Los Angeles at Utah

As we've pointed out, the home teams have dominated the playoffs. In the second round in 21 games, only one road team has broken through - Detroit. What team better exemplifies the home court advantage than Utah? They have dropped just five games here, sitting at 41-5. What is even more remarkable than that is how they are winning at home. If you gave them a line of -4 at home all season and in the playoffs to date, the season loss total would rise from 5, to just 7 (39-7 ATS to this line)! That means they aren't playing close games at home all year. The Lakers are playing very well right now, but they still haven't come within 4 points at Utah either. Kobe did not score a 4th quarter point in game five as he remains hobbled. At home, the Lakers can get away with that, but if his back is keeping him to anything less 90%+ here, it will be even more difficult in this spot. It doesn't get any stronger than the Jazz at home and we'll back them to win and cover tonight.