LOS ANGELES - The Lakers’ lead was double digits, Utah coach Jerry Sloan was demanding a timeout and the Jazz was looking at the very real possibility of being down two games to none.

And Kobe Bryant hadn’t even taken a shot yet.

Nearly finished the opposition with their start. Again.

For the second consecutive game in a series only two games old, the Lakers set the tone by almost setting the Jazz as convincingly as the sun sets itself.

Of their first 17 field goal attempts, only two missed. They opened 4 for 4 on three-point tries. The Lakers were pitching Spaldings into the Pacific, scoring 41 first-quarter points to lead by 12.

“Quite an offensive show,” Coach Phil Jackson said later.

So what did this outrageously successful start get Jackson’s team? Some strangely eager moments in the second half, the entire second half, meaning right down to the game’s final possessions.

The Lakers led 66-46 in the final two minutes of the second quarter. At which point, they suddenly broke.

The Jazz scored the next 14 points, the Lakers going almost a half hour between baskets.

OK, so that shutout time included the intermission, but it must have felt like it also included the offseason to Jackson.

“That,” the coach also said later, “was a trial for us tonight.”

After that start, how was this possible?

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Starts like this one usually are preceded by a countdown. Then there’s a ground-rumbling explosion with a lot of noise and smoke, followed by something soaring toward the sky.

A liftoff, that’s what the Lakers experienced Tuesday, the Jazz left to cough on the exhaust.

And to think, it was before the game that Utah’s Matt Harpring was said to be suffering from a “gastric irritation.” Who knew such conditions could be contagious? When last spotted, Sloan was experiencing a chronic case.

All that and still…

“It was a little surprising to see them that close at the end,” the Lakers’ Pau Gasol admitted. “That was a great start. We finished well enough.”

What is it with the Lakers and large leads, exactly? This team handles good fortune as if it’s ticking. Or growling. Or asking for money. Does basketball have a prevent defense that we don’t know about?

They were up 22 points at halftime of Game 1 and still had to work plenty hard in the fourth quarter.

In Game 2, they again permitted the Jazz to overstay their welcome – by two quarters. This game wasn’t officially tucked in until the final minute.

So is this a lack of focus?

“I don’t think so,” Jackson said. “It’s probably my fault tonight.”

He criticized himself for his substitutions, particularly his playing too many players in the second quarter. The changes “caused some hesitancy on our part,” Jackson explained.

This, of course, worries Lakers fans, who have to find something else to fret about now that Luke Walton isn’t playing much.

But, you know, the inability to conclude a game in your control isn’t a quality shared by many champions. No one talks about the Boston dynasty having to overcome Bill Russell’s lackadaisical fourth quarters.

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The first round of the playoffs can forgive such mismanagement. But as the postseason grows, the margin of error shrinks.

As a reminder of this, the Lakers lost Game 4 of the Finals last year in this same building after blowing a 24-point lead to the Celtics.

This developing characteristic is one the Lakers must rid themselves of before there will be anything forgone about concluding their impending status as champs.

And this isn’t just the poor work of the postseason newcomers or the reserves. In the final two minutes of Game 2, Gasol missed both free throws during one trip to the line and Kobe Bryant threw away a possession with a ridiculously dangerous 60-foot pass.

So there the Lakers were, with fewer than 30 seconds to go – more than two hours after their grand opening – hearing the steamy words of Jackson during a timeout. The coach was particularly discouraged about something Lamar Odom did or didn’t do on an inbounds play.

Say this much for the Lakers, even when playing at friendly Staples Center, there’s a very thin difference between “our house” and “outhouse.” It is a gap this team can close in as short a time as a single possession.

The interesting news is that the Jazz absolutely will offer more resistance at home, if only because there’s nothing else to do in Salt Lake City.

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“I really don’t know what to expect out of this team in Utah,” Jackson said. “We’ve gone in there and won in the past. We feel like we can go in there again and do the job.”

Utah is a pretty good bet to win Game 3 there, particularly now that everyone realizes this team, against these Lakers, has the ability to unbury itself.

For the Jazz, a win Thursday would be a start.

For the Lakers, a win Thursday could be a finish.

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