The long NBA season comes to an end on Sunday with the Lakers (52-29) taking on the tanking Jazz (22-59) on Sunday evening. Los Angeles has won the three previous meetings with Utah this season and is looking for the season sweep.
Start time and TV schedule
Who: Los Angeles Lakers vs. Utah Jazz
When: 5:30 p.m. PT, Apr 12
Where: Crypto.com Arena
Watch: Spectrum Sportsnet
After a tumultuous final stretch of the season, the Lakers should be able to end things on a high note. Following consecutive wins over the Warriors and Suns, LA will host a Utah team with no interest in winning.
The Jazz have been one of the most shameless tankers this year and it has worked as they are tied for the fourth-worst record in the league. That also means they’ll be focused on losing one more time to end the year.
As for the Lakers, they can potentially nab the No. 3 seed depending on how things play out. Assuming they can take down a Utah team that is holding out basically everyone, then they’ll rely on Denver losing to San Antonio.
The Nuggets look set to have all their starters and rotation players out with only Nikola Jokic playing. He needs to play 20 minutes to qualify for awards, which is all he’ll likely play. On the flip side, the Spurs only have Devin Vassell, Stephon Castle and Victor Wembanayama listed as questionable.
The most likely odds coming into the game are for the Lakers to move up to the No. 3 seed.
Setting all that aside, though, LA can ride into the playoffs with momentum, which is huge considering how much things went off the rails last weekend. They steadied the ship, got back to winning ways and found some answers while doing so.
In an ideal world, the Lakers can race out to a big lead and sit their starters early to avoid any more injuries. But going into the postseason with good vibes and momentum is the key.
Notes and Updates
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Only Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves are listed as out. LeBron James and Jaxson Hayes are both questionable with left foot injury management for both, ironically.
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The Jazz have listed Isaiah Collier, Kyle Filipowski, Keyonte George, Elijah Harkless, Jaren Jackson Jr., Walker Kessler, Lauri Markkanen and Jusuf Nurkic all as out.
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