Quagmire
Years ago
Jazz Lakers preview
They have had similar playoff squads play twice before with LA winning both times.
So why would this be aby different?
I don't think this LA team is a real 'Phil Jackson' team.
Phil likes having a star (preferably the best player in the league) and surrounding them with long tall post defenders and shooting wing players.
Now LA still has Bynum (a little), Gasol and Lamar, but who are the shooters providing space for Kobe?
Artest and Fish are really cold right now. This may allow Utah to press Kobe much more than in the past two series.
Also a thing that has changed, Fish is older and will no longer be able to contain D-Will, a job he has done well in the past.
Utah lost Brewer mid season, but this means they have CJ and Wes on the wings, both capable of hitting deep shots. This means Kobe will not be able to roam in D, providing help to cut off D-Will's passing lanes to Boozer and Milsap. In the past Kobe roamed free as Brewer had no jumper.
On the subject of Kobe, Wes and CJ did a good job of making Carmelo work hard (after gm 1)and i think Kobe will find the going tough. The prob for Utah is that Kobe is a different kind of monster to Carmelo. They are both explosive scorers, but Melo is not the creator for teamates that Kobe is.
It will be interesting to see how Artest's role plays out in this series. He usually has a marquee player to tag through a series, but the jazz only have Wes, CJ and Korver. Will this lack of focus cause him to lose it altogether? Look for Phil to get Artest involved in the offence as he can surely bully the smaller Jazz wings down low.
All this adds up to what should be a great series.
Of course, Utah has no real answer for Gasol inside, coupled with home court, i think LA must still be favourites.
