Salt Mines

What papers in the Salt Lake City area are saying about the series:

BRAD ROCK, DESERET NEWS

It must have occurred to the Utah Jazz and L.A. Lakers way back last fall that they would meet in the playoffs. They had to be thinking of that when they started the season behaving like rowdy teenagers. So now it’s here, and as they say in Hollywood, it’s time to take a meeting.

When the teams play Saturday in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals, they get to decide what, if anything, they should do about the past year’s differences. If the Jazz don’t like Shaq using Greg Ostertag’s head for a speed bag, or the Lakers dislike Greg Foster making throat-slashing gestures, now’s the time to do something about it.

The Jazz-Lakers series isn’t the most intense in the league, but it’s trying to be. It’s been picking up steam as it goes. In the early years the Jazz were slightly suspicious of the Lakers and with good reason. In 1976, for example, the Jazz obtained Gail Goodrich from L.A. for their 1979 first-round draft pick. It seemed like a good idea, considering Goodrich was a five-time all-star, until 1979 arrived and their erstwhile draft pick turned out to be Magic Johnson. Ouch.

Already the Lakers were slapping the Jazz around.

So now the two teams get another chance to make more history. Which is good news any way you look at it. Because if they’ve proven anything over the years, it’s that their games may not always be interesting but their history is.