Listen to all the Post-game interviews in the audio section of the website.

For the most part this is the team fans are used to seeing at home.  They were aggressive.  They played with purpose and intensity on both ends of the court.  And like the Lakers did the first two games, the Jazz survived and made the plays necessary when LA closed in late.  Now we have a series and if the Jazz can play with this kind of drive they do have hope.  These players stepped up big-time tonight:

-Welcome back Carlos Boozer.  He was the go-to guy and was absolutely clutch down the stretch.  He wasn’t afraid to take the ball to the basket.  He actually hit some jump shots and was an absolute monster on the boards. 

-Deron Williams did exactly what he said he was going to do…find a balance between attacking and distributing.  The big question is his right wrist he hurt in the first half.  It definitely seemed to bother him throughout the rest of the game.

-Mehmet Okur hit some huge three point shots.  In addition he wasn’t afraid to drive when he needed to. 

-Matt Harpring was his typical pestering self off the bench.  He hit some key shots and seemed to annoy Kobe to the point where he took an elbow to the chin.  Overall the bench played well and took advantage of Kobe being on the bench.

As for the Lakers they struggled with the turnovers and it really just became the Kobe show.  I know Jazz fans despise Kobe but man you have to respect his game.  After hitting just one FG in the 1st half he was absolutely brilliant in the third quarter and hit shots that no human should be able to do.  The dunk he had where he threw it off the backboard was something you would see in a slam dunk competition.

Now for Game 4 on Sunday…the Jazz will have to play better because you would have to expect the Lakers will make adjustments and come back strong.  Kobe tried to involve his teammates but they didn’t step up and that is the key.  Kobe is going to get his. Concentrate on shutting down the rest of the team and this series could be even heading back to LA.