The Los Angeles Lakers must still be feeling woozy after the clean combinations the Toronto Raptors landed on them last Sunday.

They will have to recover fast, as they prepare for the Utah Jazz, who are also looking to get back into the win column after getting struck by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Catch this Lakers-Jazz game live on Tuesday at 9 AM (Manila time).

HOME TEAM: Utah Jazz (42-24, 21-10 at home)

Donovan Mitchell is a great young player, but he’s got a long way to go before he becomes viewed as an efficient baller. On Sunday, he reinforced that notion when he scored 13 points while hitting just 5 of 15 shots in a 110-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Nevertheless, Mitchell is the best offensive threat of Utah and without the injured Bojan Bogdanovic, he’ll continue to dominate the shot distribution for the Jazz, who are 19th in the NBA with 110.7 points per game and, despite Spida’s inefficient ways, are third overall with a 55.0 effective FG%.

It helps that the Jazz have Rudy Gobert, who is making close to 70% of his shots this season. Gobert had 10 points on 5-for-6 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and two blocks in 29 minutes against the Thunder.  Needless to say, Gobert will be crucial for Utah and will be tasked with containing Anthony Davis on Tuesday.

ROAD TEAM: Los Angeles Lakers (50-15, 26-7on the road)

The Lakers have not defeated the Raptors since…2016. That trend is still going after LeBron James and company got mauled by the in the fourth quarter by the Raptors in 107-92 loss on Sunday. 

Anthony Davis, after getting a social media ticker-tape parade for his MVP-esque performance in the win over the LA Clippers last Friday, didn’t seem to have it in the Raptors game, chipping in just 14 points in his 35 minutes on the floor. James led the Lakers with 20 points, 10 rebounds, and five assists, but those numbers weren’t enough for Los Angeles to survive the Raptors. Perhaps seeing the Jazz again can reinvigorate Davis, who had 26 points on 9-for-11 shooting in the Lakers’ 121-96 win in Salt Lake City last December. Despite Utah having a superior rim protector in Gobert, the Lakers scored 52 points in the paint (to just 34 by Utah) in that game.

PREDICTIONS:

The Lakers didn’t look sexy in their win over the undermanned Clippers then seemed gassed up in the loss to Toronto. There’s plenty of questions left to answer for the Lakers. The Jazz will win this game, 116-115.