For all intents and purposes, the Jazz were done by the time Carlos Boozer was called for an offensive foul and Deron Williams was whistled for fouling Derek Fisher on a three-point attempt.

But those two plays represented a six-point swing against the Jazz and typified the kinds of calls the Jazz felt went against them in the 108-105 Game 6 loss to the Lakers that eliminated the Jazz from the conference semifinals.

With 13 seconds to go in the first half, Boozer drove into Lamar Odom and scored. The whistle blew and Boozer thought he was headed to the line. Instead, he was called for an offensive foul, his second foul of the game.

On the next series, Williams thought he knocked the ball out of Fisher's hands as he rose up for a three-point attempt with 0.9 seconds left. The call though went against the Utah point guard and put Fisher at the line for three free throws, all of which the 86 percent free-throw shooter made.

The Jazz should regret their poor start in a series that showed the importance of good openings and blame it for their downfall. They should kick themselves for letting Game 5 get away or for not coming up with a few defensive stops when they made a late run Friday.

Those were all shortcomings and they acknowledged them in their solemn locker room minutes after being eliminated. However, some of their frustrations couldn't help but be aimed at the officiating.

On paper, the game was called rather evenly, with the Lakers making 31 of 38 free throws to Utah's 22 of 25. The free throws didn't become skewed to the Lakers until the final minutes when the Jazz fouled on purpose.

But the calls at the end of the first half and others such as a would-be Pau Gasol shove on Ronnie Brewer out of bounds, another offensive foul on Boozer and a questionable call on Matt Harpring for fouling Kobe Bryant in the closing minutes left the Jazz feeling like they'd been shorted by the officials.

Boozer fouled out with less than five minutes to go when he was called for going over the back, ending his night with 12 points, 14 rebounds and a whole lot of frustration.

"Sometimes it's tough because you feel like you're going as hard as you can, but you don't make the basket, you don't get the call and you come up empty," Boozer said. "We're trying to come back and if we shoot free throws like they shoot free throws, we probably get over the hump in the fourth quarter."

lwodraska@sltrib.com