Time: 6:00 p.m. Location: Delta Center TV: KCAL9 Los Angeles ---------------------- Probable Starters: Gary Payton/Carlos Arroyo Kobe Bryant/Deshawn Stevenson Devean George/Aleksandar Pavlovic Luke Walton/Michael Ruffin Slava Medvedenko/Greg Ostertag ---------------------------------- Injury Report: Lakers- Rick Fox-Out Shaquille O'Neal-Out Karl Malone-Out Brian Cook-Out Jazz- Matt Harpring-Out Andrei Kirilrenko-Out Keon Clark-Out Curtis Borchardt-Out Ben Handelogten-Out ------------------- Keys to the game: - It is likely Kobe Bryant will play in this game which is good news, but he won't shoot the ball with consistency like he did earlier in the season, so everybody else will just have to take the pressure off him, and score early. It'll provide a lot of confidence, and it'll allow Kobe to not attempt too many shots due to his shoulder status. If Kobe doesn't go, then Kareem Rush will have to penetrate to the basket, shoot comfortable shots he's confident in making, and to not make stupid decisions with the basketball. He seems to get carried away and makes rookie like decisions. For our frontcourt, I liked Devean's performance 2 nights ago, and he just has to keep shooting the ball. Who knows? Maybe the shots will fall for him, and he'll play like he does when Malone and Shaq come back healthy. Slava has to have his way in the post, dominate the glass, and have an excellent inside shooting game. He's capable of doing this because Ostertag is slow and is not the center he used to be. - Utah, much like Los Angeles, is playing shorthanded, so the keys for them is Carlos Arroyo. He'll have to keep his team in the ballgame since the rest of the starting five are backups. Also, Utah has a decent bench. And rookie Mo Williams had an excellent performace scoring 20 pts. Greg Ostertag is going to have to find his way to contribute with an excellent inside game. He'll have to provide offensive rebounds, and second chance opportunities to keep his team close to the very end. Laker Fever's prediction- Clearly both teams here are struggling with the Lakers losing three straight overall, and losing 9 straight road games, but if this team can play well on all cylinders, and get on a roll early, the Lakers will win this game. So I'm going with the Lakers by 12.
This will be the 2nd time that Karl Malone has avoided playing Utah, but this time it's at Utah. I was really looking forward to his return to the Delta Center to see if he got booed or cheered. I can't see the Jazz winning this one, unless Kirilenko gets back(which is unlikely). LA by 12.
Kobe is not going to start, if anything he will play about 15-20 minutes, they will not rush him in that back, i take the Jazz by 3
I'll take the Jazz by 7. BTW, I must say, the Midwest has been really tough this season. 6 out of the 8 playoff teams right now are from the Midwest, and the Jazz are only 2 games out right now.
With Kobe back, I think the other players will get a lot of open shots because of the focus on him. The supporting cast is full of confidence right now, and I think they can pull this one off in Utah. Lakers by 10.
Should be a pretty good and competitive game. If Kobe plays and Kirilenko is definitely a no show. You have to give the edge to the Lakers because Kobe is clearly better than any Jazz player. If no Kobe, it could go anyway. With Kobe/No Kirilenko - Lakers by 9 With Kobe/With Kirilenko - Jazz or Lakers by 4 Neither - same as above
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting tmac15:</div><div class="quote_post">This will be the 2nd time that Karl Malone has avoided playing Utah, but this time it's at Utah. I was really looking forward to his return to the Delta Center to see if he got booed or cheered. I can't see the Jazz winning this one, unless Kirilenko gets back(which is unlikely). LA by 12.</div> Yeah, that's sad. The first one wasn't a problem becaust it was in LA, but now it's in Utah, and he can't play, I feel sorry for him, hopefully he'll be sitting with the team on the bench though. Lakers win by double digits, something like 10 or 12.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting BallerAK47:</div><div class="quote_post">^ they will only win by double digits if Kobe plays</div> Yeah, why do you think I put that? Kobe is supposed to play Saturday.
Man do I need Kobe logos and Laker banners for my account. I would make one for myself, but I guess it doesn't help if i didn't have a clue on what I'm doing
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Phreeze:</div><div class="quote_post">Man do I need Kobe logos and Laker banners for my account. I would make one for myself, but I guess it doesn't help if i didn't have a clue on what I'm doing</div> You mean a avator/signature? Check out Memebers Union-Design forum, and maybe someone will hook you up. Now back on topic about the game.......
Kobe AND Fox are activated for tonight! Even if they don't play many minutes, It'll be great just to see them back in uniform. I do however think Kobe will play at least 25-30 minutes tonight. If he's healthy enough to go, I expect him to get a substantial amount of PT.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting OgShowtime:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe AND Fox are activated for tonight! Even if they don't play many minutes, It'll be great just to see them back in uniform. I do however think Kobe will play at least 25-30 minutes tonight. If he's healthy enough to go, I expect him to get a substantial amount of PT.</div> Now I heard on ESPNEWS that Kobe would be expected to play, but Rick Fox too? Amazing!! :mrgreen:
Kobe's playing, he made tha lakers first basket...i don't see fox yet tho edit: o no, kobe hurt his shoulder a bit...he hit a jumper a play later so hopefully its okay
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting notMuchgame:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe's playing, he made tha lakers first basket...i don't see fox yet tho</div> Sounds good to me....I'm going to cringe my teeth everytime he drives to the basket.
