Lakers Gearing Up For Utah Jazz Tonight
On a Sunday dominated by the glorious return of the NFL playoffs, the Lakers will face off at home game against the Utah Jazz.
For their part, the Jazz (16 – 20) will look to build on a strong win last night against a solid Heat team, in which Gordon Hayward dropped 34 points. Their defensive superstar, Rudy Gobert is back, and the currently eighth-seeded Jazz will use his return as a catalyst to help solidify their playoff position.
The Lakers (8 – 30) have been playing much better of late.
They’re still riding the high of their first 3 game winning-streak, in which they bested the Celtics, the 76ers, and the Suns, before dropping their next three to the Warriors, Kings, and Thunder.
However, the loses have ceased being blowouts, and the team had real chances to win late in the fourth quarter against both the Kings and Thunder — prompting even Kevin Durant to comment to Byron Scott mid-game, on how much better the Lakers look as compared to when they played just a few weeks prior.
Here’s a preview of how it all should go down:
Lakers – Probable Starters
PG: Jordan Clarkson
SG: Lou Williams
SF: Kobe Bryant (Probable)
PF: Larry Nance Jr.
C: Roy Hibbert
Key Reserves: D’Angelo Russell (Questionable), Julius Randle, Anthony Brown, Brandon Bass
Jazz – Probable Starters
PG: Raul Neto
SG: Rodney Hood
SF: Gordon Hayward
PF: Trey Lyles
C: Rudy Gobert
Key Reserves: Trevor Booker, Trey Burke, Jeff Withey, Joe Ingles
Despite the prolonged absence of defensive-anchor Rudy Gobert, Quin Snyder has his team playing great defense once again (5th in points allowed in the NBA).
The Lakers will need to be resourceful, moving beyond their typical isolation-heavy offense if they want to score with any consistency in this game.
While it remains to be seen if D’Angelo Russell will be able to play on the ankle he rolled against the Kings just a few days ago, he should have a match up worth exploiting coming off the bench against backup point guard, Trey Burke.
Burke is just 6’0″ as opposed to D’Angelo, who is 6’5″.
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Russell has already shown flashes of a post game when facing off against smaller guards. The Lakers should look to run plays that get D’Angelo in the post against Burke, where the rookie should be able to have his way, forcing the Jazz to send help defenders.
Russell’s great passing ability would make finding the resulting open man easy, and the Lakers bench unit might be able run up some points on the Jazz this way.
Elsewhere offensively, the Lakers will need to be careful when driving into the paint, as Rudy Gobert is one of — if not the — best young shot blocker in the league.
Running actions that bring him out of the paint will help neutralize that, though, and if Roy Hibbert and Brandon Bass can continue to knock down mid-range jumpers with some consistency, then the Lakers will have a viable opportunity to limit Gobert’s impact on the game with pick and pop’s between the team’s centers and guards.
Defensively, the Lakers’ job will be a bit easier, as the Jazz are just 27th overall in points scored per game. Much of their attack relies on Gordon Hayward’s scoring abilities, and stopping him will be a great test for key defensive wing prospect Anthony Brown.
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If the Lakers can do that, and rotate efficiently on Jazz big men diving towards the rim out of pick and rolls, then they’ll give themselves a solid chance at pulling out their 4th win of the new year.
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