Lakers won handily over the Jazz  

It's all up to deron williams and carlos boozer to carry much of the load. Although I expect some help from milsap, matthews, price, korver. As the depth of the lakers could really it them up and it is expected to have a sweep if they do something about it.

The Lakers still has the advantage on this one and as a bold prediction (which I love to do), I'd give the series to the Lakers in 6 games. The Lakers will face a tough challenge in Deron Williams primarily. Along with Williams, Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap has been spectacular in the first round against the Nuggets which would highly be a factor against the Lakers. As for the Jazz, the Lakers is a much deeper and experienced team.

Lakers: Deron Williams, Carlos Boozer, and Paul Millsap are the names on the radar already. The absence of Andrei Kirilenko and Mehmet Okur will surely be felt by the Jazz but the stepped up play of Millsap have lifted the Jazz. The key for the Lakers is to really take full advantage of the Jazz lack in size. Without Kirilenko and Okur, the Lakers is the much bigger team and Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Lamar Odom should dominate. Boozer and Millsap are the premier big men left for the Jazz and both of them stands only 6'9, much smaller compared to any of the Lakers bigs. The Deron Williams puzzle could be solved by putting Kobe Bryant and Ron Artest on Williams. He's the toughest challenge the Lakers will be facing in the second round and if the defending champs could stop Williams, the series is already in the bag.

Jazz: Badly shorthanded but still proved that they could be so competitive without Kirilenko and Okur. Pretty sure the Lakers will be clamping Deron Williams down as well as Carlos Boozer and Paul Millsap so there is a need for other players to step up. The Lakers is a very deep team and the Jazz needs somebody else to help Williams, Boozer, and Millsap. There are three names in mind: CJ Miles, Wesley Matthews, and Kyle Korver. Miles and Matthews did a great job stepping up in the first round against the Nuggets but they have to be more extra competitive this time against the Lakers. The Jazz also needs Korver's outside shooting badly to stretch the Lakers defense.The Jazz has to find away to loosen the Lakers interior defense. The Lakers could clearly overpower the Jazz inside and there is no way the Jazz could match the Lakers interior. The Jazz is in the losing end in this series but just like being the underdogs in the first round, if the Jazz gets a great game from it's stars, maybe they could pull this one off or at least give the defending champions some serious challenge.