Deseret News | Utah Jazz: Early turnovers made things extremely difficult for Jazz

Utah Jazz: Early turnovers made things extremely difficult for Jazz

By Linda Hamilton
Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, May 6, 2008 12:19 a.m. MDT

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In Sunday's game at Los Angeles, the Utah Jazz turned the ball over 13 times to the Lakers' 12.

Seven of the Jazz turnovers were in the second quarter, and another four were in the first, and after a three-turnovers-in-13-seconds fiasco, the Lakers were ahead by 13. Eventually, L.A. led by 17 before the end of the first half.

It wasn't the kind of hill a team that had had little time off between series needed to climb.

"Turnovers in the first half, second quarter, really hurt us," said point guard Deron Williams, who had the game's first turnover but only two for the 48 minutes to his nine assists. "We played better in the second half. We've just got to look and see that if we turn the ball over, (and) they get out and run, they're able to get transition baskets, fast-break points, and that hurts us."

"Yeah, that second quarter hurt us big-time," said Jazz power forward Carlos Boozer, who had seven turnovers for the game, six in the first half — three in each of the first two quarters. "We turned the ball over. I turned the ball over. I've got to do a better job of taking care of the ball."

Coach Jerry Sloan figured the Lakers' aggressiveness was the culprit. "Well, they had a lot to do with that. They put pressure on us, and we didn't deal with it very well," he said.

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Boozer is confident such a thing won't keep recurring now that the Jazz have a little time to prepare, taking Monday and Tuesday to practice at home in the Zion's Bank Basketball Center and then having Wednesday's shootaround in Los Angeles before Game 2 Wednesday night. Utah concluded its first-round win over Houston late Friday night, had only Saturday to prepare and travel and no shootaround Sunday before the 1:30 p.m. MDT opener. The Lakers had finished off Denver Monday, April 28, giving them five-plus days to focus on the Jazz.

"Well, they did a good job," Boozer said of the Lakers. "They had more time to prepare for us. They knew where the ball was going to go. They knew when to attack it. They were very good.

"They're a good defensive team, and they've got guys like D-Fish (former Jazzman Derek Fisher, who had six steals, two in the first 14 minutes against Boozer) that focus on defense," Boozer said.

"They were able to prepare for us and know what we were going to do and take us out of it.

"But it was just that quarter, The whole second half was so much better," Boozer said. "If we can take care of the ball like we did the second half, our first half will be much better."

Sloan said Boozer must do a little better but didn't seem worried about it. "They're going to come and guard him, and he's got to be able to get the ball out. You can't force the ball up through two or three people. He'll be fine."