The Los Angeles Lakers take on the Utah Jazz in the third game of the Orlando bubble.
The Los Angeles Lakers helped kickstart the return of meaningful NBA basketball under a week ago and are already about to play their third of eight seeding games before the NBA Playoffs officially begin.
After splitting the results against the Los Angeles Clippers and Toronto Raptors, the Lakers take on another solid defensive team in the Utah Jazz. The Lakers are 2-0 against the Jazz — who are currently in fifth place in the Western Conference — this season.
This could be a potential preview for the Lakers’ second-round matchup in the NBA Playoffs. If the Jazz stay as the fifth seed or move up to the fourth seed then they will be slated to face the winner of the first and eighth seed in the second round, should they win their first-round matchup, of course.
This is an important game for the Los Angeles Lakers for more than that reason alone. The team, despite being 1-1 in its first two games back, has not looked great, at all, thus far. The Lakers have posted their two worse shooting percentages in the two bubble games and have played sloppy perimeter defense.
The results do not really matter, as the magic number for the first seed in the West is only one, but putting together a good showing and building some momentum is huge. Because, right now, the Lakers’ title stock should be down from what it was when the bubble began.
This is going to be an interesting game with some compelling storylines. Here are three bold predictions for the showdown.