It is not because of Utah’s weaknesess but more so that the Lakers strengths have become even stronger. Last year against the Jazz the biggest issue was the Lakers length. This year the Lakers get Bynum back which makes their length that much better. Also, last year’s Lakers did not have the hunger that they have this year. They are not only a much better team talent wise with Ariza and Bynum but they have a year of being motivated even more so than last year. On the other side, the Jazz are virtually the same team and some may argue that according to how they ended the regular season they might be slightly less of a challenge for this year’s Laker team. That being said, I think that the addition of Ariza and Bynum could be the difference maker in winning two games in Utah. Not to mention S. Brown’s ability to at least stay with D. Williams.

Jerry Sloan may be headed for the Hall of Fame, but the Jazz are heading for an early vacation, courtesy of the Lakers.

The one thing missing from this preview and most people’s comments on the series is the influence the refs have over the game. It’s probably kind of a taboo subject to bring up the importance of referees in a series, but the Jazz style of play puts a huge amount of onus on the refs, and the way the refs call the game can be extremely significant in the outcome of individual games. Take last year’s series for example. There were two games in which the refs called an extremely one-sided game, game 4 in Utah and game 5 in LA. Both of these games were won by the home team, and either could have been stolen by the road team if not for home cookin’ on the foul calls.

I’m going to assume for the sake of convenience that the Lakers can and will win in LA regardless of how the refs call the game. But if the Lakers go into Salt Lake and find themselves playing 5 v 8 (a distinct possibility considering the atmosphere of the normal Jazz home playoff game), its not hard to see them dropping one. That’s the secret reason why Jazz in 5 is the consensus pick for the national media.

so I expect them to take at least one of them. The big key is Deron Williams and the kind of roll he my get on. Our bench needs to step up now because they have become kind of lazy in some of the games at the end. I do expect them to rise up now that it is playoff time.

I really liked to see Shannon get some time against the Jazz so he just might be a key player for us in this series. I pick the Lakers in 5.