Lakers 119, Jazz 109 

Let's not get too excited just yet, but the Lakers are playing good basketball. 

In their past two games, the Lakes have played the kind of ball that we would get maybe three or four times a month over the past couple of years.

Kobe seems happy, Fisher is leading the offense better than any point guard since... Derek Fisher, and the kids are making things happen.

 Remember last night, when I was all excited about five Lakers in double figures?

Well tonight, the Lakers had SIX with 10 or more.

The Lakers are playing similar to the way they were early on last season, before the injury bug hit. Does a healthy team mean that this kind of play stays consistent? I think there's a good possibility.

Kobe scored his obligatory 33 points, and got everyone excited, blocking an Andrei Kirilenko two handed jam in the fourth. D-Fish scored 19, And Andrew Bynum held down the fort down low with 9 rebounds and 15 points. Jordan Farmar, Ronny Turiaf, and Luke Walton all posted dubs.

Yeah, I know, we're only three games in, but to my utter disbelief, the Lakers are playing solid basketball.

Drafting Adrian Peterson in the 7th round of my fantasy draft never seemed like a bad idea to me.

Now everyone else understands.

I had a hard time not drafting Peterson earlier on, but I managed to hold off until the 7th round... even then the draft chat was willed with "WOW"s and "yikes"s.

Just wait.

Just wait.

It's not like Peterson didn't prove my point already this season, but today's performance made me feel somewhat competent in fantasy football for the first time since my back to back titles in 2002 and 2003.

Peterson put on a clinic today, rushing for three touchdowns, on an NFL record 296 yards.

How beautiful would it be to see a rookie MVP?

Bring it! I've got man crush on A-Peet.

I know, this is likely last on your viewing palate today, with what has the propensity to be the biggest football game in the history of the universe, but I've seen more than enough Laker fans out there that hopefully can look past the "smarmy 12 year old" tag.

Utah @ Lakers - 9:30pm ET

It finally looks like the Kobe drama has somewhat subsided, and maybe... just maybe, he'll stop being a pest off the court, and keep being dominant on the court. I've said it before, and i'll say it again. I don't like Kobe; but I will sure as hell miss him if he is gone.

I think a lot of Lakers fans take Kobe for granted. I've complained about Kobe's selfishness for years, heck, I even took the Clippers for a test drive at one point, but the bottom line still remains; we all secretly want Kobe to stay in town.

When the Lakers dropped their opening night game to the Rockets 93-95 and Kobe posted 45, I was immediately taken back to the past two seasons where Kobe ran the court, took 2500 shots, and yelled at everyone that missed a jumper.

Then, Friday, in Phoenix, the Lake Show pulled off that seemingly impossible bounce back, where the team takes everything they should have done the game before, and applies it to the next game.

That Phoenix game was one of the biggest statements the Lakers could have mad.

Kobe held himself (held himself?) to 16 points, while getting everyone involved (thank you god!).

FIVE LAKERS IN DOUBLE FIGURES? I don't think I've seen that in years.

Vlad Man Radmanovic put up 19, Kobe had his 16 and 11 rebounds, Andrew Bynum pulled down 13 rebounds and tacked on 14 points to boot. Derek Fisher put up 14, and Sasha Vujacic, who might I add is fooling everyone with the long hair, added 12.

Basically, the Lakers have all the momentum in the world going into tonight's game against the 2-1 Jazz.

Lakers fans can only hope for performances like Friday's, especially if they want to get through the tough upcoming stretch of games in one piece.

One thing Friday's game did do, was possibly suggest the idea that Kobe doesn't mean so much to the team, and that they could survive without them. Then again, how often are you going to see this line up post 5 in double figures?

Now, I know I'm prefacing again, but before I even get started here, I just wanted to say that you guys officially don't get me! From now on, you can refer to me as the "12 year smarmy blogger that's going to get passed up by the adults on this site."

Anyway, I'll probably get a bunch of crap for highlighting this kid... hell, I'll probably get a bunch of crap for calling this kid a 'kid', but hey, he has the Brett Favre effect. You can't help but love him.

Coby Freaking Karl.

That's right, Nuggets coach, George Karl's son. It took a little while to get past the whole "son of an NBA great" thing (the same routine went down with Luke Walton), but over the course of training camp, this kid's off the court demeanor, and on the court play (given his value for an undrafted rookie) has earned him some props among the Lakers faithful.

Karl played college ball at Boise State (yeah, basketball powerhouse) where he averaged 17.2 ppg in his junior year and 14.8 in his senior year.

The heartwarming part comes next. Karl was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma cancer earlier this year, and fully recovered; game intact.

The fans love the Turiaf effect.

Karl was the only Laker on the preseason roster without a guaranteed contract, thus putting a ton of doubt on his future with the team. Based on his performance in the preseason, combined with the Lakers not really having any other option, Karl made the regular season roster.

Karl's future is definitely unclear, but for the time being, I LOVE HIM.