Posted on Fri, May. 09, 2008

(1) Los Angeles Lakers (2-0) at (4) Utah Jazz (0-2), 9 p.m.

By Sports Network

The Sports Network

The Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz resume their Western Conference semifinal series tonight at EnergySolutions Arena, as the clubs square off in Game 3 of the set.

Game 4 of this best-of-seven series is scheduled for Sunday in Utah.

Los Angeles won the first two games of the set at the Staples Center. On Wednesday, Kobe Bryant received his MVP trophy and then scored 34 points, as the top-seeded Lakers remained perfect in this postseason with a 120-110 win over No. 4 Utah in Game 2 of the series.

Lamar Odom finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds in the win for the Lakers, while veteran Derek Fisher scored 22 and big man Pau Gasol netted 20 in the victory. LA is 6-0 in this year's playoffs.

Deron Williams ended with 25 points and 10 assists in the loss for the Jazz, while Paul Millsap had a career playoff-best 17 points and pulled down 10 rebounds. Utah has lost consecutive games for the first time since December 28-29 versus the Lakers and Boston.

In the opener, Bryant scored 38 points, grabbed six rebounds and handed out seven assists as the Lakers earned a 109-98 win over the Jazz at home.

The Lakers have won three straight Game 3s in the playoffs, and are 2-0 on the road in this year's postseason.

Utah has dropped two of its last three Game 3s in the postseason. The Jazz are 2-1 at home in this year's playoffs.

This is the fourth time the Lakers and Jazz have met in the playoffs. Los Angeles defeated the Jazz in seven games in the 1988 West semis. Utah knocked out the Lakers in five, 4-1, in the 1997 semifinals and swept LA in the 1998 conference finals.

The Lakers, who swept the eighth-seeded Denver Nuggets, 4-0, in round one, have been victorious in four of their last five trips to the semifinals. They fell in six games, 4-2, to the Spurs in the 2003 Western Conference semis.

In the regular season, Los Angeles won its first Pacific Division crown since the 2003-04 campaign, when Shaquille O'Neal was trying to lead the Lakers to their fourth title in five years.

Utah, which won its second straight Northwest Division crown during the regular season, has made it to the West semis for the second straight year. Last year, the Jazz knocked off the Golden State Warriors, 4-1, in this round and fell to the San Antonio Spurs, 4-1, in the conference finals. The Jazz are 6-6 all-time in the semifinals.

The Jazz defeated Tracy McGrady and the fifth-seeded Houston Rockets, 4-2, for the second straight year in the opening round of the playoffs.

During the regular season, the Lakers won three of the four meetings between the clubs. LA captured a pair of games at the Staples Center and defeated the Jazz, 106-95, on March 20 at EnergySolutions Arena.