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May, 14 2008 10:30pm EST
ATS: Los Angeles Lakers -8.5 (-110)
LOSS for -2 unit(s)

Utah Jazz at Los Angeles Lakers

Play ON Los Angeles Lakers (-) vs Utah @ 10:35 PM ET Home/road dichotomy has been the story throughout this postseason and its certainly unlikely to change here. In the second round of the playoffs, the home teams have won an incredible 17 of the 18 games. For Utah, the chances of becoming potentially just the second winner in 20 tries (Cleveland is also at Boston tonight) for road teams in the second round of these playoffs is highly unlikely! The Jazz were just 17-24 on the road in the regular season while the Lakers were a solid 30-11 at home. Also, the Lakers have won six straight games in Los Angeles against the Jazz. In fact, the Lakers are 16-3 at the Staples Center versus Utah! Note that the Lakers won each of the first two games of this series in Los Angeles by double digits. The key was fast starts for Los Angeles and theyll be ready to execute once again tonight. After forcing overtime in Utah on Sunday (but still coming up short) the Lakers have benefited from having extra time off to prep for this game. Kobe Bryant tweaked his back in the game at Utah on Sunday so having the extra time off has helped him to better prepare for Wednesdays crucial Game Five. Keep in mind that Bryant still came within two rebounds of a triple double on Sunday as he had 33 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists on Sunday. As you can see, the sore back didnt slow him up all that much and the extra rest certainly does help here. Bryant shot the 3-ball poorly at Utah as he was just 1 of 16 in the two games there. But, overall, he shot much better at home in the first two games of this series and we also liked the fact that the Lakers did a much better job on the boards in the games in Utah compared to their poor rebounding efforts at home in Games One and Two. The Lakers should be able to carry over their more aggressive efforts on the glass right into Game Five in Los Angeles tonight. The Lakers also did a much better job on defending Carlos Boozer in Game Four on Sunday and this is a big part of the reason the Lakers nearly pulled off the upset on the road. It is also why they are coming back home with a ton of confidence. The Lakers did struggle at the line in Utah on Sunday but free throws were a big part of their victory margin in the first two games played in Los Angeles and they absolutely can help secure a big margin of victory tonight as the long, lanky, and lean make-up of the Lakers players is putting a lot of pressure on the Jazz to try and keep up on the defensive end. The result has been a lot of foul calls and, as a result, a lot of free throws for the Lakers. Theyll knock down those free throws again at home and theyll also knock down the Jazz in what should be another Big Easy as the home teams continue to dominate in round two of these playoffs!