Utah Jazz in LA against panicking Lakers
Surely the 'Zen Master' can find some magical words to get the Lakers through this current rough stretch, right? Phil Jackson's squad has Purple & Gold backers hitting the panic button as the defending NBA champs head towards the playoffs. Andrew Bynum's injured Achilles might just be a reason to be alarmed. Carlos Boozer and th Jazz are in town and look to break a 13-game road losing streak to the Lakers.
It’s April, and once again, there’s panic on the streets of Los Angeles. The defending NBA champion Lakers have just wrapped up a five-game road trip at 2-3 SU and ATS. Surely the Apocalypse is on its way.
“Please, please, don’t panic. This is not the time to panic,” Jeanie Buss told radio listeners, a clear indication that this is indeed the time to panic.
The concern, as it was last year, is the health of Andrew Bynum. This is one of the league’s rising young stars, a monster in the middle for the Lakers with 19.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per 40 minutes. Bynum is also an excellent low-post defender and a matchup nightmare when paired with fellow 7-footer Pau Gasol (19.1 points, 12.1 rebounds/40). But Bynum missed that entire five-game road trip with a strained Achilles tendon and will probably miss another week or two – if not more.
If you’ve been following the Lakers (54-21 SU, 31-41-3 ATS), you know what Bynum means to this team. The first unit can get by quite nicely with Gasol shifting to center and Lamar Odom (13.4 points, 12.3 rebounds/40) starting at power forward. But “quite nicely” is not enough. According to 82games, the Lakers outscore opponents by the equivalent of 6.3 points per game with Odom in the familiar starting five, and 11.1 points with Bynum.
The second unit, meanwhile, has been entirely beatable with or without Odom playing as a sixth man. Sasha Vujacic (12.3 points, 5.5 rebounds/40) had a nice season for L.A. two years ago, but he’s dropped from 43.7 percent to 33.3 percent from behind the arc. Luke Walton (11.6 points, 5.6 assists/40) has a bad back and has played just 24 games this season. And Josh Powell (12.1 points, 7.8 rebounds/40) has also regressed from two years ago, leaving the Lakers without a reliable big off the bench.
This is not the recipe for beating the Utah Jazz (50-26 SU, 47-26-3 ATS). They’re very well represented in the post with Carlos Boozer (22.7 points, 13.0 rebounds/40) and either Mehmet Okur (18.1 points, 9.6 rebounds/40) stretching the defense or Paul Millsap (17.1 points, 9.5 rebounds/40) knocking in their teeth.
The Jazz are 12-4 SU and 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games to move into second place in the Western Conference, 4.5 games behind the Lakers going into Friday night’s matchup at Staples Center.
There’s been some discussion that the Lakers are simply playing out the string with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. The 'over' has cashed in three straight times for what is normally one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. Utah happens to be an outstanding scoring team, although less so with Andrei Kirilenko (16.4 points, 6.3 rebounds/40) sidelined by a calf injury. The 'under' is 6-2-1 in the nine games Kirilenko has missed this month; he’ll be absent Friday as well after not traveling with the team to California.
If L.A. can muster up the effort, a win at home is entirely possible. These two teams split a pair home and away back in December, then the Lakers visited Salt Lake City on February 10 (without Bynum in the lineup) and crushed the Jazz (with Kirilenko) 96-81. Utah was favored by 5½ points in that matchup. The betting odds for Friday’s rematch have the Lakers laying 4½ points (five at certain locations) with a total of 204½.
There were also a handful of books at press time who were unwilling to post a betting line because of Kobe Bryant and his sore left ankle. Bryant “tweaked” his ankle in Wednesday’s 109-92 defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks (-1½); the former MVP scored just eight of his 28 points in the second half as the Hawks pulled away. The injury does not appear to be serious, but Bryant (28.0 points, 5.2 assists/40) is the most important player on the floor and will be treated with kid gloves if necessary. Get ready for some real panic if he misses this game.
