NBA Playoffs: Lakers Plow Ahead to 6-0, Travel to Utah For Game 3

Six down, ten to go.

With the way the Lakers have dominated their six playoff games, it seems not to be a question of "if", but a question of "when".

The Lakers of Los Angeles have outscored their opponents by an average of 12.3 points per game so far this postseason. Leading the charge is league MVP, Kobe Bryant.

Bryant seemed to be at the top of his game in the Denver sweep, averaging 33.5 points per contest. Two wins against Utah later, and he is averaging an outstanding 36 points per game.

The Lakers not only seem to be dominant on the offensive side of the ball, but things are going well on the defensive side as well.

The Lakers have a total of 17 blocked shots in two games against the Jazz.

The major play-maker for Utah is Carlos Boozer. Both Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom have made it their personal goal to make his life as miserable as possible.

Boozer is 9-24 so far in this series, and seems to already have a negative outlook on the series. He said before the Jazz can even consider a comeback, they need to actually win a game.

That challenge could be extremely hard to overcome.

Boozer is upset at how the Lakers are forcing his team to take the outside shot, and at his own team for not taking advantage of the opportunities they are given:

"Right now they're packing the lane. That's what I would do if I was their team right now. Pack the lane and make us hit jump shots. We have to knock them down."

If Boozer has a negative outlook, Bryant has nothing but positive things to say:

"We obviously have an advantage. What we did was take care of our home court. Now we've got to try and stop them from taking care of their home court."

Don't count the Jazz out yet, though. Just last year Utah fell behind the Houston Rockets 2-0. They returned to the EnergySolutions Arena and tied the series before winning it in seven.

While playing in the EnergySolution Arena will certainly be hard for the Lakers, Utah coach Jerry Sloan knows it will be difficult for his Jazz:

"They're going to defend us. They're not going to drop off and say, 'OK, we're not going to defend you because we're not in L.A.' That's what made them very good. They're a very good defensive team. They have a tendency to slow us down and we start walking through what we're doing."

AccuScore gives the Jazz a 61% chance of winning Friday night's game, but I have a feeling that the game will come down to the wire.