What have the Lakers gotten themselves into? Honestly, I’m not surprised the Jazz rose up sweeping both home games in Salt Lake to draw even at 2-2 in the best-of-seven Western Conference semi series. They’ve been a great home team all year losing just five and feed off a terrific home court crowd.

Anyone who thought this was going to be a cakewalk for league MVP Kobe Bryant and the Lakers was on another planet. The Jazz did reach the Conference Final last year. So they weren’t about to roll over.

Maybe the most startling aspect of their 123-115 overtime Game Four win was that they were able to recover from blowing a 12-point lead with four minutes left in regulation. Thanks to some money balling from Derek Fisher (three treys, 10 of 15 in 4th qtr) and Christ The King product Lamar Odom (two tying buckets including rare trey), the purple and gold rallied to get the game to OT tied at 108 apiece.

Why they went away from Odom in the extra five minutes remains a mystery. The Laker third option was having a great game getting open for Bryant passes and exploiting mismatches to the tune of 26 points on an effective 10-of-18 from the floor along with 13 rebounds for a double/double plus three swats.

Clearly, a hobbled Kobe (ankle) was struggling which made it more imperative to get teammates involved. Though the electrifying 29 year-old shooting guard paced his team with 33, he took too many shots misfiring on 20 of 33 including a dreadful 1-of-10 from three-point range. He did still drop a team high 10 assists and grab eight boards. The star just didn’t have the touch as he was defended about as well as possible by lanky Utah forward Andrei Kirilenko, whose five blocks were one fewer than the entire Laker team on Mother’s Day. Kirilenko was also good on the other end taking a pass for a nice flush completing a pivotal three-point play which gave his team some cushion in pulling away for the well earned eight-point win. He netted 15 shooting a perfect 4-of-4 from the field while converting seven of nine at the charity stripe.

As usual, the Jazz got a big game from floor general Deron Williams, who sliced up the Lakers for a team best 29 on an efficient 9-of-13 shooting including three treys, 8-for-8 from the line while also dropping a game high 14 dimes. The third-year Illinois product is just very tough. One such instance in OT saw him lose the ball, narrowly escape a backcourt while recovering it before draining a very tough 16-foot fadeaway over Pau Gasol. He also got into the lane on Utah’s pick n’ roll setting up Mehmet Okur for a couple of long two’s. Just money plays by a money player. He competes. Love the intensity. Okur netted 18 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

Jerry Sloan also got a great outing from his bench, which outscored Phil Jackson’s second unit 39-16. That included 14 from Kyle Korver (two treys) and 12 from the gritty Matt Harpring (4-of-6 FG, 4-of-4 FT). They played extremely well in the second half helping build a double digit lead.

The bench’s play offset a cool outing for star big Carlos Boozer (14 pts, 5-of-15 FG). Boozer did have a great Game Three getting 27 and 20 boards to get the Jazz back in the series. He’ll need to play like that when the series shifts to Tinseltown Wednesday.

The Jazz also got a solid outing from Paul Millsap, whose energy was outstanding as he pulled down four offensive boards, had a steal, block and added nine points. It was that sort of hustle which epitomized his team’s play.

In a losing effort, Los Angeles center Gasol had 23 on 11-of-16 from the floor adding 10 rebounds, three blocks and two assists. He was effective but also missed a dunk in OT which would’ve tied it.

I didn’t get Jackson calling a timeout and then out of it, Sasha Vujacic getting the ball and doing nothing but dribbling into an easy turnover. The play made no sense. He did net 11 off the bench including three from downtown but why doesn’t he start? Vladimir Radmanovic (1-of-6 FG, 0-of-3 three’s, 2 pts in 15 mins) blows.

The Jazz deserved the win. They also hurt the Lakers at the line getting there 20 more times while making a solid 37-for-45. That was another area which LA didn’t do well missing 11 of 25 with 10 of those coming from Kobe and Odom. You’re not going to win many games at this time of year when you fail at the charity stripe.

Now, we got a series. We’ll see how the Lakers handle some adversity. It should be a good one.