One Down, 15 to Go

The Lakers opened the playoffs with a 113-100 victory over Utah on their home court, a victory which Boston, San Antonio, Orlando and Portland were unable to claim. The Lakers weren’t enthusiastic about their Sunday night victory over the Jazz in Game 1 of a best-in-seven series because of its unsettling ending; after a 22-point Lakers halftime lead things went awry. Luckily Kobe Bryant dunked after a drive down the lane with 1:26 to play in the second half.

The Lakers need 15 more victories to wing the franchise’s 15th NBA championship and Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson wrote a simple phrase postgame on the whiteboard in the locker room to show they wouldn’t get there with wins like that: “15? Not like that.” Jackson told reporters after the game, “I don’t even know if we can say we prevailed on that second-half effort, but we got the win. It wasn’t a coach’s delight, that’s for sure, but we were able to outscore them.” Jackson is 47-1 in playoff series when his teams hold a series lead of any kind, with the only break in his reocrd being three seasons ago when the Lakers lost a 3-1 advantage against Phoenix.

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