The real season begins.

First seed, Los Angeles Lakers, takes on eighth seed, Utah Jazz.

Last season, Los Angeles defeated Utah in 6 games.  That was when Trevor Ariza was not playing, having a broken foot just recently healed and Andrew Bynum was out for the entire playoffs.

This time around, the Lakers are complete although I still think Andrew Bynum is playing injured… and Utah doesn’t have Mehmet Okur at least for the first game.

Last season, Los Angeles almost tasted ultimate victory but ended being humbled by all-time rival, the Boston Celtics.  This time, the Lakers are supposed to be more experienced.

Sir Charles Barkley says some stupid things sometimes but he said it well:

“If LeBron James leads the Cavaliers to the championship, he will become the best player in the NBA. Kobe Bryant is the best player in the NBA, and he has the best team in my opinion. If [the Lakers] don’t win a championship this year, I don’t think they are going to win it.”

I agree with Sir Charles.  This is the best team that Kobe will ever have sans Shaq.  If they don’t win this season, they will suffer with something I’d like to call “best NBA team burnout”.  It’s a team that is always favored to win it all and just never quite make it.

By the way, did you hear the Lakers say something about getting ready for the Jazz’s elbows, forearms and whatever?  What a classic case of getting into the minds of the referees.  Boy, are we gonna hear a lot of whistles in this series.

I predict the Lakers will sweep this series.  Tough as the Jazz are, the Lakers are complete, very hungry and very angry.

(Note: The Lakers just won the 1st game as I am writing this.)