2010 NBA Playoffs: Lakers and Jazz Renew Their Rivalry

Los Angeles Lakers (57-25) vs. Utah Jazz (53-29)

Regular season series: Lakers, 3-1

There’s no love lost between the Lakers and the Jazz. For the past two years, Utah has battled to make the playoffs, only to be bounced by L.A. Not only that, but the Lakers have poached two of the Jazz faithful’s most beloved players: Karl Malone and Derek Fisher. For Utah, the rivalry is deep, heartfelt, and personal. They don’t just want to beat the Lakers. They want to destroy them.

For the Lakers, though, Utah is just one more team in a long line of would-be rivals. Sure, the Jazz hate them, but so do the Suns, Spurs, Blazers, Magic, Bobcats, and countless others. It’s not a rivalry unless both sides take it seriously, right?

This year, I think the Lakers will take their rivalry with the Jazz a little more seriously. This ought to be a great series. Once again, we turn to Spider Graphs to break down the matchups. Let’s start with the point guard position.

Poor, poor Derek Fisher. He’s had a tremendous career so far, but there’s no denying he’s lost a step or two. He still has a tremendous flair for the big shot, but it’s those first 46 minutes of the game that give him problems. Meanwhile, Deron Williams seems to have taken all those Chris Paul remarks personally. He’s developed into nothing short of the best point guard in the game. His graph dwarfs Fisher’s, and if anything, the graph still sells him short. He stepped up his game against Denver, completely eviscerating Chauncey Billups. Now that he’s playing someone as slow as Fisher, he could average 50 a game. L.A. will probably have to guard Williams with Artest if they want to have any prayer of containing him. Advantage: Jazz.

Don’t worry though, Laker fans. You have just as big of a mismatch at shooting guard. Kobe Bryant is nothing less than the second-best at his position in the history of the league. Wes Matthews? He’s been a good find for Utah, but he’s in over his head here. Kobe’s giant graph swallows up Matthews’. And lest we forget, Bryant has been doing all of this with a destroyed pinky on his shooting hand. Certainly hasn’t seemed to bother him much, unlike a certain league MVP’s elbow. If the Jazz hope to be able to contain Kobe, they’ll need to look elsewhere. Specifically, they’ll need to hope Andrei Kirilenko gets well soon. Advantage: Lakers.

So we know those two mismatches are essentially a wash. Anything Deron adds will be cancelled out by Kobe. We also know small forwards aren’t going to be a huge offensive factor, since they’ll be primarily tasked with shutting these two down. I think the series will be swung in the frontcourt. Consider the matchup we have at power forward.

At first glance, you’d think this matchup narrowly favors Pau Gasol. And you’d probably be right. Gasol is talented, agile, and above all, seven feet tall. That height advantage cannot be overstated. We also know that Carlos Boozer has a tendency to shrink from the moment just a bit. But also consider that he threw up a 23-13 average against Denver, and a 22-20-5 in the clinching Game 6. Unless he suffers a minor injury that ends up sidelining him for 28 games (Utah fans, you know exactly what I mean), we can count on this being a serious battle. Normally, I’d give the slight edge to Gasol, but two big words give me pause: CONTRACT YEAR. Advantage: even.

The battle at center has all the makings of a slaughter. Andrew Bynum is one of the league’s best centers. Kyrylo Fesenko is a young project who is only starting because Memo Okur tore his Achilles tendon in the first round. That’s not to say Fesenko doesn’t have talent, because he certainly does, but he’s in for a rough time against Bynum. Ordinarily, this would go to Bynum in a landslide, except that a “small tear” in his meniscus has him listed as questionable for Game 1. Not quite the same injury that reduced Portland’s Brandon Roy to a shell of his former self against Phoenix, but it certainly gives one pause. Advantage: Lakers. For now.

So essentially, the series comes down to whether or not Boozer can outduel Gasol, and how healthy Bynum will be. I think we’re going to see seven grueling, hard-fought games. I think we’re going to see some virtuoso performances from Deron Williams. And as much as I hate myself for saying it, unless Bynum’s knee is worse than any of us thought, we’re going to see the Lakers in the conference finals. Again.

Prediction: Lakers in seven.