The Lakers’ Western Conference Semifinal series with the Utah Jazz was supposed to be a vacation compared with their opening round series with the Oklahoma Thunder.
Well, guess what?
The Lakers $12 million dollar head coach made a serious miscalculation. After the starters had ended both the second and third quarters with an eight-point margin, he put in the reserves to begin the fourth quarter.
Then Phil Jackson sat back calmly and watched his reserves go on an 0-for-9 binge as the Jazz not only cut the Lakers lead but took over the game. It was under seven minutes when he finally put Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher back in the game.
Here they had built a lead. Now Jackson was asking them to go in the game cold and build another lead against a team that was suddenly hot.
So much for the vacation, the siesta, or the intermission as one writer had put it.
The Lakers not only had to work to try to win a game that they already had won.&nb ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Paul Peszko