The Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers last met early in the season, which resulted in a disappointing loss for the Jazz.
After a tough loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last night, the Utah Jazz will finally come home from their longest road trip of the season. They will face the Los Angeles Lakers, who are currently first place in the Western Conference, but this time with a little different circumstances.
Last time these two teams met, it was only the second game of the regular season. Both teams were extremely hyped coming into this season, and many (including myself) considered the Jazz and Lakers to be in the same tier of Western Conference hierarchy.
The Jazz were obviously experiencing flubs of working new pieces in their offense, and so were the Lakers. The game took place on the Lakers’ home floor, and the Jazz didn’t have Bojan Bogdanovic available to play because of a rolled ankle in the home opener.
Long story short, the Lakers were the better team all around. The Jazz coughed up 23 turnovers compared to only 14 for the Lakers, and also lost the offensive rebounding battle 11 to three.
This time around, the game will be in the welcoming Wasatch Front. Utah will have Bogdanovic balling this time, and perhaps some lower expectations than they did in October.
The Lakers meanwhile are a tier above the Utah Jazz, but will be on the wrong end of a back to back as they play the Denver Nuggets tonight. That elevation change from Los Angeles, to Denver, to Salt Lake City could cause fatigue, something the Jazz should look to take advantage of early.
The keys to the game for the Utah Jazz will be keeping up with the star duo of Anthony Davis and LeBron James. King James is leading the league in assists per game with 10.9 per game, and if the Jazz can cut off his passing options by denying the ball from Danny Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, that will force LeBron into taking low percentage shots.
Game Data
Broadcast Info
Tip-off: 7:00 PM on Wednesday December 4 from Vivint Smart Home Arena in Salt Lake City, UT
TV: AT&T Sports Network, NBA TV
Radio: The Zone Sports Network (97.5 FM and 1280 AM Salt Lake City)
Projected Starting Lineups
Utah Jazz Position Los Angeles Lakers
Royce O’Neale PF Anthony Davis
Bojan Bogdanovic SF LeBron James
Donovan Mitchell SG Danny Green
Joe Ingles PG Kentavious Caldwell-Pope
Jazz injury report:
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 3, 2019
Mike Conley - OUT (left hamstring tightness)
Juwan Morgan - QUESTIONABLE (left knee contusion)
Injuries
Utah will continually work Dante Exum and Ed Davis back into the rotation, as they are back from their injuries. I’m guessing Exum is on a minutes restriction and still getting into tip top shape, and by spring time we will see at least 15 minutes per game out of the Aussie.
Mike Conley will miss tomorrow night’s game, as he injured his hamstring in Monday night’s game against the 76ers. I penciled in Joe Ingles as his replacement in the starting lineup, because of how well him and Gobert played together in last night’s game. Joe has struggled in his new role coming off the bench, and perhaps he needs more playing time with the French Rejection to play at his best.
Juwan Morgan is listed as questionable. After initially being cut from the roster in October, the Jazz waived Stanton Kidd to make room for Morgan after his strong play in the G-League.
As for the Lakers, Avery Bradley suffered a hairline fracture in his leg a couple weeks ago, and is expected to be out for another week. Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma are both listed as probable for tonight’s game against the Nuggets, so I think it’s safe to say they will play in Salt Lake City on tomorrow night.
Prediction
Even though this is technically a home game for Utah, they will be less than 48 hours removed from the major interruption of the long road trip, and it may not feel like a home game to them. The Lakers will probably have the best two players on the court for much of the game, and unfortunately I think that will be too much for the blue, green and gold. I’m predicting the Jazz will lose by a few possessions, the final score will roughly be 104 to 96.
Discussion
#LALatUTA will be the hashtag on twitter for the game, and the comment thread below will be open for live game discussions. Go Jazz!