The Jazz came close to winning game 1 in LA but missed in the final minutes.
Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers managed to defend their home court advantage in game 1 against the Utah Jazz, although it was by no means easy. Utah held a two possession lead with only minutes remaining before Los Angeles took over to seal victory.
Kobe Bryant elevated his play in the final minutes of the game to lead his Lakers and his scoring in the clutch made the biggest difference as the game hung in the balance. Bryant netted 11 points in the final 4 minutes of game 1 to finish the game with 31 points, a game high. It seemed apparent in watching his movement on the court that his right knee injury may have healed a little bit and that bodes well for Lakers' backers.
One thing that is incredibly important to note is that Phil Jackson is 45-0 in past series when he wins the first game of any series. With Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and the Chicago Bulls back in the 90s, Jackson went 24-0 after taking a 1-0 series lead. Jackson has followed that up as head coach of Los Angeles by going 21-0 with the Lakers under the same circumstances.
Utah may get a bit of a jolt on Thursday as there are some rumors that Andrei Kirilenko may be returning to the lineup. The talented Russian is strong on defence and he might be able to curb Kobe Bryant's offensive production to a degree by forcing Bryant to take lower percentage shots. However the effectiveness of Kirilenko being immediately effective can legitimately be questioned as he has almost missed two months with his left calf injury.
If Utah can do a much better job of stopping the Lakers in the early portion of the game then the Jazz can steal game 2. However Utah are clearly an ordinary team when it comes to road success as they only went 21-20 in the regular season as visitors.
The Betfair handicap on Utah is +6.5 and it is a very tough betting line to assess. Usually when you bet the spread you want a big working margin with what you think the true spread is. If Utah were more like -1 favorites in your mind, you would be happy to take +6.5 for them to cover but truthfully, +6.5 feels about right in this case.
Our recommendation is to bet the OVER/UNDER line which has been set at 199.5 and we're recommending taking the OVER. The Jazz are going to attack and there are more than enough capable scorers in this series to envision both teams eclipsing 100 points each.
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