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UPDATE (2:45 pm): New insight added from our friends at My Utah Jazz (www.myutahjazz.blogspot.com) on three ways to beat, and lose to, the Jazz.

The Lakers took Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals Sunday at Staples in relatively fine fashion, building a big lead in the second quarter and playing well enough to hold off a game Utah squad down the stretch. Not much about the game was artistic, as the entire second half was thrown out of rhythm by a cavalcade of whistles mixed with ABC’s incredibly long and amazingly frequent commercial breaks. Good as they are, especially once they get back to Salt Lake, if LA can build a 2-0 lead tonight (7:30, TNT) it’ll be a tall order for Utah to come back and win the series.

Here are five things to watch for:

• Rebounding, rebounding, rebounding. The Lakers were hardly flawless, but their only major wart in Game 1 was on the glass. Utah outrebounded them 58-41, and had nearly as many offensive boards (25) as the Lakers had defensive (33). That, if you’re a Laker fan, ain’t a happy stat. Granted, some solid Lakers defense limited the Jazz to 38% shooting, but Utah still managed to corral 42% of their misses. This is big stuff for a squad that was in the worst total rebounding team during the regular season of any Western Conference playoff qualifier, though they were third in the league in rebounding differential (meaning they’re not as bad as the numbers would suggest- call it a wash). The Lakers were lucky to limit Utah from the floor, but the Jazz are solid, with a lot of weapons. Give them too many chances and they’ll make you pay.
• Deron Williams. 14/9/9 in Game 1, on 5-18 shooting. The Lakers didn’t give him much space to operate and did their best to contest and challenge Utah’s top shelf PG… but in the end, he just missed a lot of shots, as did his teammates. Odds are the Lakers aren’t going to shut Williams down again, but if they can make him work for his points it’ll go a long way towards getting them the 2-0 lead they want.
• Whistles. Kobe set a Lakers franchise record for free throws made in a playoff game with 21. That’s something the Jazz would like to fix. It’s hard enough to stop Kobe under the best of circumstances. Giving him freebies at the line is a recipe for disaster. Overall, the Jazz were hit with 33 personals, fueling LA’s 46 trips to the stripe as a team. That’s too many, but fixing that problem won’t be easy for Utah. When LA is playing well, they’re aggressive and work the ball to the rack, either with inside play or dribble penetration. They move, find open lanes, and put pressure on the defense. Utah, for its part, is a team built on beating the crap out of the opposition. They pound and pound and pound, and are unafraid to foul, as evidenced by their 24 personals a game this year, tops in the league. They need to stay physical with LA, but have to avoid putting them on the line so much. That’s a tough combo… unless the refs help them out. If Utah’s grinding style slowly desensitizes the officials, they could accomplish what they want without putting themselves at a disadvantage. But if the whistles continue to fly? Watch out, Salt Lake, your boys will be down 2-0.
• Pau Gasol. Two and a half quarters of blah sandwiched between a very good start and big production in the last three minutes. The knock on Gasol has always been that, in the end, he’s just kind of soft. Game 1 didn’t do a lot to dispel that notion, as Utah’s physical style clearly bugged him, and Mehmet Okur thrashed him on the boards. The Lakers will look to get him more space, but it wouldn’t surprise to see Gasol respond with more aggressive play. Late in the year, when teams seemed determined to body him hard, Gasol stepped up his game and started to push back. Some of that in Game 2 would be very timely for the Lakers.
• The “Other Guy.” Both teams have stars. But who is going to be that dude who steps up and delivers unexpected production? In Game 1, it was Sasha Vujacic, whose second quarter push helped give the Lakers the lead they never gave back. Utah got major minutes from Okur (21/19/3), but not from their stars, so the boost was mitigated. These are two squads with a great deal of depth, and role guys capable of making big contributions. If all the stars show up, whichever team gets the great wild card performance could likely grab the W.

Three Ways to Beat, and Get Beaten By, the Jazz, courtesy of Boozer’s Hammy at MyUtahJazz.com.

How to Beat ‘Em:

1 - Get physical.  The Jazz are rough and physical team, but their offense seems to get stagnant if the other team can match the physicality.
2 - Start fast.  You can tell within the first six minutes of the game if the Jazz are going to be competitive or so if you jump on them quick and they are having one of their don’t care games (see game 5 of the round 1) then you can bury them pretty quickly.  If they are focused and ready to go, you will need the quick start to keep it competitive.
3 - Contain D-Will on the pick and roll.  If he gets into the lane you are screwed.  If you double down on him when he gets into the lane our shooters are good enough to make you pay and Deron will find them.  The Lakers better spend as much time trying to stop Williams as the Jazz do trying to stop Kobe.

How the Jazz Win:

1 - Own the boards, specifically the offensive ones.  The Jazz need to get 15 or more offensive rebounds and convert on at least 10 of them to limit the fast break of the Lakers.  When things are going well, the Jazz usually end up with 10 or more shot attempts than their opponent because of the offensive rebounds.
2 - Kiss Kobe’s butt.  We all know that when Kobe gets motivated he can find that extra gear that is completely insane.  I think the Jazz need to shower him with comments and buy him dinner before every game.  Then when the game starts someone needs to hit Kobe in the face and hit him hard.  A borderline assault-type of foul just to let him know that he is going to have to work for his points.  We all know that Kobe is going to get his, I just hope that we make him take 35 or 40 shots to get it.  Nothing would make me happier than to see Kobe get 40 points on 12 of 36 shooting while his team mates sit on the wings and watch.
3 - Get to the line more than the Lakers.   The Jazz absolutely have to control the paint offensively and not settle for jump shots.  If the force the issue down low and get to the foul line they can control pace more and
get some easy points.

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