SALT LAKE CITY -- The venue isn’t the only thing that’s changing for tonight’s Game 3 (10:30 ET, TNT). Utah’s starting lineup is going through a transformation too.
Jazz coach Jerry Sloan told reporters today after shootaround that he is going to insert Andrei Kirilenko into the starting five and bring Kyle Korver, who had been starting at small forward, off the bench.
“[Trevor] Ariza has had great runs here on us in these games, I thought I’d try to start Andrei and see what happens,” Sloan said.
Through the first two games of the series, Ariza has skyrocketed his regular season production from 8.9 points on 46.0 percent shooting and 1.8 assists to 17.0 points on 81.3 percent shooter with 5.5 helpers per game.
Meanwhile, Kirilenko has yet to show up. His numbers are down from 11.8 points on 44.9 percent shooting in 27.3 minutes per game to 9.0 points on 38.5 percent shooting while playing 21.5 minutes per game.
“It’s just a different look,” Deron Williams said. “Hopefully it gives AK some confidence, we need him playing well.”
“He gives us a little more length out there. Ariza has been hurting us a lot starting ballgames out with his outside shooting, his defense and his hustle so hopefully AK can match that.”
Several members of the Lakers mentioned Kirilenko’s weakside shot-blocking ability as something to be aware of, but overall preferred to concentrate on their own team execution rather than any personnel moves by Utah.
“I don’t think it changes anything too much,” Ariza said. “We’re still going to have the same game plan and still going to do the same thing.”
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Whether Carlos Boozer knew that no team in the history of the NBA Playoffs has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit or not, he was sure he didn’t want to become the next team to try the feat.
“It’s a must win,” Boozer said. “We’re down 0-2. For us, this is the biggest game of our season to win tonight and get back in the series.”
He hopes that playing on their home court will be what the Jazz need to get over the hump.
“We’re confident at home. We play fast at home. We just … win … here."
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Utah will be without Mehmet Okur again as he continues his gradual recovery from a right hamstring strain.
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Sloan said that the Lakers size down low has been the biggest factor in L.A. getting easy looks outside. When Utah has to double inside, L.A.'s bigs have been able to kick the ball back to the perimeter for open jump shots.
“We’ve got to do a better job keeping them from scoring so many points in the paint and making three-point shots,” Sloan said. “We’ve given up 54 points at the three-point line in two games. That’s inside-out basketball at its best.”
Utah plays the 6-foot-9 Boozer and the 6-foot-8 Paul Millsap at power forward against the 7-foot Pau Gasol and the 6-10 Lamar Odom. Jarron Collins is 6-foot-11 and has to contend with the 7-foot Andrew Bynum.
“We’re playing Paul Millsap against a guy who is 7-feet tall, you give up four or five inches, it’s hard to get to him and block his shot. We’re talking about a size differential here of a huge amount,” Sloan said.
“I’m going to put them on the concrete stretcher and see if I can get them about 7-foot-6 tonight, everybody will stand in the lane, we’ll zone them and take them that way.”
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Williams on the key to preventing the Lakers to getting off to a quick start for the third straight game:
“It comes down to getting stops. We’re not stopping them. We have trouble stopping these guys. Until we figure a way out to stop them on the defensive end, we’re not going to win.”
For those scoring at home, that was four stops in one answer from Williams. Maybe he was saying the word once for every win the Jazz still need in order to beat the Lakers in the series.
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Sloan talked about the mental toughness that Kobe Bryant possesses, saying, “he just walks on the floor and a lot of people are intimidated by his greatness.”
I’m not sure if you can say that Jazz forward Carlos Boozer is intimidated by him, but he has what you could call a “Kobe consciousness.”
“Honestly, point blank, you have to spend so much attention on Kobe because he’s Kobe,” Boozer said. “Because of that, other guys are getting shots and he trusts his teammates.”
There is a different between being mentally tough and playing mind games though. When Matt Harpring was asked if he thought Bryant was one of the five best players in the league at getting in the heads of his opponents, Harpring strongly disagreed.
“No,” Harpring said. “I wouldn’t even put him in my top 20. I don’t think he’s a player that plays mental games.”
Bryant agreed.
“I don’t even know what mental games are,” he said. “I don’t even know what that is to be honest with you. I just go out there and I play. I compete, I play hard and just go from there.”
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Williams and Bryant traded friendly barbs through the media about their time together during the Beijing Olympics.
Williams said he identified with Bryant once he got to know him because of their shared competitive nature, but added that Bryant would stop at nothing to win ... even if it meant bending the rules here and there.
“We had a lot of shooting contests after practices of which he cheated,” Williams said. “We would be shooting shots and all of the sudden for the last shot when I’m about to win, he wants to come over and contest it or foul me or something like that.”
Bryant got the last word when a reporter told him about Williams’ accusation.
“He’s a liar,” Bryant said. “He’s mad I used to kick his butt all the time. He lost all the time … Well, he beat me once, but once out of two months is not very good. Tell him I said that.”
Yeah! 2-1! Go Utah! Dwill and Boozer will win the championship! ^^
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