The Los Angeles Lakers are back in Staples Center to officially make their home debut this season – although Wednesday’s “road” game against the Clippers was audibly a Laker crowd. The scrappy Utah Jazz will be town, with hopes of helping pile doubts on La La Land’s most precious team.

LeBron and AD better step it up

It was an underwhelming debut for the much-hyped tandem of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Both came out with a lot of energy in the 112-102 loss to the Clippers until the defense caught up. AD did headline the attack and posted 25 points and 10 rebounds, but he and LeBron were basically shut out in the fourth quarter and combined for just two points. Collectively, the two shot a horrid 15-for-40 from the field.

One of the team’s resident sharpshooter, Danny Green, benefitted from the off-night, so much so that his 28 points broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record for most points by a debuting Laker.

This Saturday, the duo will again try to lead the Lakers against an elite-level defense. The Jazz are a hard-nosed team that has finished inside the top three in points allowed and defensive rating in each of the last three seasons, so hopefully, Laker Nation can finally see a sense of urgency that was non-existent in the recent defeat.

There’s a glimmer of hope that they will, considering last year’s season series with the Jazz was a 2-2 split.

Starting the season solid

The Jazz treated its fans with a season-opening, 100-95 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder this past Thursday. As always, their defense was a difference-maker, as they survived allowing three players to score 20 or more by holding the Thunder to just 38.6% shooting.

Such a defense, along with Donovan Mitchell doing Donovan Mitchell things, like scoring 32 points and hitting dagger shots like the one below, will remain as the symbols of this Jazz squad.

Mitchell should be extra focused for the contest as he will look to finally have a breakout game versus the Lakers. He only scored 16.8 points per game on 39.3%-shooting in four match-ups last season.

AD vs. Gobert

The meeting of titans Anthony Davis and Rudy Gobert should be interesting. The former is arguably the most skilled big man today, while the latter, winner of two Defensive Player of the Year awards, has been one of the league’s best interior defenders for years now.

Here’s a quick rundown of Davis and Gobert’s numbers in career head-to-head match-ups:

PREDICTION:

The Lakers win a close battle, but weaknesses will continue to be evident, especially on defense. Look for Donovan Mitchell to score big.