text: SALT LAKE CITY – It was like a father playing his 10-year-old son one-on-one, showing no mercy in the driveway and dominating him to no end. It was like a player seeing an inferior talent trying to guard him and almost salivating as he scored on him time and again.
  One could be forgiven if Pau Gasol had those kinds of feelings about Carlos Boozer in Monday night’s 111-96 win by the Lakers over the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena.
  If this series is any indication, that matchup just wasn’t a fair fight.
  “I was able to use my length to bother him,” Gasol said in what was a gross understatement. “I’m proud of what I accomplished against him.”
  In what was a sweep of Utah, Gasol was not to be denied in the paint defensively and in the rebounding department. In Monday’s Western Conference semifinal series-clinching win, he added his scoring tough to the entire package.
  The 33 points Gasol scored was a game-high. The 14 rebounds and the two blocks have come to be expected.
  His length was so vexing to Boozer that the usually high-scoring forward came up with just 10 points in what could have been his last game in a Jazz uniform. Utah made the decision to play him straight up and Gasol made the Jazz pay. Repeatedly.
  “He’s one of the best players in the league,” Lakers center Andrew Bynum said. “He’s got all the tools offensively, he makes all the shots. He’s just so good in there that it’s hard to guard him one-on-one.”
  Yet that’s what the Jazz tried to do on the heels of the Lakers draining 133-pointers in Game 3, which the Lakers won 111-110. As soon as Gasol realized Utah’s guards were staying home and not digging down trying to get steals, he went to work. There was 10 points and five rebounds in the first quarter. There was 11 points in the fourth period.
  There were jumpers, jump hooks, turnarounds, offensive rebounds, seemingly everything in the bag of tricks.
  “They weren’t as aggressive as they had been double-teaming the ball,” Gasol said.
  “That’s why I was able to get a good rhythm going early on. I felt good. Guys were getting me the ball and I was able to get my shot off.”
  If Monday held a good sign for the Lakers, it’s that Gasol and Kobe Bryant were both able to dominate in the same game. Throughout these playoffs, it was either Bryant going off scoring-wise or Gasol. Game 4 was the first time the two were able to achieve a working balance.
  It’s no surprise that the Lakers were able to take off with both of them being proficient with the ball.
  “I’m happy with how I played this series, but I’m happy with how we played as a team,” Gasol said. “I’m proud of what we accomplished in this series.”
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