vs.
9-7		14-4
Staples Center
9:30 PM
Sun Sports HD
Probable starters:
Derek Fisher	PG	Jameer Nelson
Kobe Bryant	SG	Keith Bogans
Lamar Odom	SF	Hedo Turkoglu
Ronny Turiaf	PF	Rashard Lewis
Andrew Bynum	C	Dwight Howard

• UPDATE: Forum Blue and Gold, the finest Lakers blog on the tubes, has posted its preview for tonight's game.
• The Lakers have struggled with their defense this year. They're 16th in defensive efficiency, and gave up 120 points to the Jazz the other night despite Utah behing without All-Stars Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur.
• Brian Schmitz has this feature on Rashard Lewis in which Stan Van Gundy places some of the blame for Lewis' shooting slump on himself:

  "If we're going to really get our shooting back to where it was, the minutes are going to have to get more realistic on he and Turk. I have not done a good job at that," Van Gundy said. "If you're looking at their minutes [Lewis leads with 39.3 minutes per game and Turkoglu averages 36.9], it's not realistic, especially on a nightly basis when we're a team that's played the most games in the league."

• This has nothing to do with the Magic, but how about UCF winning the Conference USA Championship behind the strong running of Kevin Smith? Congratulations, Golden Knights!
• The Magic are 2-16 (.111) all-time on the road against the Lakers. Despite that, Accuscore thinks we'll win the game, giving us a 52% chance of leaving L.A. victorious.
• Trevor Ariza hasn't done much since we traded him to L.A., averaging just 2 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists.
  • UPDATE: John Denton spoke with Ariza about his frustrating season. Ariza had hoped to showcase his skills before becoming a free-agent next summer, possibly cashing in on a career-year. But he didn't crack the rotation in Orlando and hasn't mastered Lakers coach Phil Jackson's offense.

The game recap may be up later than usual tonight. Feel free to write your own in the diaries.