 VS. 
Los Angeles Lakers vs Utah Jazz Carlos Boozer and the Utah Jazz hope to spoil Kobe Bryant's MVP celebration.More important, the Jazz hope to even the Western Conference semifinals with the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night before the series moves to Salt Lake City for Games 3 and 4."If we can go out there and ruin their party a little bit by getting a victory, that helps us a lot," Boozer said. "Kobe is the MVP. He deserves the trophy. We just want to win the game."The NBA made it official Tuesday - four days after the word was leaked - that Bryant had won his first MVP award. He'll receive the trophy before Game 2 at Staples Center.
Utah didn't have any luck in Game 1. Bryant scored 15 points in the first quarter, shot a franchise-record 23 free throws and finished with 38 points in the Lakers' 109-98 victory. The Jazz haven't plumbed down to that level, but if they don't pull up soon, it will be too late in this series, where they have their hands full at the defensive end with Bryant and Pau Gasol, but concurrently and absolutely must come together offensively to have any chance of bouncing back. "We have to stay positive," said Brewer. "And knock down shots." As noted, it's bigger than just that. The Jazz have to do everything that precedes the shots, setting them up patiently and properly to make sure those attempts don't bounce all over creation after they miss their mark. "We need to work a little harder and try to get the basketball in our offense, where we'd like to get it," Jerry Sloan said. ". . . We became a one-on-one team, which we're not very good at playing and that's what their defense did to us." AnalysisBookmakers moved the total line down to 209.5 because teams did not reach this mark in Game and scored only 201 pts. But I can't agree with this line movement because of several reasons. Utah can't defend against Lakers. Kobe-Odom-Gasol + other stuff is simply too much for Utah defense. If you can't hold opponent defensively you should try to score more than your opponent. Utah shot the ball 95 times in Game1 but made only 36 attempts, much lower than their average. They do have enough offensive power to make 100+ points especially in high-tempo game. This game should be a high-tempo game. Because in 4 of 5 games between these teams this season teams did 229 and more possessions. Only time when they did 198 possessions was a game in Utah when Lakers outscored Jazz 38:18 in first quarter and teams simply walked on the courtn until final whistle. Teams scored 49+ points in 14 of 20 quarters. According to my calculations they scores 53 points in average per quarter and something similar we should see today.
PredictionUtah should give Lakers more fight than they did in Game 1 but Lakers with their winning mentality and home crowd should take this game in the 4th quarter. As for score I think that both teams will score more than 100 points and this game have high chances to end with total over 210 points. Predicted score: LA Lakers 113 - 106 Utah Jazz Pick: Over 209.5 @ 1.96 PinnacleSports
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