Utah Jazz: Kobe expecting 'energized' crowd tonight

By Jody Genessy
Deseret News
Published: Friday, May 9, 2008 2:27 p.m. MDT
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To borrow his MVP acceptance speech words, Kobe Bryant is ready to "get this party started" in Salt Lake City.

As the Western Conference semifinals move from Los Angeles to EnergySolutions Arena this weekend, Bryant expects both the Utah Jazz and their crowd to be ready to go for Game 3 tonight.

"I think this place is going to be energized," Bryant said, "and we're going to come out with a lot of energy and a lot of toughness.

"What we have to do is stick to our strategy, be patient and execute."

Of course, Bryant believes the Lakers, whom he predicted will be playing into June, will be up to the challenge on the road. He knows they'll have a good amount of support from the purple and gold-clad supporters who always infiltrate the Jazz's home.

Bryant doesn't expect MVP chants, but he is expecting some support from the vocal L.A. contingency.

"There are are a lot of (Lakers' fans) here, a lot of undercover ones. They'll come out tonight," he said after his team's shootaround Friday. "Our fans do a pretty good job of traveling. I think they pose as Utah fans to get great seats and then show up in their Laker gear."

Lakers' fans have a lot to cheer about, seeing as L.A. rolled to two double-digit victories at Staples Center to take a 2-0 series lead. Bryant said the Lakers aren't taking any future victories based on their past performances for granted.

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"We're just looking at it game-by-game. Those two games we played in L.A. are behind us," he said. "We're looking at this series as a five-game series and this is Game 1, so we have to come out here and get this."

Bryant has played even better against the Jazz than he did during his MVP regular season. He averaged 36 points on 55.9 percent shooting with seven rebounds and 6.5 assists in the first two games.

E-mail: jody@desnews.com

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Recent comments

Jazz fans whine because they are sick of the big market additude...

odogtriever | May 10, 2008 at 8:59 a.m.

They are all moving to Utah to pick up a few more wives.

odogtriever here is your answer | May 10, 2008 at 1:22 a.m.

don't even talk about whining, your the biggest whiners in all...

Re"odogtriever | May 10, 2008 at 1:20 a.m.