SATURDAY MAY 8TH, 2010 – Los Angeles Lakers vs Utah Jazz
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Team records:
Utah: 53-29 SU, 49-30-3 ATS
Los Angeles: 57-25 SU, 34-46-2 ATS
If it was a question of X’s and O’s, maybe Jerry Sloan could do something about the Los Angeles Lakers. Sloan has been around the NBA block a few times and can game-plan with the best coaches. But what can you do when the other team is bigger than yours, and more talented?
Matchup: LAKERS vs. JAZZ
Time: Saturday 8 ET
Venue: EnergySolutions Arena, Salt Lake City
Spread: Jazz -4
Over/Under: 203
Uh, nothing?
Sloan figures his Jazz will do better in Salt Lake City that they did in dropping the first two games of the Western Conference semis in Los Angeles, but is there any way he can grab four of the next five games in this series?
The Lakers have the second-best player in the NBA and they do whatever the hell they want against the Jazz’s depleted front line. With Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur out of the lineup, Utah is starting players who should be subs, and the bench consists of players who should not be on the court.
It’s tough enough to beat the Lakers when the rotation is healthy; it’s next to impossible to compete against the likes of Andrew Bynum, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol when injuries drain gas from the tank.
But the Jazz are not a team that makes excuses. Sloan will go off on the refs every now and then but he stays clear of the psychological games that Phil Jackson plays on the yearly basis. With a 2-0 series edge we haven’t heard much from Jackson about the refs, but if the Jazz steal Game 3 he’ll start to whine.
This all has the look and feel of a 5-game series.
Utah’s best chance to make life miserable for the Lakers came late in Game 1, but the Jazz ran out of steam, Bryant and Gasol got calls down the stretch (stunner there, huh?) and all was right with the Lakers’ world.
Any chance the Jazz might have had at the start of this series dissipated when Bryant reported that the injured finger on his shooting hand was coming along nicely.
Bryant is shooting better than 50 percent from the field (22-41) and is 17 of 18 from the line.
If that continues, the Lakers can start prepping for the Western finals.
Lakers vs. Jazz Free NBA Prediction
Where is the Jazz defense? Seven of Utah’s 8 playoff games so far have gone over, and after giving up 98.9 points a game during the regular season, Jazz opponents (Denver and Los Angeles) are scoring at 109 a game in the playoffs.
Only once has Utah kept an opponent in double digits. Given all that, it’s doubtful that the teams can come in under 203.
The OVER looks like a solid play.
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Lawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel expert from Massachusetts.
