Andre Gomes Available Picks

May, 07 2008 10:30pm EST
TOTAL: Under 209.5 (-110)
LOSS for -3 unit(s)

Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Lakers

Game 2 of this series and the Lakers are now up by 1-0. The line for this game is a little bit lower in the Game 1, which was 213.5 points but even though it's still higher than I predicted for this series. The public expect for Game 1 to be something like the games between the Lakers and Denver, where the games at LA ended with amazing scores of 128-114 and 122-117, with the Lakers shooting above 50% FG in both games. Even though Utah had some defensive problems on the road during the regular season and to get that it's only necessary to see some games against the Lakers, but these Jazz from the playoffs are different and way more aggressive, even more aggressive than they should be and I'll explain that later. The Game 1 ended with a result of 109-98, with 207 points, however this high number of points was only reached thanks to the free throws. In that game there were 60 fouls and a total of 76 FT! What's even more impressive is that Kobe finished the game with 21-23 FT, when the whole team of Utah shot 22-30 FT! Of course Utah won't do the same today, they will be more careful. Boozer have already said that: "I think we have to send more people at him. Try to make some other people score as opposed to having Kobe shoot the ball. We know he's a great player. We all know that. But him shooting 23 free throws hurts us." And even his direct opponent has acknowledge that: "You've got to adjust to how they're calling it," Brewer said. "I'm not surprised. We're known as a team that fouls a lot, so you've just got to adjust from there, adjust your defense, not use your hands as much, make him take tough shots." It was mainly thanks to the free throws that the Lakers scored points in the Game 1. From the 55 points they scored in the second half, 23 of them were from the charity line, so when the Lakers struggled in the attack they were compensated by the free throws. That's why we see their points quarter by quarter (25, 29, 25, 30) and we don't see how much they struggled in the attack during the whole game. Utah played on a very physical way, outrebounding the Lakers by 58-41 and having 25 offensive boards, which originate them +18 FG than the Lakers. This aggressiveness and physical game will make tonight's matchup not to be a walk in the park for the Lakers offense, as their shots will be heavily contested. So today I expect Utah to be more careful in the fouls, obligating the Lakers to shot more. About the fouls, I saw that the crew of refs of tonight's game is favorable to referee games with few fouls and with tendency for the under. Take the under in here.