Road to the top can be bumpy one for Lakers
湖人冠军之路充满坎坷
The journey hits a pothole.
冠军旅程波折
Just when it looked as if it were safe to pack their brooms, the Lakers, who gave out gold "The journey Begins 4-19-09"T-shirts Sunday, saw the seemingly-outclassed Utah Jazz cut a 20-pointdeficit to three, before a Staples Center crowd that spent half ofTuesday night celebrating and the other half gasping.
The Lakerswound up winning, 119-109, taking a 2-0 lead in their first-roundseries, and left the floor, knowing they have things to work on, likestaying awake all game.
湖人对阵爵士看似很安全，一定可以拿下，周日湖人发放的T恤写着 “冠军之旅09年4月19日开始”，周二从表面上看爵士落后20多分后在斯台普斯的球迷一办在欢呼庆祝，一半在呐喊，最后湖人119比109有惊无险拿下比赛，以便他们在这系列赛里2比0领先。但他们不知道还有很多事情要继续，正如以后所有比赛都要保持清醒。
"We are a better team playing against them now than we were to start with," said Utah Coach Jerry Sloan.
“
"Thefirst thing we had to do was player harder. The bottom line is, you'vegot to play hard and the rest will take care of itself. . . .
"That'sthe strange thing about this business. We're supposed to be eliminatedin four straight games, but we'll see what happens."
“这件事情很奇怪。我们应该可以把他们横扫的，等着看吧。”
CoachPhil Jackson, who counts down from 16 to one in his team's quest for atitle, was so upset when the Lakers let the Jazz cut a 22-point lead tonine in the opener, he wrote on the whiteboard after the game, "15? Notlike that"
湖人主帅杰克逊对球队要求的是争取用16场比赛夺冠，可以说是从16数到1总冠军就在眼前了。接下来当湖人从开始的20分领先优势被爵士逼进到9分的时，他有些生气。那场比赛之后他就在白板上写下了 “15场？或许没想像的轻松。”
Asit turned out, it was "15, even worse" but Jackson decided to take theheat off his players, blaming himself for putting his reserves in.
结果是“15场，甚至更糟”但杰克逊不责备队员，把责任自己扛
TheJazz tried desperation before the series when Sloan called down fire onhis own position, inviting nationwide scorn by terming his team'sprospects as "bleak."，
在季后赛首轮前斯隆把聚光灯都放在自己的身上时，大家都不看好爵士，爵士也已经准备好了前景黯淡。
If his players were upset at being written off, falling behind by 22 in the first half of Game 1 suggested Sloan knew what he was talking about.
InGame 2, the Jazz went into No More Mr. Nice Guy mode, after Sloan notedhow nice his players were, compared to his "nasty" stars of yesteryear.
Ayear after the Jazz took the Lakers six hard games in the Westsemifinals, Sloan was back to telling his players to respect the Lakers"but don't over-respect them, and don't be intimidated by them."
Not that Carlos Boozer is going to turn into Karl Malone overnight, or ever.
"Wechanged as soon as [John] Stockton and Malone left -- not everything,but they're no longer there," said Sloan before the game.
"We can't make somebody they aren't."
Determinedto come out faster than it had in Game 1, when Sloan said his playerswere like "a deer in the headlights," the Jazz couldn't have been happyto see the Lakers go for 41 points . . . in the first quarter.
Determined to punish the shorter Jazz inside, Jackson had his team socking the ball into Andrew Bynum for the opening tip.
Comingback from his seven-point, five-rebound effort in Game 1, Bynum scored10 points in the first seven minutes, making his first five shots.
The Lakers, who had shot 70% in the first quarter of Game 1, shot 86% in the first quarter of Game 2.
Determinedto hold a big lead after letting the Jazz catch them in Game 1, Jacksonwas dismayed to see it happen again, when Utah cut the Lakers' lead,which had grown to 20 points, to six points on two occasions in thethird quarter.
Sinceno one can sweep anyone in the first two games of a best-of-sevenseries, it's not an official mismatch until the Lakers win Game 3 or 4 in Salt Lake City.
Of course, if the Lakers lose both, as they did last season, it's not a mismatch at all, like last season's series.
Ayear ago, the Lakers beat the Jazz by double figures in Games 1 and 2,before the Jazz showed it was ready for prime time, tying it, 2-2, withKobe Bryant suffering back spasms in Game 4.
Backin Staples Center, with Bryant still limited after two days oftreatment, the Lakers had to shoot it out deep in the fourth quarterwith the Jazz, scoring 10 of the last 14 points to win, 111-104.
But this isn't a year ago . . . yet.
Showing whose night it was, Lamar Odom made one jump hook when Utah's Matt Harpring smacked him across the forearm, after which the ball flew out of Lamar's hand, into the hoop.
就看今晚吧，奥多姆在哈普林斯准备过来封堵他时，勾手投篮，球进了。
Then there was the free throw Bryant banked in, off the back of the rim . . . and the top of the backboard.
Onthe other hand, the Lakers are playing in spurts, as if they have avery high opinion of themselves, indeed, with some unlikely three-pointshooters like Odom and Shannon Brown knocking in one after another.
Beware Utah, where Lakers hubris goes to die.
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