More on W over Lakers

3-POINT SHOTS from the team that beat the Lakers 102-96 and unites Cougars and Utes, well, except when they show somebody wearing garb from one of the schools on the JumboTron and a mixture of boos/cheers erupt from the EnergySolutions Arena crowd:

POINT 1: The Jazz outrebounded the Lakers, marking the second game in a row they ended up with more boards than their opponent after six straight deficits. (Hmmm…could it be a coincidence?)

“That was another keeper,” Deron Williams said of the Jazz’s 42-38 rebounding edge.

Here are a few impressive tidbits about Utah’s night on the glass:

Nine players had multiple rebounds.
Eight guys had between three and eight boards.
The Jazz only gave up nine offensive rebounds, which the Lakers converted into just 12 second-chance points.

About that last part … I had an interesting interaction with Pau Gasol after Friday morning’s shootaround about the Jazz’s recent offensive rebounding woes.

Knowing that pounding the boards is one of L.A.’s strengths and with all of the talk about the Lakers’ length, I was curious what the 7-foot-tall Spaniard was thinking.

Were the Lakers smelling blood coming in?

Gasol: “We always try to attack the lane and make sure we get second shots, but it’s not like … well, I didn’t know exactly they were struggle that much. Thank you. There you go. Thank you, you gave me the key.”

Gasol laughed, then, perhaps feeling like he should share some pointers as well, he gave the Jazz some keys to rebounding from his perspective.

“I’m sure they’ll be extra active tonight. I’m sure they’re aware of it and actually try to make a conscious effort on putting bodies on people,” Gasol said. “That’s what you got to do when you’re lack of size sometimes, you’ve got to make sure you get low and put bodies on people and box out.”

POINT 2: The Jazz’s second unit is reaching stardom status, and I’m hearing from all sorts of fans who only half-jokingly say they can’t wait until the lineup of Earl Watson, Ronnie Price, C.J. Miles, Francisco Elson and Kyrylo Fesenko get into the game.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan put a slight wrinkle on that cavalry crew against the Lakers. He temporarily freed Gordon Hayward from the end of the bench, allowing the lottery pick and preseason Laker Killer (remember that 26-point exhibition explosion?) to play with the bigs and smalls.

That lineup didn’t produce much, so Sloan then brought Al Jefferson in for Fesenko. Miles and Paul Millsap soon replaced Hayward and Elson. That player pairing (Watson, Price, Miles, Millsap and Big Al) had a couple of strong minutes together, trimming a 15-point lead down to a manageable seven-point deficit.

Williams replaced Price, but Watson played the entire 12 minutes in the second quarter. During that time, he scored eight points – a season-high for a quarter and a game.

A variation of that lineup – Watson, Price, Miles, Millsap and Fesenko – began the fourth quarter and wasn’t nearly as effective. But the reserves clearly gave an important energy boost when it was needed most in the first half.

“It looked pretty bleak out there in the early part of the ballgame when they got out to a pretty good lead on us,” Sloan said of the Lakers, who took a 19-point edge early in the second quarter. “Again, our second group came in and gave us a tremendous lift. They got the fans behind us. Their energy level jumped up a great deal. We ran the ball up the floor and got a couple of layups out of it and I think that really made a difference in our confidence level.”

POINT 3: Some things are better seen than written about. Price’s dunk fits in that category:

And seeing as Williams said Price’s dunk was reminiscent of his slam over Carlos Boozer, here’s that one, too: