Lakers vs. Jazz Game 3 preview

The Utah Jazz are well aware that teams down 2-0 in best-of-7 series in NBA history have rallied to win only 13 of those series. Utah was down 2-0 last year to San Antonio and eventually was ousted in five games. 

"We've been here before," forward Carlos Boozer said. "We've been down 0-2 before. What we have to do is come out and focus on Game 3." 

The Lakers have shut down Utah's attempts to get the pick-and-roll rolling and forced the Jazz into taking outside shots, which have not been falling. Utah has also rushed some attempts that led to either turnovers or missed shots that bounced right to the Lakers. 

The offensive blunders have created easy baskets for Los Angeles, which pulled away to big leads and held off Utah's pushes at the end of both games. 

The good news for Jazz fans is that Utah was a league-best 37-4 heading into tonight’s Game 3, where the Jazz are 4.5-point betting favorites with an over/under of 215 on WagerWeb.com. That said, the Lakers were one of the teams that handed Utah one of those losses, ending the Jazz's 19-game home winning streak in March. 

Utah needs to get All-Star forward Carlos Boozer going, a similar refrain from Game 1. Boozer has been plagued by foul trouble during the series and Wednesday’s Game 2 was the 16th straight game he did not match his season average of 21.1 points (he finished with just 10 points and five rebounds.) Boozer is just 9-for-24 in the series, stuck outside the lane and missing the mid-range jump shots that went in during the regular season. 

When Boozer and the Jazz have tried to get inside, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol have been there to either swat away the shot or force an awkward attempt. 

The Lakers have blocked 17 shots in the two games. 

"Right now they're packing the lane. That's what I would if I was their team right now. Pack the lane and make us hit jump shots," Boozer said. "We have to knock them down." 

Led by Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles has dominated the first halves of this series. Bryant scored 24 points in the first half of Game 1, when the Lakers built a 54-41 lead. He had 12 points and four rebounds in the first half of Game 2, when L.A. opened a 63-49 lead. 

In the two first halves, Utah star guard Deron Williams has scored a total of seven points on 3-for-15 shooting, while Boozer has scored seven points on 3-for-11 shooting, and has committed six turnovers. 

"That's two games in a row now where we've come out very soft on both ends of the floor," said Utah coach Jerry Sloan, "and that's when you get yourself in trouble. You end up taking bad shots - when there's nobody there to rebound. And if you aren't there, [the Lakers] come out of there and get into the open court and beat you with fast-break basketball." 

Utah has lost consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 28-29 vs. the Lakers and Boston. L.A. is 2-0 on the road this postseason, while Utah is 2-1 at home. 

Betting trends: Lakers are 8-0 ATS in their last 8 after scoring 100 points or more in their previous game. … Lakers are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 conference semifinal games. … Lakers are 7-1 ATS in their last 8 games as a road underdog. … Jazz are 14-3-1 ATS in their last 18 games as a home favorite of 0.5-4.5. … Under is 4-1 in Lakers’ last 5 road games. … Under is 4-1 in Jazz’s last 5 games as a home favorite of 0.5-4.5. … Lakers are 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings. … Home team is 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.