What’s up with the Lakers?
The Lakers are on the uptrend. They’ve won three straight and are only a half-game back for the sixth playoff spot, sporting a 40-38 record.
They recently beat the Bulls, Timberwolves, and Rockets. All their midseason trades seem to be paying off as they are peaking at the right time. More importantly, Los Angeles’ stars are shining.
Anthony Davis is coming from a 40-point, 9-rebound game where he shot an efficient 15-for-20 from the field against the Rockets. Davis has been putting up big numbers as of late but it was his first 40-point outing since he had 55 points back in early December. LeBron James, meanwhile, had 18 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists, tying Jason Kidd in the all-time triple-double list with a total of 107.
There is a lot at stake in the NBA’s 13-game slate on Wednesday. While the Lakers try to secure a guaranteed postseason berth, the Warriors (41-38), Pelicans (40-38), and Timberwolves (39-40) are also trying to do the same in their respective matchups. If you’re a Lakers fan, you’re obviously hoping that the aforementioned teams lose so that the Lakers will have one foot in the door of the playoffs.
What’s up with the Jazz?
The Jazz’s feel-good rebuild season may be coming to a close. They’ve lost six of their last seven games and have a 36-42 record. With less than five games remaining on their schedule, they are one and a half-game back from the 10th seed. It will be an uphill climb if they want to enter the postseason considering they have to move past the Mavericks (37-42) and the Thunder (38-41), who currently hold the last play-in berth.
The Jazz are coming off a tough one-point loss at the hands of the Nets. They rallied from 20 points down and made things interesting in the fourth quarter. Talen Horton-Tucker fired 32 points while All-Star Lauri Markkanen contributed 23 points and nine boards in a losing effort. The Jazz hammered a 42-26 fourth quarter to get back into the contest and was a Kelly Olynyk buzzer-beater away from stealing one in Brooklyn.
Even if the Jazz are losing as of late, they may play spoilers to do the playoff-seeking Lakers. There might also be added motivation for former Lakers THT and Jordan Clarkson (if he’s recovered from his finger injury).
Every matchup carries more weight as the season draws to a close and it’ll be interesting to see if the Jazz can somehow shake things up in the playoff hunt.
What happened in their previous meetings?
The Jazz have won the last two matchups versus the Lakers. They cruised to a 130-116 win in November and then had another rout, 139-116, two nights later.
After Wednesday’s game, the two squads will meet again for their final regular season game on April 10.
