Pau Gasol a picture of frustration for Lakers

SALT LAKE CITY -- The Laker from Spain complained in vain. . . .

Pau Gasol wore the frustrated face of the Lakers on Friday night, bellyaching and gesturing and all but taking a siesta against the Utah Jazz as the Lakers lost their playoff mojo amid the din of the NBA's most cacophonous barn. . . .

Said Phil Jackson, "This is a game in which Pau was looking at the referees every time he got stripped there in the first half, feeling he got fouled." . . .

The more Gasol looked, the more he was ignored. . . .

The EnergySolutions Arena, by the way, might be the best place in the NBA to watch a game, its steeply rising rows of seats climbing dramatically so that even fans seated near the top of the lower bowl are not far from the court. . . .

Fans seemingly are right on top of the action, which is also one of the reasons it's such a difficult place for visiting teams to play, of course. . . .

One sign: "One Team. One Dream. One Crowd. Get Loud." . . .

Mission accomplished. . . .

Carlos Boozer, in a powerful Game 3 performance, showed for the first time in the series why Kobe Bryant once urged the Lakers to trade for him. . . .

Said Bryant, "We expected him to have a monster performance." . . .

Not Friday, maybe, but eventually. . . .

If it was deplorable when Jazz fans booed Derek Fisher when he returned to Salt Lake City with the Lakers in November, it was more understandable Friday. . . .

They booed every Laker. . . .

That early 11-3 Lakers lead sure evaporated quickly. . . .

Fisher's early foul trouble didn't help because backup Jordan Farmar wasn't ready to play and never found a rhythm in 16 scoreless minutes. . . .

Headline on the cover of Salt Lake magazine, below a photo of Boozer and point guard Deron Williams: "Why Utah Loves the Jazz (Again)." . . .

Uh, because they're winning? . . .

Andrei Kirilenko seems to float through long stretches of games, but the Russian produces more than his share of highlight-reel moments. . . .

Kirilenko, who wears No. 47, naturally is nicknamed AK-47. . . .

At halftime of Game 2 on Wednesday, TNT's Charles Barkley said of the Jazz, "They don't think they can beat the Lakers. To win a series, you've got to actually believe, 'We can beat this team.' I just don't see that from the Jazz." . . .