The Jazz couldn't ask for a tougher test heading into the All-Star break Wednesday night than hosting the Los Angeles Lakers, with the NBA's best record at 42-9 and coming off a 6-0 road trip that included victories at Boston and Cleveland.
"We know they're a good team and they're going to play like it," Deron Williams said. "We know they like playing here, so it should be an interesting game. We've got to have an A-effort out of everybody tonight. Everything's got to go right for us." The Lakers beat Oklahoma City 105-98 Tuesday for their seventh consecutive victory. Even though they arrived at their hotel close to 3 a.m., the Lakers still opted to hold a pregame shootaround late Wednesday morning.
Most remarkable, Kobe Bryant came back on the court at 12:45 p.m. after the team's film session to shoot jumpers with assistant coach Brian Shaw. Bryant, who scored 34 points Tuesday, was the only player to do so, while the rest of his teammates went to the bus.
"This is a big item about not going on vacation until it's break time and not packing your bags until you're back," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said.
Lamar Odom followed his 28-point, 17-rebound effort Sunday in Cleveland with 12 points and 18 rebounds Tuesday. Jackson said, "We had no doubt that Lamar would step up to that level," adding that Odom's previous reserve role might have been a boon.
Describing Odom's original minutes as that of an "exulted role player," Jackson said, "He's really fresh and active now in this part of the season now when it's two-thirds into the year and he can do some things that are very important for us."
The Jazz will not be able to match last season's 34-19 record heading into the All-Star break. Andrei Kirilenko said he hoped to practice Monday when the team returns and wanted to play Tuesday against Memphis, but Carlos Boozer was largely noncommittal.
"We'll see," Boozer said. "I'm going to go home, I'm going to rehab in Miami, and continue my regimen and push it as hard as I can and we'll see what happens when I get back."
Williams said he was looking forward to seeing the team the Jazz will be the second half of the season once Kirilenko and Boozer return.
"We've already lost enough games for the whole season," Williams said. "So we've got to put some wins together, we've got to put a big streak together. We've done it before in the past, just not this year. Hopefully, when we get those guys back, we'll be able to do something like that."
Brevin Knight will miss his second consecutive game for the Jazz with a bruised left quadriceps.
