Utah Jazz Basketball Team

Peter McNeely and Chuck Wepner apparently were unavailable, so Utah Jazz Coach Jerry Sloan was forced to turn to Greg Foster when he decided to look for an improvement over Greg Ostertag at center. Which proved that Ostertag hitting the floor Oct. 31 at the Forum was not to be confused with hitting bottom. Shaquille O'Neal dropped him with a smack, the Laker center later insisting it was nowhere close to his best shot, and then Sloan dropped Ostertag from the starting lineup three games ago.

Reporting from Salt Lake City -- Then he came to Pau Gasol and raised his eyebrows in admiration. Bryant pointed at him, smiled and embraced him for several seconds. The Lakers advanced in no small part because of Bryant and Gasol, their one-two punch knocking back the Utah Jazz for good, 111-96, Monday night at EnergySolutions Arena, the Lakers sweeping the Western Conference semifinals, four games to none. Gasol had 33 points and 14 rebounds, Kobe Bryant had 32 points, and the conference finals begin next Monday against the Phoenix Suns at Staples Center.

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?

There are plenty of exciting, sizzling point guards in the NBA -- Steve Nash, Chris Paul and Jason Kidd among them. Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz also is considered one of the best point guards in the league. Williams has yet to make the All-Star team, but he was second-team all-NBA in 2008. In the eyes of many, Williams doesn't have to take a back seat to any of his counterparts at point guard. "It feels good to be considered one of the best in the world," Williams said before Wednesday's game against the Lakers.

The Bulls had the Pistons. The Pistons had the Celtics. The Lakers have the Jazz. If locating the problem is half the battle, consider the Lakers victorious at least in one regard in the Western Conference finals. They have identified the mountain in front of them, even if they have been unable to get so much as a foot beyond the base. So it is that the team that eliminated them last year in the second round is on the verge of doing it again this year in the conference finals.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A year ago, Derek Fisher's life changed, or would have if it ever did, which it never really has. A year ago to the day, Fisher made his dramatic return from New York City, where his 10-month-old daughter had undergone eye surgery that morning to face his former teammates, the Golden State Warriors, in a playoff game. Tonight on the same court, Fisher will make yet another return against another set of former teammates, the Jazz, in another playoff game.

Whatever happens happens, Jerry Sloan likes to say, so here are a few things that have happened: --Five days after agreeing to become coach at the University of Evansville, his alma mater, Sloan resigned for personal reasons. It was the same Evansville program that would lose all 21 players, coaches and school officials in a plane crash 11 months later. --Then one day, Sloan replaced Frank Layden, popular and successful, as coach of the Utah Jazz.

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?

Coach Frank Layden, who was instrumental in improving the Utah Jazz from doormat to serious contender in the National Basketball Assn., resigned unexpectedly Friday, citing the pressures of the business.

Not all that Jazz again. . . . There was a time, before Karl Malone finished his career here as the world's most physical teddy bear, when the mere words "Utah Jazz" inspired fear and loathing among Lakers fans. It was the dawn of the Shaquille O'Neal-Kobe Bryant era, before they even started feuding (or winning anything), when the talented young Lakers seemed to bump into the venerable old Jazz annually.

In arguably the greatest finish to an exhibition game in world history -- taking into account that even conducting such an argument would indicate lunacy or at least acute boredom -- a basketball hovered on a high arc as a rapt crowd inhaled. Then, as if it mattered, that ball dropped cleanly through the hoop and the O2 Arena roared, especially the Chicago Bulls, who acted like they'd won something with their court-corner love-in of group hugs and gaping grins and slaps of the formidable back of the rookie James Johnson.

Scores GAME 1: at Lakers 113, Jazz 100 GAME 2: at Lakers 119, Jazz 109 GAME 3: at Jazz 88, Lakers 86 GAME 4: Lakers 108, at Jazz 94 GAME 5: at Lakers 107, Jazz 96 Ebb and flow Utah Coach Jerry Sloan said the Jazz's prospects in the first round were "pretty bleak" after the Lakers closed the regular season with a 125-112 victory over the Jazz at Staples Center. Sloan was ultimately right, but the Lakers kept things interesting by showing a tendency to led big leads slip away.

Pretty bleak, indeed. The Utah Jazz's chances, which stood somewhere between nonexistent and nonexistent, officially came to an end Monday at Staples Center. It was a quick first-round series, mostly painless for the Lakers, and it concluded with a 107-96 victory that wasn't without its worries for the home team.

Staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends on days of Lakers playoff games: Save the jet fuel Will the Utah Jazz even make it out here for tonight's game? Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune didn't think so. "So the Jazz's schedule is now in focus: Locker clean-out Tuesday, fabulous vacations and roster upheaval all summer, training camp in late September," he wrote. "That's what a 108-94 loss in Game 4 of this playoff series will do for you."

Salt Lake City has the Mormon Tabernacle, scenic snow-capped peaks and a clean, crisp feel to it. Kobe Bryant doesn't want to go back there, though. "I love Utah," he said, "but I'd rather not see it again until next year." Without disrespecting the most populous city in the beehive state, Bryant summarized what all the Lakers were thinking: End this thing now.

Partial scores . . . One week into the playoffs, the Cavaliers look like the Cavaliers; the Lakers may have missed the fact the postseason has started and are still leaving wake-up calls; a funny thing is happening to the Trail Blazers on their way to that Lakers matchup; and the Spurs may not get out of the first round . . . for years. Oh, and the Celtics are back from the dead, as usual. Yes, it was a full week.

Twenty-three times Sunday, the Utah Jazz left Kobe Bryant wide open. Twenty-three times, the bumping, bruising Utah Jazz stood still and just let him shoot. Twenty-one times, Kobe Bryant scored. Twenty-one times, he jabbed a 10-foot sword into a puffed-out chest. And basketball folks still have the nerve to call it a free throw? Not here. Not Sunday. Not Kobe. The final score in the first game of the Western Conference semifinals was 109-98, but the bottom line was the foul line.

Game 6 Karl Malone gave Utah a good game and scored 31 points, but Michael Jordan stole the ball from him, went upcourt and made the game-winning shot to give the Bulls the title. Jordan scored 45 points, his most in the finals since scoring 55 against Phoenix in 1993. *--* Mins Pts. Rebs. Jordan 44 45 1 Malone 43 31 11 *--* *--* Series Averages Mins Pts. Rebs. Jordan 41.7 33.5 4.0 Malone 40.5 25.0 10.5 *--*

It tugged at Kobe Bryant, burning him to no end, a five-for-24 effort that was his worst shooting game in five years. So he lighted up a postgame cigar to chase away his bad luck, and you could practically still see the smoke rings two nights later. Bryant delivered 38 points and an apparent knockout blow to the Utah Jazz, making 16 of 24 shots in a 108-94 victory Saturday at EnergySolutions Arena. The Lakers lead the best-of-seven series, 3-1, and have history firmly on their side.

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.