Utah at Los Angeles (05/04/2008)

love the well rested lakers here..lakers sweep in the first round gave these guys some time to rest, game plan and watch film.  i like my chances with phil jackson as coach--the guy knows his shit.  in addition, lakers are lights out at home and will come out gunning.

look for pau gasol to rupt and have a huge game. i don't think utah will be able to guard him this game.  i look for the lakers to rock the jazz with an uppercut to the chin this game, but i would look for a few utah adjustments next game and then kobe or someone else to step up. i like lakers in 5

Lakers- 106
Jazz- 89

also, jazz are at the top of the league in team fouls.. lakers will shoot free throws much better than the rockets did down the stretch. that takes away one of utah's advantages last round and you know kobe is gonna b at the line quite a bit..you already know sir bryant aint gonna pull a t-mac at the line. dude is buckets.

Diggin' the Laker love today and the confidence to back playin' the line.

As a Laker fan knowing how good Utah is I was a little worried but you guys point out a lot of evidence to support back them with some $.  Indeed (until games one and two of the Rocket series anyway) the Jazz definately hasn't shown up on the road this year.

It'll be interesting to see how the Lakers come out of the gates after the layoff.  Sometimes these guys start slow at home and even let teams stay close in the first half.  And not just this season but over the past several.

It's funny but Phil Jackson likes to joke that the Lakers don't really have a home court advantage because of so many other teams that play in that building (Clips, LA Kings, Avengers) but I wonder if it's not a back-handed slap at the nature of LA fan (to include
Dodger supporters) who often shows up late, reserves support at times, and then leaves early.  It's also fed quite a bit, I personally believe, by the entertainment industry here in town.

However . . . this IS the playoffs and these are the LA Jack Nicholson's (as was pointed out earlier) and there's nothin' as much fun as the Laker 3rd quarter. 

And LA LOVES to win.

Want to give props to the Ridah who has single-handedly proven (to me at least) that the over/under is not to be feared.

That bet has always seemed arbitrary and unpredictable to but the Ridah probably feels the exact opposite way about it and the over definately looks good today.

Go Lakers and good luck all- 

Good luck earth1,  but if you want to win ( like all of us)  take LAKERS all day.   Its show time

Utah's road play??? You think Utah is the same team in the post-season that had a shitty road record?? uhh no!!

LAL-7.5

Lakers should take this one down as they are a better team.  Utah is not as good of a team on the road, or at least they weren't during the regular season.  They more than held their own against the Rockets in the opening series.  What will hurt the Lakers is the rest.  They were the only team to sweep the first round, while the Jazz/Rockets series went deep.  You think the Magic had a little bit of rust on them last night?

Jazz just played a couple of days ago, so they still have the game experience fresh in their minds.  Lakers are a young team without any playoff experience outside of Kobe and Derek Fisher.  An easy first round and a long break might be detrimental to these guys in that they expect to breeze through this series as well.  This series will be a lot closer than people think, Deron Williams should be able to do almost whatever he wants, and the Lakers don't have nearly the depth that the Jazz do.  This game will be close for the 1st half, then the Lakers should probably step it up in the 2nd half.  Laying off the game spread because I think this is a 7 or 8 point game in the end.

UTAH  +4  1st half
UNDER 212.5 game

Small value play on Jazz ML (rust is tough to get off!)

Lakers for sure

Lakers by 18 at least

Earth lay off that crizzack bra

Let me clarify something angrytiger...you said, "this IS the playoffs and these are the LA Jack Nicholson's..."
jetsmets84 said, "jack nichalous"...

Everyone knows that is Nicholsons' Greek cousin.

Get with the program!!

I think Utah have this series in the bag ..... give me LA first game .....but after today ill take utah the rest of the series

just joshing you...