They say it's not about how you start but rather how you finish, but in the first three games of the Jazz and Lakers' first round series, whichever team has controlled the first quarter has gone on to win.
Los Angeles held an 11-point lead after the first in its Game 1 win and a 12-point lead after the first 12 minutes when it won Game 2. Utah built a nine-point lead in the first quarter of Game 3 on Thursday to notch its first victory of the series.
When you ask the Lakers what their focus is and what they are trying to establish to start the game, they point to their offensive game plan.
"Post play," L.A. coach Phil Jackson said as what he stresses to his team at the start of games. "We didn't get that accomplished [in Game 3]. Drew [Andrew Bynum] got two fouls and Pau [Gasol] got off to a [poor start] in his offensive game. Both of them struggled and that's been our attack recently."
Bynum picked up two fouls in the first three and a half minutes and ended up with four points and two rebounds in seven total minutes because of picking up five fouls in all. Gasol finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.
"We couldn't establish [the post] as much as we wanted to throughout the game because of [Bynum's] absence on the floor," Gasol said. "We weren't as effective [as we've been] but it's still something that we need to continue to do and continue to be aggressive [early]."
Part of dumping it in to the big guys down low is the concession that Kobe Bryant, perhaps the most potent scorer in the game, will have to sublimate his skills in the early going.
Bryant has no problem with that.
"If I start going in the beginning, a lot of times the team has a tendency to sit back and watch," Bryant said. "So I try to make sure that they're going [first]."
"We have to start getting the ball inside to our guys and take advantage of the middle like we did in Los Angeles."
It's not surprising that the Lakers concentrate on ways to score from the start, seeing as Jackson's calling card is his triangle offense. In similar fashion, Utah takes on the personality of coach Jerry Sloan and his staunch defensive attitude to begin the game.
"It's very important to weather that first storm," Jazz guard Deron Williams said. "That's a team that tries to blow you out early. I thought we did a better job of defending them in the first half."
The Jazz held the Lakers to just 24 percent shooting in the first quarter of Game 3 after L.A. lit up Staples Center at an 86 percent clip in the opening quarter of Game 2.
Utah started Andrei Kirilenko, a three time selection on the NBA's All-Defensive Team, in place of sharpshooter Kyle Korver, to give the team another path-of-greatest-resistance minded player to start the game with.
"Last night we did a good job from the beginning forcing them to play an aggressive game," Kirilenko said. "No layups, forcing them to shoot outside and you see there's a mighty difference. That's how we're supposed to play."
Utah's defense led to offense, led by Carlos Boozer.
Boozer helped the Jazz turn it around after tip-off with nine of his 23 points and 11 of his 22 rebounds in the first quarter on Thursday.
"He played with a lot of energy," Matt Harpring said. "He came out and he was focused, he was determined. He was trying to get every rebound. He was in the post. He was aggressive."
There's still a lot of series left to be played, but it could become clear whether L.A. will have a chance to win it in five at home or if Utah can guarantee it goes six depending on what happens in the first twelve minutes of Game 4 (Saturday, 9 ET, ESPN).
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