Jazz Offers a Lesson for Lakers

The realization struck with all the force of a John Stockton kidney punch, only easier to see.

The realization boomed like an Antoine Carr pick, burned like a Howard Eisley dive, staggered the Lakers as they walked away from the Delta Center after a hearty fight that became a bloody loss.

For now, the Utah Jazz is a better team.

That’s it. That’s the truth, exactly as it came rolling noisily down from the rafters here, 19,911 dancing around a surprise Utah avalanche in its 99-95 victory in Game 2 of the Western Conference finals.

For now, the Utah Jazz is a better team.

For those who only five days ago were dreaming of an NBA championship, man, does that truth hurt.

You’re dreaming of Kobe Bryant dunks . . . and all you see is Bryant being shrugged off by 100-year-old Chris Morris before a bank shot that gave the Jazz a fourth quarter lead it never lost.

You’re dreaming of Derek Fisher assists . . . and all you see is Fisher either stuck in Carr’s picks or left in Stockton’s smoke during the fourth-quarter run.

You’re dreaming of Nick Van Exel being the team’s crunch-time player . . . but Eisley crunches him while stealing a rebound that leads to a Morris layup during the run, then he throws a pass that crunches into courtside photographers.

You’re dreaming of Shaquille O’Neal carrying the team to Chicago . . . and yet he is not even allowed to tow them out of Salt Lake City.

From the time the Jazz took the lead with 9:43 remaining Monday, Shaq took three shots. Made two of them.

All this dreaming of the high-flying greatness of the most exciting team in the NBA, and the reality is this:

The Lakers lost a game it should have won because of a play which did not even involve the ball.

There was 2:36 remaining. The Lakers had cut the lead to two points, Jeff Hornacek had missed yet another jumper while being brilliantly harassed by Eddie Jones.

Lakers take possession, start running down the floor and . . . reality. Stockton jumps underneath Corie Blount like one of those fools on our freeways who stage accidents.

Blount, hustling as much as anyone this game, can’t stop. His sixth foul. He leaves the game, the Jazz get the ball, and the Lakers never have a chance to tie again.

“You’ll have to write it like you saw it,” Stockton said.

To do so is as difficult as seeing it.

For now, the Utah Jazz is a better team.

This doesn’t mean the Lakers cannot become the third team in NBA history to recover from a two-games-to-none deficit to win a conference championship.

Just because the Jazz is a better team now doesn’t mean the Lakers can’t become one by Friday.

It just means they must quickly begin worrying not just about scoring and defense and rebounding, but about doing what the Jazz do.

Which is, every little itty, bitty, teeny, weeny, last thing that it takes to win.

“They’ve been through all the wars, and they play like it,” Fisher said. “We control the game the entire time, and they figure out a way to win it late.”

The Jazz is a better team for several reasons, all involving that figuring.

The Jazz is better because, as reported here earlier, their players cheat better.

For every low blow sneaked in by the Jazz Monday, the Lakers responded with an elbow to . . . the neck? The Lakers need to mix in some subtleness to their swings.

The Jazz is better because they don’t care who gets the credit. The lineup that was on the floor when it took the lead for good? Morris, Eisley, Carr, Shandon Anderson and Bryon Russell.

Nope, no Karl Malone or Stockton.

“The Laker did all they had to do to win the game,” said TNT announcer Doc Rivers afterward, answering our call for an objective observer. “But with six minutes left, they panicked. Everybody tried to be a hero, instead of guys staying in their sets.”

The Jazz is better because they never stop playing defense, never rattle against a good defense, and never fail to hit the floor.

The Lakers need to become all that.

Beginning Friday, even the Forum fans could help, making the Lakers home at least as remotely hostile as the Jazz home.

That this may be the NBA’s most difficult environment for visiting teams became evident here Monday, as it annually does during playoff time, when some Lakers blew assignments during Jazz pick and rolls because they could not hear each other above the madness.

Then there was, as usual, the complete lack of class displayed by otherwise nice fans who think their ticket includes a free idiot transfusion.

The winner of Monday’s nightly banner contest? Those who held up a long sheet of paper that read, “L.A. is dirty, polluted and overrun by criminals, and so is the city.”

Our city is fair game. But to recklessly accuse athletes of criminal behavior in these troubled times is inappropriate, particularly those who have been as solid in the community as the Lakers.

But, oh well. The Jazz will take inspiration wherever and however they can get it. The Lakers should try that sometime. Like, now.