Lakers vs. Jazz Game 1

Earlier today, I went to the Lakers-Utah Jazz Game 1 @ STAPLES Center. It was a playoff game and was worth the 260 bucks for 4 people we paid. Parked near the freeway and walked through the brand new L.A. Live. It was quite interesting. We entered STAPLES Center and went to our seats for the 12 PM game. We had seats in section 303 row 9 and 10, aisle seats which were neat. Remember, we bought them from a season ticket holder from craiglist.com yesterday.

As we entered, they handed out free gold color "The Journey begins today 04.19.09" shirts with "The Destination" and NBA Trophy on back. Free T-shirts, not bad.




I brought two cameras, one to record, and one to take pictures. I caught plenty of highlights, such as Kobe Bryant posterizing Paul Millsap.



The game was pretty much in the Lakers hands right from the beginning as Lakers built a 62-40 lead at halftime. I was thinking the game is over but Utah cut lead to within 9 in 3rd quarter but Lakers held on for 113-100 win. Trevor Ariza played great. He had 10 pts in the 1st quarter alone, making 2 3 point baskets. He was firing away. Here is a nice reverse dunk from Trevor Ariza.



Kobe Bryant played the passing game early on. He was patient and let everyone on team get involved first. He finished with 24 points and 8 ast. Pau Gasol, man he fouled out for the 1st time since 2006. The refs didn't swallow their whistle at all. But Pau played great with a solid 20 pts 9 reb. Bynum was in foul trouble and only had 7 pts. Shannon Brown was 1st reserve off bench and played great.9 pts and a +20 in +/- player efficency. Josh Powell chipped in nice as both Gasol and Bynum got in foul trouble by adding 6 pts. Odom was his usual self 13 pts 8 reb.

The playoff atmosphere in a game is way different than a regular season one. Almost all the crowd was wearing the gold shirts that were passed out. I chanted loudly during the game. I took a picture with this even crazier Laker fan.



The only bad part about today was NO FREE TACOS. Freakin Deron Williams had to make that layup with 14 seconds left to put Jazz at 100. If Lakers won and held opponent under 100 pts, then all of us would of gotten 2 free tacos. O well. But we had fun heckling this Utah fan as Lakers Live was aring after the game outside STAPLES Center at Star Plaza. Boy it is a great scene to be at STAR Plaza as FS West is airing Lakers live.



Also, a lot of period of time throughout game, we chanted the now infamous (opponent city) SUCKS...



and this...



Here's the cool part about the game, the player introductions of both teams.



We also chanted MVP for Kobe.



Finally, the final few seconds. We had been chanting "We Want Tacos" but did not get it, BUT A win is still a win.



Overall, this was a fun game that I attended. 1st Laker playoff game and it was a great one. It was nice seeing Lakers win. Previous Laker game, they had lost to Portland and Memphis. Some historical facts, Kobe passed Magic Johnson for 3rd place on Lakers all time playoff scoring list.Lakers lead 1-0 now. 1 down, 15 to go.