NBA PLAYOFFS – SECOND ROUND PREVIEW (PART 2)

The Lakers and Jazz begin their second round series this afternoon, so here is my take on how things will go down.

#1 Los Angeles Lakers vs #5 Utah Jazz

This series is a rematch of last year’s first round clash, where the Lakers dismissed the Jazz rather handily in five games. The Lakers still are the more talented team in this series, however the Jazz are a much stronger team this season and figure to test the Lakers in this series. Deron Williams is playing out of his mind right now, and figures to really give the Lakers fits unless Phil Jackson decides to throw Kobe on him for a majority of the series (not exactly a given as he allowed Derek Fisher to be continually abused by Russell Westbrook for a good chunk of the OKC series). One matchup that is in the Lakers favor is Pau Gasol going up against Carlos Boozer. Boozer had a good series against Denver, but has struggled against the Lakers this season. The Jazz need Paul Millsap to be effective against Andrew Bynum (who may be slowed by a slight tear in his meniscus discovered yesterday) and Lamar Odom in order to have a chance in this series. The Jazz also should get a boost from the return of Andrei Kirilenko, who may be back as early as Game Two on Tuesday. Utah certainly missed him on the defensive end in the Denver series, as Denver rung their bells to the tune of 116.2 points per 100 possessions (ouch). Luckily for them their offense carried them through that series, and they will need to do the same if they expect to move past the Lakers, even with Kirilenko back in the fold. However even though the Lakers weren’t dominant in their series against the Thunder, I still can’t see them bowing out this early, even against a dangerous team like Utah. Expect this one to go the distance, though, much like LA’s second round series against Houston last spring.

Prediction: Lakers in 7