Surely the 'Zen Master' can find some magical words to get the Lakers through this current rough stretch, right? Phil Jackson's squad has Purple & Gold backers hitting the panic button as the defending NBA champs head towards the playoffs. Andrew Bynum's injured Achilles might just be a reason to be alarmed. Carlos Boozer and th Jazz are in town and look to break a 13-game road losing streak to the Lakers.
It’s April, and once again, there’s panic on the streets of Los Angeles. The defending NBA champion Lakers have just wrapped up a five-game road trip at 2-3 SU and ATS. Surely the Apocalypse is on its way.
“Please, please, don’t panic. This is not the time to panic,” Jeanie Buss told radio listeners, a clear indication that this is indeed the time to panic.
The concern, as it was last year, is the health of Andrew Bynum. This is one of the league’s rising young stars, a monster in the middle for the Lakers with 19.8 points and 10.9 rebounds per 40 minutes. Bynum is also an excellent low-post defender and a matchup nightmare when paired with fellow 7-footer Pau Gasol (19.1 points, 12.1 rebounds/40). But Bynum missed that entire five-game road trip with a strained Achilles tendon and will probably miss another week or two – if not more.
If you’ve been following the Lakers (54-21 SU, 31-41-3 ATS), you know what Bynum means to this team. The first unit can get by quite nicely with Gasol shifting to center and Lamar Odom (13.4 points, 12.3 rebounds/40) starting at power forward. But “quite nicely” is not enough. According to 82games, the Lakers outscore opponents by the equivalent of 6.3 points per game with Odom in the familiar starting five, and 11.1 points with Bynum.
The second unit, meanwhile, has been entirely beatable with or without Odom playing as a sixth man. Sasha Vujacic (12.3 points, 5.5 rebounds/40) had a nice season for L.A. two years ago, but he’s dropped from 43.7 percent to 33.3 percent from behind the arc. Luke Walton (11.6 points, 5.6 assists/40) has a bad back and has played just 24 games this season. And Josh Powell (12.1 points, 7.8 rebounds/40) has also regressed from two years ago, leaving the Lakers without a reliable big off the bench.
This is not the recipe for beating the Utah Jazz (50-26 SU, 47-26-3 ATS). They’re very well represented in the post with Carlos Boozer (22.7 points, 13.0 rebounds/40) and either Mehmet Okur (18.1 points, 9.6 rebounds/40) stretching the defense or Paul Millsap (17.1 points, 9.5 rebounds/40) knocking in their teeth.
The Jazz are 12-4 SU and 11-5 ATS in their last 16 games to move into second place in the Western Conference, 4.5 games behind the Lakers going into Friday night’s matchup at Staples Center.
There’s been some discussion that the Lakers are simply playing out the string with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season. The 'over' has cashed in three straight times for what is normally one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. Utah happens to be an outstanding scoring team, although less so with Andrei Kirilenko (16.4 points, 6.3 rebounds/40) sidelined by a calf injury. The 'under' is 6-2-1 in the nine games Kirilenko has missed this month; he’ll be absent Friday as well after not traveling with the team to California.
If L.A. can muster up the effort, a win at home is entirely possible. These two teams split a pair home and away back in December, then the Lakers visited Salt Lake City on February 10 (without Bynum in the lineup) and crushed the Jazz (with Kirilenko) 96-81. Utah was favored by 5½ points in that matchup. The betting odds for Friday’s rematch have the Lakers laying 4½ points (five at certain locations) with a total of 204½.
There were also a handful of books at press time who were unwilling to post a betting line because of Kobe Bryant and his sore left ankle. Bryant “tweaked” his ankle in Wednesday’s 109-92 defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks (-1½); the former MVP scored just eight of his 28 points in the second half as the Hawks pulled away. The injury does not appear to be serious, but Bryant (28.0 points, 5.2 assists/40) is the most important player on the floor and will be treated with kid gloves if necessary. Get ready for some real panic if he misses this game.
