Cleveland rocks, but will Lakers get to play there?

Staff writer Mike Bresnahan ties up some loose ends before Lakers’ playoff games.

Q&A; of the day

Question: I just saw that the Lakers lost tonight! I just hope they can take the next one. Do you believe Cleveland will make it to the Finals, and if so, can the Lakers take them for a game or two at Cleveland?

--Chad Rourk

Answer: I’m not even sure the Lakers can take a game or two in Utah.

Foul math

Andrew Bynum had five fouls in seven minutes of Game 3, which scales out to 34.3 fouls in 48 minutes. He’s officially in DJ Mbenga territory. Actually, he’s worse than that. Mbenga averaged only 8.8 fouls per 48 minutes.

View from the other side

Salt Lake Tribune columnist Gordon Monson wasn’t too impressed by the Lakers’ Game 3 effort.

“Trevor Ariza was a shooting blind man. So was Shannon Brown, and Sasha Vujacic, and Luke Walton, and just about everybody else,” Monson wrote. “Noisy and raucous, the way [EnergySolutions Arena] always gets in the playoffs, the building sounded like a squadron of F-22s was taking off from midcourt right from the opening tip.”

Sounds about right to me.

Bad idea

Surprisingly, there are about 4,250 sushi bars in downtown Salt Lake City, so I decided to try one.

There was a $5 cover charge just to sit down, water was served in something the size of a shot glass, and the tuna rolls were microscopic. Not to mention that the waitress was as unfriendly as an ex-girlfriend from college.

No more sushi for me outside of Los Angeles.

Final thought

There’s no way Kobe Bryant goes five for 24 again. Or that Bynum plays only seven minutes. Or Pau Gasol misses six of 10 free throws. Lakers win, but it won’t be easy.