Sight Reading:
The Los Angeles Lakers are clearly the better team than the Utah Jazz. And it’s not wrong to admit it. Better offense, and an amazing defense – particularly in the paint. The Lakers do a lot of things well, but look for the Jazz to try to battle strength vs. strength. In the paint. Or Paiynte if you speak Al Jefferson-ese.
The show is about to start, click the link below for way more analysis and to join in all the fun!
Recapitulation:
The Jazz most recent loss to the Lakers happened on December 27th, 2011. It didn’t go pretty well. The Jazz shot very poorly, especially in the paint. The Lakers were just too big and tall, and Andrew Bynum couldn’t even play in that game. More doom and gloom over here, I don’t want to get into it again.
.
The Beats and the Rests:
Obviously Kobe Bryant kills Raja Bell here. He’s on a super hot streak as well. It’s not going to look pretty. If you minus them from the equation it doesn’t look so bad for the Jazz. Their towering frontcourt of Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum are still super good, and super long. They are both two-way players. Unfortunately for them one of them will get the short end of the stick trying to follow Paul Millsap around, hopefully leaving Al Jefferson enough court space to isolate and get a good shot, down low, you know, in the paiynte. I like our bench better than theirs, particularly because they will be without Jason Kapono, Troy Murphy, and maybe even Josh McRoberts.
.
Soloists:
years from now people will tell the one sided tale of Kobe and Raja Bell. If Raja can bring out his island voodoo on Kobe and make Kobe shun the offense and just take shot after shot the Jazz may have a chance. You know, if they can defend their glass, the big bodies on the Lakers are 3rd best in offensive rebounds this season, in addition to being 1st in defensive rebounds, and 1st in total rebounds. The ballet between Al Jefferson and Andrew Bynum will be a joy to watch. Gasol may end up with the most points, but the solos for tonight will be between Kobe, Bell, Al, and Andrew.
.
The Remix:
Last time we played we were decimated. I’m taking about British troops fighting against Shaka Zulu style. Look it up. They even made a movie about it. The remix for this game is actually getting our inside scoring going, and hopefully increasing the pace of the game and running a bit. Josh Howard and Devin Harris are best in a running game. Earl Watson can distribute well in this game too – running will prevent the Lakers bigs from setting up their Helm’s Deep style defense in the paint. If we can run a bit, and get out inside scoring going we may just be able to get open looks for our inconsistent outside shooters.
.
Liner Notes:
- Troy Murphy is out
- Derek Caracter is out
- Josh McRoberts may be out
- Kobe wants 50 tonight . . . or the win . . . or both
.
Music Reviews / Opponent Blogs
- Silver Screen and Roll [SB*Nation]
- Forum Blue & Gold [ESPN TrueHoop Network]
- The No Look Pass
- Lakers vs Jazz coverage