Lake City

Lakers-Jazz
It's the matchup of the century! The one that we have all been waiting for! We have never seen anything like it! Sadly, it is none of these and is instead the normal farewell party for the Utah Jazz as their pleasantly exciting season comes to a close. As previously stated, this team has nothing to hang its collective heads about. The Jazz shocked a lot of people by simply outworking a talented Denver team and made a success out of this season by improving over last year. Unfortunately, Utah is not quite a championship team, whereas LA certainly is. Then again, you never know. Check predictions from the first round in previous posts and you'll quickly notice that two were wrong. Sports are full of surprises and that is why they must be played out.

Interesting stories:
This is a series of which we are all too familiar. The 6 arms of Gasol, Bynum, and Odom sneak into Boozer's and Milsap's unknowing arms and fields of vision. Kobe cannot be guarded by Utah's best defender let alone 'shoot 'em up' Miles. Deron cannot carry this team all alone, despite his enormously green attitude. It seems like a forgone conclusion. On closer look, things are somewhat different. That Jazz are shorthanded and this has made them play with a defensive intensity rarely approached in the regular season. Bynum has an injury, for once. Kobe is older, more banged up, and really deserves to be humiliated more than usual (this is simply based on the fact that he didn't get his annual dose last year; tell me how my ass tastes). Williams has ascended to and currently beyond the debate of best point-guard around. I would love it if the Jazz were the team to handle the pesky Lakers, but in the end I don't see it happening. Hopefully in the meantime, we'll get to see some grade-A bball and enjoy the ride.

Prediction:
Lakers in 6 (Game 1, Game 3 [Utah pulls the game 2 upset!], Game 5, Game 6)