We haven't seen the Lakers in a long time - not since the Jazz fell behind 28 at the half in LA. And since an embarrassing loss to the Cavaliers before the break, they're 16-1. How have they done that? By stifling defense. They've only allowed three teams to break 100 in that streak. In fact, only 7 of those games have they allowed more than 90 points. Throw in their offense which is second in the league in efficiency, and this team may be even better than last year's team.
So how do the Jazz counter on this April Fool's day? Tyrone Corbin will start Kyrylo Fesenko at center, move Al to the 4, and start the Millsap at the 3 experiment early. In the back court will be Watson and Miles. With the shortage of players tonight due to injuries, I was trying to think of the wackiest lineup we might see out on the floor tonight but couldn't come up with any plausible scenarios. This might be it though.
We've always lacked length against the Lakers (as have most teams). They're not going to match the talent of Bynum/Gasol/Artest, but the Jazz will finally match their height.
The Lakers are coming off a game where things got chippy with Dallas. Matt Barnes was ejected and as a result will be suspended for tonight's game. That's not going to matter too much though. It's Shannon Brown and Lamar Odom that are going to do the damage coming off the bench.
I'm not sure what to expect out of this game tonight. As with a lot of games this season, you could tell me pretty much anything and I would believe it. Though I'm not expecting it, you could tell me the Jazz win this game by 10 and I would believe it. They could get blown out by 50 and I wouldn't be surprised.
Some day again, I'll be able to predict games again like the Jazz getting behind big early, fighting back to make it close, only to have the Lakers run away with it in the last 6 minutes. Ahh, the old days of yester-month.
I'm looking forward though to this lineup and once again, how all of the young guys play tonight.