The defining moment of the Lakers regular season is upon us.
The next four games will tell how good and how far the Lakers have come this season: at New Orleans on Friday, at red-hot Houston Sunday, at Dallas next Tuesday and the finale at Utah on Thursday.
If the Lakers are going to put a solid grip on the No. 1 seed in the West, they need to go 3-1 on this trip. A 2-2 record will good, but not great. A 1-3 record would be bad but not horrendous. Each team presents different problems.
New Orleans has the best point guard playing this season in Chris Paul and he will test the Lakers interior defense. Paul creates matchup problems for all the Lakers guards. The Lakers can always put Kobe Bryant on Paul, but you don't want to do that for the entire game. Look for Phil J. to rotate D. Fish, Farmar and maybe even Sasha on the Hornets' mercurial point man and funnel him to the baseline because he does most of his damage in the paint.
The Rockets are on a 19-game winning streak! Only two teams (Lakers and Bucks) have a longer winning streak in NBA history. The Rockets' offense is free flowing without Yao clogging up the middle. Dikembe Mutombo may be 65-years-old but he can still block shots and wag his finger. Houston plays two games before it faces the Lakers on Sunday, and if everything goes according to plan, the Rockets will be on a 21-game win streak heading into Sunday's tipoff. The game is so big that ABC juggled its programming schedule to spotlight this game.
Dallas is the third game of the trip and the Mavs are starting to adjust to Jason Kidd as their point. The last time these two teams met, the Lakers needed overtime at home to get the "W." Dirk Nowitzki killed Lamar Odom late in the fourth quarter so Odom needs to play smarter, which might be impossible.
The final road game is at the Salt Palace in Utah...oops, I mean Energy Solutions Arena. Whatever the name of the building it's working for the Jazz because they are 28-3 at home. The Jazz plays with tremendous energy at home and that means they get to rebounds and loose balls a lot quicker in their home building. This means Pau Gasol, Odom and Ronny Turiaf need to bring their hard hats.
If there ever was a time for Kobe Bryant to lock up the MVP award, this four-game road trip would be the perfect platform.
