The Los Angeles Lakers methodically pounded the ball inside for a no-nonsense 111-103 victory over the Utah Jazz on Tuesday, taking a 2-0 lead in their NBA second-round playoff series.
Kobe Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol added 22 points and 15 rebounds for the defending NBA champions, who exploited their height advantage while maintaining a medium-sized lead throughout the second half of a disjointed, foul-choked game that lasted nearly three hours.
Andrew Bynum had 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Lakers, who didn’t mind skipping showtime for a steady win that put them halfway to their third straight trip to the Western Conference finals. Los Angeles is 40-1 in franchise history after winning the first two games of a seven-game series.
PHOTO: EPA
For the third straight postseason, the Lakers have a 2-0 series lead over the Jazz after consecutive wins at Staples Center, where Utah has lost 16 straight games — including eight in the playoffs.
Game 3 is on Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Utah’s Paul Millsap had 26 points and 11 rebounds, with the undersized power forward single-handedly keeping his team in the game at times. C.J. Miles scored 20 points and Carlos Boozer added 20 points and 12 rebounds for the Jazz, which gets three days off to plot another way to counter the Lakers’ obvious advantages down low.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Deron Williams managed 15 points on 4-for-16 shooting and nine assists for the Jazz, who never were close to being blown out, but just didn’t have the size or the game plan to keep up with Los Angeles’ patient inside game.
The Jazz actually got within four points in the final minutes, but Bryant finally injected a little excitement with a shot clock-beating jumper, an emphatic swat on Utah’s next drive to the hoop, and a dunk in a 45-second span.
Playoff emotion and strategy have been trumped by simple math in this series. Without injured big men Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko, the Jazz simply don’t appear to have the bodies necessary to contend with the Lakers’ twin 7-foot starters and inside play.
“We had some great plays from our big guys. All of them played really well,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. “We were aggressive attacking the ball.”
“We did a good job moving the ball and finding the open man,” Bryant said. “It’s something was have to take advantage of.”
“You’ve got to continue to compete,” Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. “They do a great job defenisvely. We had four or five possessions where we would do real well and then we would get out of it.”
Injured English soccer star David Beckham was seated at courtside for the game and during a stoppage in play, Bryant came near him and bounced the ball off his head in a nod of respect to the Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder.
Jackson, whose contract expires after this season, said before the game there was a 90 percent chance that he would be coaching the Lakers if he remains in coaching and that he had no interest in the vacant coaching job at Chicago, which he coached to six NBA titles in the 1990s.
Russian forward Kirilenko, who had considered returning for Utah from a strained left calf injury that has kept him out for three weeks, did not play but expects to return for Game 3.
MAGIC 114, HAWKS 71
In Orlando, the hosts recorded one of the most crushing victories in their playoff history, dominating Atlanta in the opener of their series.
Only a 47-point win in the first round against Boston in 1995 was a larger margin of victory in a playoff game for Orlando. This was just one big Magic highlight reel.
Dwight Howard had 21 points and 12 rebounds, adding five blocks while avoiding the fouls and frustration that overwhelmed him in the first round.
The Magic led by as much as 46 points. Vince Carter finished with 20 points as Orlando showed no signs of rust after an eight-day layoff.
Josh Smith scored 14 points and Zaza Pachulia had 12 for a Hawks team that had little playoff poise. Game 2 in the best-of-seven series tonight in Orlando, and Atlanta will have to find some way to rally from an embarrassing defeat.
Orlando scored 17 straight points during the second quarter, while holding the Hawks to just 10 points in the second quarter, and 11 in the third. Howard and most of the Magic starters weren’t even needed in the fourth.
Coming off a Game 7 victory in the first round, the Hawks were outhustled and outmuscled at every step. The little more than 48-hour turnaround didn’t keep them sharp, and they looked more like the team trying to get back in rhythm.
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