Upper Bowl Jazz Fan

Lakers Sweep the Jazz out of 2010 NBA Playoffs

// May 14th, 2010 // 2010 Playoffs

You may or may not have noticed the lack of posts here at UBJF.  Due to some unfortunate medical luck I found myself somewhat unable to do much of anything for a couple weeks including write about the Jazz/Laker series.  However, now that it’s over there are some interesting things to take away from the series.

Even without the losses of Mehmet Okur and Andrei Kirilenko, the Jazz did very little to counteract the length of the Lakers.

However, I think that this year the Jazz could have beaten the Lakers had Memo and AK not been injured.  This is why:

However, the length of the Lakers has always been a difficulty because the Jazz had to match up AK with Kobe which left Odom and Gasol to punish the Jazz.

Odom always killed us because his ability to run the point, shoot the 3, and rebound is too much for Boozer, Millsap or Memo.  Andrei Kirilenko plays a similar role but rarely guarded Odom as he was needed on Kobe.

Neither Boozer nor Memo are good defenders but both (Memo more so) are decent post defenders.  Having Memo guard Bynum is a good matchup though.  Even Fesenko did a decent job on Bynum in Okur’s place.

There isn’t much the Jazz can do about Pau Gasol because of Boozer’s aversion to anything defense related and also because he’s too quick for Memo.

With the emergence of Wesley Matthews as a very solid wing defender and CJ Miles’ late-season defensive improvements it has no longer become necessary to have AK guard the opponent’s best wing player.

With that in mind having Matthews/Miles on Kobe Bryant frees up AK to guard Odom (who plays a similar style) which means he no longer kills us (especially on rebounds).  A healthy Memo frequently brings Gasol/Bynum out of the paint w/ his ability to shoot the 3 which means the Lakers really only have 1 advantage in the frontcourt: generally Gasol.

In theory, the Jazz really could have beaten the Lakers in this series given these points.  Especially since the Jazz were ultimately without Memo and, for the most part, Kirilenko and they still gave the Lakers some real scares.

In the 2008 playoffs the Jazz were able to win 2 games (both at home).  In 2009, the Jazz only won Game 3 (again, at home).  In 2010, while the lost all 4 games, the Utah Jazz competed much better than they had in ’08 and ’09.

Game 1 was winnable.  The Jazz were up 4 points with 3 minutes left in the game and then failed to convert a field goal for the rest of the game.

Game 2 was a little tougher but it wasn’t a blowout.  In previous years, the games in LA were not even close.

The Game 3 loss was simply bad luck. Deron Williams had a great look at a shot he makes with a high percentage but ultimately missed. Wesley Matthews made a tip at DWill’s missed shot that most times would have fallen in but just missed the bucket.

Game 4 was, well, not in the same league. The Jazz were beaten and done. They didn’t really compete in that game and lost it by a significant margin.

Overall, despite not winning a single game in the series, the Jazz competed better w/ the Lakers than they had done in previous years.

But, in the end Ws are what matter the most and the Jazz tallied zero of those.  Turns out you can’t win a series like that.