NBA 2021/22 on Thursday, 18.01.2022
The Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz are two teams we will easily see again in the playoffs. However, both franchises are currently making negative headlines with their poor performances!
In my Lakers Jazz tip, we will look at where the weaknesses of both teams currently lie. Furthermore, we will also cover why the visitors might have already solved theirs with immediate effect…
The Los Angeles Lakers and the Utah Jazz are two of the better teams in the league in basketball circles. But over the past few weeks, both franchises have shown major problems defending their own baskets.
In fact, the NBA statistics are unmistakable in this regard! If we only take into account the last few games, both the Jazz (118.7) and the Californians (117.8) rank among the five worst teams in the league in the category “Defensive Rating”!
While the problem with the purple yellows is due to no discernible cause, the leak may have been plugged for the Salt Lake City franchise as of Saturday – the Rudy Gobert is back.
The Frenchman is not exactly known as a scoring machine at Utah’s centre position, but his physicality and vision form the backbone of what is actually a perfectly capable Yellow and Blue defence! Consequently, his absence was a real problem.
Gobert tested positive on 6 January, and the Jazz lost four of their five games and even posted an abysmal 120.8 defensive rating over that period. That should look much better tonight, however.
Especially since the Lakers also seem to have acute problems in the backcourt that head coach Frank Vogel just can’t seem to eradicate – and that despite his best man LeBron James delivering as usual.
The last three games of the Lakers are in any case an indictment: 119:127 against the Grizzlies, 116:125 against the Kings and finally a devastating 96:133 debacle against the Nuggets, which I had announced but surprised even me in its clarity!
Of course, the loss of Anthony Davis has been a big problem for the Californians for weeks! But that alone cannot explain why the West Coast squad has let itself go so much defensively.
An additional factor that could decide the game in favour of the visitors is Donovan Mitchell. He left something to be desired in his last appearance against the Cavaliers with only 17 points, but until then the guard was simply outstanding.
Mitchel had cracked the 29-point mark 4 times in January alone before the loss to the Cavs. Yet the Jazz didn’t even need their superstar in their last win over the Lakers.
In their last meeting with the Californians, Utah won 97-111 without Mitchell! But the one who stood at the centre position for the Jazz that night and made life difficult for Los Angeles was Rudy Gobert.
Tonight it will be a reunion with the Frenchman. And while I don’t think the Lakers will go down without a fight, LeBron James will have a lot of trouble putting up his usual numbers – because the matchup with Gobert is a tough one!
Sports bettors of all stripes seem to be broadly comfortable with my Lakers Jazz tip. The odds on the Jazz to win, currently around 1.50, indicate that they will be favourites when they visit LA.
Summary: Both teams are currently allowing too much defensively! Based on the defence rating of the last seven games alone, it can be argued well, which is why we can once again assume a high-scoring game.
However, it seems that this state of affairs was only temporary for the visitors, as Rudy Gobert has been back in the team since the weekend. With the Frenchman on the five, Utah’s defence should work much better.
For the Californians, on the other hand, the high losses are piling up. Especially the last one against the Nuggets showed a slight difference in class. I doubt that head coach Frank Vogel will have found a solution to this problem by tonight.
My Lakers Jazz tip: Victory for the visitors!
