland couldn't claim. But nobody beyond a briefly optimistic Kobe Bryant seemed enthusiastic about a 113-100 victory Sunday over the Utah Jazz in Game 1 of a best-of-seven series.

First-game blues, first-game jitters. Or just call the title of recent Lakers-Jazz opening playoff encounters, same result, next year. Game 1, 2008 conference semifinals: Lakers 109, Jazz 98. Game 1, 2009 first round: Lakers 113, Jazz 100, on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center. What's the difference between an 11-point loss and getting hit by a 13-point defeat? Not much. "It is kind of getting repetitive," said Jazz guard Deron Williams, who made four for 14 shots and scored 16 points.

Times staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends before Lakers playoff games. Q&A of the day Question: Why are a majority of NBA players so eager to high-five or low-five their teammates after they miss a free throw? Their faces don't show any remorse on missing a FREE shot but yet they are eager to reach out and touch their teammates?

When a team loses Game 1 of a playoff series the way the Jazz did to the Lakers on Sunday at Staples Center, it usually makes the first adjustment. But don't expect the Jazz to make big scheme changes for Game 2 of the Western Conference first-round series tonight. Utah is what it is, a team that depends on its system. What the Jazz needs is an attitude change. Here's how the Jazz hopes to give itself a better opportunity to win in Game 2 at Staples Center: * Don't fall behind by 22 points.

Two games into this postseason for the ages, we learned the Lakers could be dominating, devastating, even destined. After Thursday night here, we learned they can be something else entirely. Dreadful. Just as we marveled at how they can soar, we must now acknowledge how they can stink. And man, in an 88-86 loss to the Utah Jazz in Game 3 of their first-round series, did they ever stink. In the first half, they scored 39 points, shot 30%, and were outrebounded by 10. And then it got worse?

Staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends before Lakers' playoff games. Q&A of the day Question: I just saw that the Lakers lost tonight! I just hope they can take the next one. Do you believe Cleveland will make it to the Finals, and if so, can the Lakers take them for a game or two at Cleveland? --Chad Rourk Answer: I'm not even sure the Lakers can take a game or two in Utah. Foul math Andrew Bynum had five fouls in seven minutes of Game 3, which scales out to 34.

The opportunity to take a 3-0 lead in the first-round series, to put the Utah Jazz in a vise grip, was there for the Lakers on Thursday night. Instead, the Jazz turned the playoff tables on the Lakers, putting them in a tenuous position with Game 4 tonight at EnergySolutions Arena. The Lakers lost Thursday because of poor rebounding, because they blew another lead and because Andrew Bynum was in foul trouble and therefore ineffective. The Lakers now lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.