Five things to watch for in Lakers-Jazz matchup

By Mark Medina

March 18, 2012 12 AM PT

Some things to keep an eye on when the Lakers (28-16) host the Utah Jazz (22-16) Sunday at Staples Center.

1. Can the Lakers maintain a lead? Don’t let the Lakers’ five-game winning streak deceive you. All of them came within single digits. Two of them required overtime affairs against Memphis and New Orleans. The Lakers’ three home wins against Minnesota twice and Boston came on the heels of the team blowing double-digit leads. Their road victories required the Lakers overcoming double-digit deficits.

Considering Utah’s 5-16 road record and the Lakers’ 19-2 home record, it doesn’t take a savvy gambler to correctly guess the outcome. What remains difficult, however, would entail predicting by how much the Lakers win and the way they go about doing it. The Lakers have shown signs of fatigue in the past two weeks, which has featured back-to-back road games in the middle of the week. No need to exhaust all that energy at home before visiting both Houston and Dallas this week.

2. Steve Blake gets the starting nod again at point guard. Laker fans shouldn’t overreact to Mike Brown’s decision to tap Blake as the team’s starter for the “foreseeable future.” Ramon Sessions has only practiced once with the team. Despite Blake’s zero-point output in the Lakers’ win Friday against Minnesota, his six assists and zero turnovers illustrated his tremendous execution in organizing the offense.

Blake has instinctual court vision and anticipates player tendencies before they even happen, enabling him to set up Kobe Bryant for a one-handed dunk or find Matt Barnes open on an off-ball cut before defenses even react. Brown said after Saturday’s practice that he wants Blake to shoot more, an issue Phil Jackson’s coaching staff also emphasized last season. But as long as Blake’s running the offense well, it’s not an issue. What remains more important than who starts involves how Brown allocates minutes while Sessions transitions into the team.

3. How will Sessions build off a solid debut? Sessions already proved in his Laker debut that he’ll fill the Lakers’ point guard needs with speed, ability to drive to the hoop, running pick-and-roll sets and setting Kobe Bryant off the ball. But it’ll be interesting to see to what degree he incorporates the offensive sets he went over during Saturday’s practice.

It looked pretty extensive. He executed offensive sets with most of the reserves. Sessions then stayed for about an hour with Lakers assistant coach Quin Snyder and coaching consultant Ettore Messina going over pick-and-roll coverages both on offense and defense. He then pledged to take the film home back to his hotel to study.

Sessions has enough on-court instincts to overcome a learning curve. But it remains to be seen what balance he will try to strike as he ingratiates himself more with the team.

4. How will the Jazz’s frontline match up with the Lakers? It’s safe to count on Pau Gasol to have a big game against Utah. He’s averaged 20 points on 44.4% shooting in the three previous matchups. It’s safe to presume Al Jefferson will struggle, scoring only 11 points on 33% shooting this season against the Lakers. Most cases, the Lakers’ frontline remains overwhelming for most opponents, Against Utah, the Lakers use their strength in different ways. Though Gasol’s 46% clip is a drop from the 50% mark he averages, he appears much more aggressive in finding scoring opportunities. Meanwhile, Andrew Bynum and Gasol routinely front and double team Jefferson in the lane. That approach partly attributes to Paul Millsap averaging 21 points on 54.9% shooting. But the Lakers are good at ensuring they don’t remain a one-two punch.

5. The Jazz will likely struggle on offense. Utah has a strong disparity at home and on the road in its offense including points per game (100.3, 94.7) and three-point range (32%, 29.1%). Yet the Jazz has similar numbers in field-goal percentage at home (46.4%) and on the road (44%). This bears two things for the Lakers. It’s a good idea for the Lakers to force Utah into settling for outside shots. Because their overall field-goal percentage remains similar, it appears Utah has fewer possessions because of mistakes leading to turnovers and the opponent’s offense dictating the pace. With the Lakers featuring plenty of energy with Sessions in the lineup, they should have no problem executing that approach.

Ramon Sessions shows adrenaline rush in Lakers’ debut

Mike Brown: Steve Blake to start ‘for the forseeable future’