Last night was a bit tough for all of us Lakers fans. The Utah Jazz played a great complete game and challenged the Lakers in every sense of the word. The Utah fans truly are some of the best and make it very difficult for opponents to get any type of momentum. There were plenty of Kobe jersey’s spread throughout the crowd but even then, the crowd was deafening and difficult to overcome.

Kobe had a strong first half but was taken out of the offense in the 2nd half as his teammates began to stand around more and rotate less. I would’ve liked to see Lamar Odom do a lot more work on the offensive end at the end of the game. The Lakers fell behind by 9 points midway through the 4th quarter but made their way back into the game. Kobe hit a big three pointer, his only of the night, to get the Lakers ahead by one.

The next play included the defense collapsing and giving the Utah Jazz an and one play. With Utah ahead by two, the Lakers stole the ball from Kyle Korver and Kobe put in a layup to tie it up. Mehmet Okur followed that up by hitting a three pointer to give the Jazz a lead for good. Derron Williams missed several free throws to close out the game but Derek Fisher missed two three point attempts in the final 20 seconds that would’ve tied the game.

With this final loss before the all star break, the Lakers are 42-10 with 30 games left to be played. Two of the starters are heading to NBA All Star weekend to play in the West vs East game including Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Phil Jackon will be the coach of the team.

Many are looking forward to seeing a few interesting lineups. With Pau Gasols natural position being a power forward, we have the possibility of Phil Jackson experimenting a bit. Shaq has announced that he would be interested in plaing for the Lakers again in the future and it is widely known that he is available from the Phoenix Suns. Jerry Buss and Phil Jackson have always been fans of Shaq but the salary is extremely steep. This game will give Jackson a chance to play Kobe with Shaq and even throw Gasol into the mix. I personally can’t wait to see Kobe and Shaq on the same team again throwing up lob passes. Perhaps they will even run the triangle offense.

After the all star break, the Lakers don’t have the toughest schedule in terms of teams they play, but they have lots of road games. About 2/3 of the games are on the road. They sit one game ahead of the Celtics and Cavaliers for the best record in the league and hope to hold on to that lead as the season slowly comes to a close.

I believe that the Celtics and Cavaliers both play a lot better teams than the Lakers do the remainder of the season. This should give the Lakers a chance to become a better road team and also secure home court advantage. The injury of Jameer Nelson seems to have pushed the Orlando Magic out of serious contention.

This weekend should be a lot of fun to watch. I will be in Phoenix, for personal reasons, but hope to have an opportunity to attend at least one all star weekend event.

Cheers to a strong 2nd half to the season!