Lakers 106 - Jazz 95

The Utah Jazz are one of those teams that really love their home and will just do about anything to protect it. They were 29-3 at home going into tonights game with the Lakers and were looking forward to making the Lakers their 20th victim in a row at home to set a home record. Unfortunately for them the Lakers came in having one of the NBA's best road records at 23-13, so the Lakers don't really care where they play.

I expected the Lakers to win tonight. I did not expect them to win the way they did though. Geez, I don't think anyone did! They came out on a mission tonight by taking a commanding 38-18 first quarter lead on 15-20 shooting, it seemed like the Lakers could not miss a shot if they tried. It was not just one Laker doing it either. It was Bryant, Turiaf, Fisher, Farmar, Vujacic, Radmanovic and the man who always gets the job done quietly, Lamar Odom. In the second quarter the Lakers built their lead to 24 points but ended the quarter with a 60-45 lead. I'm sure this had all Laker fans thinking about the last game against the Dallas Mavericks in which the Lakers held a commanding lead yet narrowly escaped blowing it as Dallas came back at the end. The Jazz being the great team at home that they are did make a few runs and actually got the game down to a 9 point deficit with about four and a half minutes left but every time Utah would try to make a run the Lakers responded. Especially at the three point line were the Lakers were 10-22 in the game.

Kobe Bryant, who finished the game with 27 points seemed to be a more than usual emotional guy. Kobe was jawing to the crowd a lot in the fourth quarter and for some reason I had a glimpse of Gary Payton in my head. At the end of the game, Kobe spiked the ball real hard onto the court as if to say "hell yea!". Maybe he didn't like the way the Utah Jazz fans treated his friend Derek Fisher the last time the Lakers came to town, a game the Lakers lost. Kobe said that Fisher is not the type of guy who would say anything about it so he said it for him. Of course Fisher played for the Utah Jazz last season but came back to the Lakers due to his daughters medical condition. Ain't we glad he did! I never did like Fisher leaving and I'm sure many others shared my thoughts when he left! At one point in the game after Bryant threw a fancy pass to Odom who dunked it (the game was basically over), an upset Utah fan threw a beer can onto the court. Utah's hate for Kobe started with boos at the beginning of the game but later turned into MVP chants, something that seems to be happening in lots of towns the Lakers have visited this season. Whatever the Lakers do this season Kobe deserves to be the MVP. Many have thought he should have already gotten one in his career but this is definitely the year.

Lamar Odom had 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers. Derek Fisher had 11 points.

The Jazz were led by Deron Williams with 26 points and 12 assist and Carlos Boozer who had 23 points.

It has been reported that Andrew Bynum may not return until playoff time. Coach Phil Jackson though is still wishing for the best and would like to see Bynum play some games before the playoffs start.

Pau Gasol is healing well and can be back soon. It has been reported that he has been practising and shooting.