5 Things to Keep an Eye on: Lakers at Jazz, Game 6

In another of our continuing series, five things to keep an eye out for tonight in the Lakers-Jazz Western Conference Semifinals Game 6 this evening. Be sure to stop by later tonight for FanHouse's signature LiveBlog of this game. It'll be Vujacissimo!


1. Over The Back, Against The Wall: Regardless of your feelings on the Pau Gasol put back that clinched the game for the Lakers (and I personally think Okur flopped and am glad the refs didn't call it), the onus comes back on Mehmet Okur. It's not so much a one sided, "Okur has played badly" as it is that he hasn't been able to put it all together. If he scores, he struggles on the glass. If he rebounds, he can't put the ball in the hole. In the one game where he did manage to have a complete game, the Jazz won convincingly. If Utah wants to extend this series back to Staples for a shot to steal what they couldn't in Game 5, Mehmet Okur has to step up tonight.

2. Odom Overdose: Lamar Odom had a simply spectacular Game 5. He's been a joy to watch for the last month and even as Lakers fans have to be wondering when the joyride stops and the old Lamar returns, he's been a major contributor to them winning. He's making smart decisions, being aggressive with openings, playing with confidence, and getting the ball to Gasol and Kobe when he needs to. The Jazz have bad matchups for Odom outside of Andrei Kirilenko. They want to maintain their edge on the boards so they're not willing to switch AK to the 4. But their power forwards are too slow to guard him and Ronnie Brewer has his hands full with that Kobe Bryant fellow you've heard so much about. If Odom keeps playing the way he has? This series ends tonight.

3. The Long Painful Demise Of Jordan Farmar: He hit a three in the 2nd quarter against Utah in Game 5 and I thought he was finally awake. No go. Farmar is mentally a wreck, and what's worse, Deron Williams knows it. Everyone talks about the dark side of Chris Paul, but Williams has just as much of an edge and will go after your wound time and time again if you give him the opportunity. Farmar has neither the size nor speed to match Williams, and offensively, he's so rattled he can't shoot straight. Phil Jackson needs to work some mind games to get JFarm back in his zone.

4. Waiting On Sasha: Sasha Vujacic has been surprisingly quiet in this series. A lot of it has to do with Andrei Kirilenko and the Jazz's terrific defensive rotations, but there's also something clearly off with the hot shooter. He doesn't seem to have the swagger he did in the regular season, and seems especially timid in Utah. The Lakers need some daggers to pour into the hearts of the Utah faithful to quiet them down, and with Vlad Radmanovic gone cuckoo for Coco-Puffs, I think Vujacic needs to be the guy. Some off the ball screens would probably benefit him, but that means taking Odom out of the immediate offense. And that's been working pretty well. Mostly Vujacic needs to make the most of his time in Gasol's side of the triangle when the double comes.

5. Visa: For Everywhere AK Wants To Be: It's all well and good that AK had a family trip to plan and was gone for Thursday's practice before tonight's game 6 to take care of his visa. These things happen. Except, if AK stinks up the place, Jazz fans are going to attribute his absence to it. Andrei Kirilenko needs to have a big night if only to quell a tide of criticism the sensitive young man does not need. We'll see if he can snap back into playoff mode after what was probably a really, really boring day of paperwork.