From the Jazz locker room

Utah coach Jerry Sloan praised the Lakers after Game 1, and bashed his team. Here's some of what he had to say after the Lakers defeated the Jazz,113-100, today:

"We gave up 62 points in the first half and it's virtually impossible to beat this team(the Lakers) if you give them that kind of an edge. ... They're leaving us open for a reason, because we're not great shooters. We haven't proved we can make a shot. When we stayed in our offense and executed that, I felt were at least able to make them play us a little more. They didn't have to play us the way we started off the ballgame.

"We kind of looked like deer in the headlights to start the game. I was really kind of shocked that we would play that way. Some of our guys are young guys. Hopefully, we're going to learn. We have to play four games and, hopefully, we get better each time we play them. I thought our effort was good. Some of the mistakes we made, at both ends of the floor, were something we need to do a much better job of. We were obviously shorthanded out there and then we get shorter when we have to substitute. They're a big, long team. We can't seem to make our guys taller. If I could do that, we'd be a little bit better off.

"But give them credit. They know how to play. They're a terrific team. They're a very intelligent basketball team. They're an intelligent team because they put you in situations and if you can't handle them, you see what happens. We couldn't handle some of them, particularly on the offensive end of the court. And defensively, they're very, very good. "