National Basketball Association

Jazz's list of woes vs. Lakers is lengthy

Published Apr. 3, 2010 7:11 p.m. ET

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GAME TIME: Lakers 106, Jazz 92

One of these years the Jazz will beat the Lakers in Los Angeles. Until then, Utah will never truly be an elite ball club.

Despite their recent hot-streak, the loss drops the Jazz into the fourth seed — a precarious position. Should the current rankings hold, not only would Utah face a difficult series versus Denver, but a victory there would assuredly put them face-to-face with the Lakers for a third consecutive year. No doubt Jerry Sloan is well aware of his team’s 3-8 playoff record against the LAL over the past two seasons.

Why, then, can’t the Jazz beat the Lakers?

ON OFFENSE

Utah’s perimeter shooting has always been (and still is) totally unreliable. In Friday night’s loss, Mehmet Okur was 0-for-5 and C. J. Miles 0-for-2 from beyond the arc. Overall, the team was 4-for-17, with the only encouraging development being Wesley Matthews making two of his three 3-ball attempts.

While Kyle Korver is an exceptional shooter, his miserable defense, inferior athleticism and poor ball-handling are so detrimental that he must shoot at least 50 percent to justify meaningful playing time.

Utah’s post-up game is virtually useless against the Lakers' considerable size and length. Carlos Boozer rarely manages a decent shot over Pau Gasol’s long arms and is much better off receiving the ball at a high- or mid-post spot. Okur has no post-up game of which to speak. Paul Millsap is an undersized power forward anyway and has a difficult time getting free of Lamar Odom’s long, leansome defense. Also, since Utah’s long-range shooting is questionable, the Lakers can afford to jam the middle.

While Utah’s cutting-screening-slashing offense often create layups, these gimme shots don’t occur with sufficient frequency against LA’s quick-stepping big men.

Since both Boozer and Okur are slow afoot, they can’t take the ball to the basket enough times to force the Lakers to foul them. Consider that Gasol was awarded 10 free throws, but Boozer and Okur combined to shoot only eight.

Utah’s guards and wingmen lack the creativity necessary to put consistent pressure on the Lakers bigs.

Deron Williams is far-and-away Utah’s best playmaker, scorer, outside shooter, and penetrator. However, the offense fails to provide Williams with sufficient ball time or shot opportunities.

Suggested improvements:

ON DEFENSE

Without Kirilenko, nobody can come close to matching up with Odom. However, even A.K. has his hands full with L.O. and usually winds up in early foul trouble.

Boozer lacks the size and the quickness to hamper Gasol in the low post. Because of this, Gasol has to be double-teamed — but in so doing, the Lakers perimeter shooters are left unattended. Accordingly, LA was 7-for-20 from beyond the bonus line and Gasol accumulated eight assists.

Actually, neither Boozer nor Okur can adequately defend anybody on a man-to-man basis.

Because Boozer and Okur are so lead-footed, Utah’s interior defense is Swiss-cheesey. The absent Kirilenko is their only accomplished shot-blocker, but this aspect of his game can be minimized when whomever he’s guarding (usually Odom) plays on a high wing.

Again, the lack of lateral quickness of their bigs makes the Jazz incapable of coping with the Lakers'  dive- and speed-cuts.

All game long, Utah’s weak-side defense was poor.

It should be noted that Wesley Matthews (supplemented by C. J. Miles) did an extraordinary job against Kobe, who shot only 5-for-23. Mostly working with minimal help, these guys prevented Kobe from getting more than an occasional good look at the rim.

Suggested improvements:

If you have a question or comment for Charley Rosen, please email charleyrosen@gmail.com and he may respond in a future column.

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