Alright, it was only the preseason. The coaches were giving their young players a chance to shine, but towards the end of the preseason is usually the time when the teams play the most like they are planning on playing in the regular season — trying to gel as a team before the games really count.
The Jazz showed that they are ready to make a run at this thing.
Six players were in double figures and two more had 8 points. Ronnie Brewer was again the scoring star, scoring 18 points on 8 for 12 shooting to go along with 3 steals. He is obviously trying his hardest to earn the starting shooting guard spot from Jerry Sloan, and appears likely to get it if he can keep this up.
The Lakers showed that they really aren’t ready.
When the best statline on the Lakers might be Andrew Bynum’s 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocks, you have a sense that things aren’t very pretty in Los Angeles. (And it isn’t like the cross-town rival Clippers are likely to do much better with Elton Brand sitting out a good chunk of the season.)
Kobe had a bad game — some because the Jazz tried to guard him as well as they could and might have been slightly successful, some because the game didn’t really matter (it is preseason after all), and some just because, every so often, Kobe has an off-night, shooting 4-16 from the field.
None of the rest look like they will contribute too much more than they did last year.
They do have a bunch of guys coming back from injuries and only time will tell if the team as a whole can start providing any support for Kobe Bryant, but it looks highly unlikely that we will see a good Lakers team in the coming months if this game was any indication of what we are going to see in the coming season.