Los Angeles cut a 12-point deficit in the endgame but Utah survives in OT for a 123-115 win. Utah made a superb defensive effort in the extra period to outscore Los Angeles 15 to 7.

The telling stat of the game is the freethrows. The Lakers made 14 of 25 (56%) while Utah made 37 of 45 (82%). Lamar made 5 of 10 while Kobe made 6 of 10. Had both of them made their freethrows, Los Angeles would’ve won the game by 1. Freethrow shooting is a mental thing - I wonder if the Jazz physical play has broken the minds of Lamar and Kobe.

One thing’s for sure though, Utah’s physical play has paid dividends. Now, Kobe is nursing a sore back. That’s a pretty tough injury, just ask T-Mac. I guess you get that type of injury with the pounding that comes with taking it to the hoop. I don’t know if the 3 day rest before game 5 will help Kobe heal enough. He is known to be a fast healer but with that type of injury, I just don’t know.

On the other end, Turiaf committed a flagrant foul on Ronnie Price and was ejected from the game. Price’s face bled and required stitches but came back to contribute significantly for the Jazz.

Even with a sore back, Kobe almost had a triple double - 33 points, 8 rebounds and 10 assists. Many are speculating that Kobe may have just acted injured for effect. Reading the game stat of Kobe, I couldn’t blame them. I’m not sure though if that injury affected his freethrow shooting. There were a couple of games this season that Kobe shot poorly too.

Allegedly, Kobe hurt his back on his second field goal attempt of the game.

We all know how he was injured in 2000 and Pippen suspected that Kobe was just trying to be MJ. Pippen even touched Kobe’s injured rib to try to prove Kobe was acting. Kobe grimaced in pain after that, of course, acting or no acting.

Phil Jackson noted that Kobe tried hard to do everything himself in the closing minutes. Kobe shouldn’t have done that as, one, he knows and we all know that won’t work and, two, he was playing injured. Honestly, I still think that Kobe has not matured enough and that could be his or the Lakers’ undoing. Of course, there’s 3 more games to right the ship and hopefully the Lakers will do that.

The series now is reduced to a best of 3 with Utah having the advantage - Kobe is hurt and Utah has the momentum. However, Phil Jackson never had lost a 2-0 lead in any series but that record would be blemished depending on Kobe’s health.

• Lakers 3, Jazz 2
• Lakers 4, Jazz 2
• Lakers 2, Jazz 1
• Lakers 2, Jazz 0
• Kobe Bryant scores 27 points as Lakers end Jazz’s 19-game home winning streak, 106-95