The Lakers entered tonight’s game against the New Orleans Hornets riding a six game winning streak, hoping to extend that streak to seven. If you recall the first Lakers/Hornets matchup earlier this season at Staples Center, then you will remember that game was a blowout in favor of LA. The Hornets have struggled so far this season, and the loss of Chris Paul certainly isn’t doing the team any favors.

Prior to the game, one of the topics of discussion during the Lakers Live segment was our very own Sasha Vujacic. He was featured in a “Style File” as they showed a brief clip of him arriving at the arena wearing jeans, a sweater, and a black bomber vest. Beyond that, the Fox Sports analysts agreed that Sasha is one of the better shooters on the team and that he needs to translate that from practice to game time. They all concurred that in order to do that he needs the minutes to get that opportunity.

Brian Shaw also made a point about it being difficult to get five guards into the rotation, especially when Shannon Brown and Jordan Farmar have been playing well. Sasha used to appear on the floor with a different group of guys, mostly starters, and now he comes in with the second unit. If he works on his versatility, attacks the paint etc, it would improve his chances of being put in the game. “The Machine may not be broken, but it’s definitely in storage,” says Bill MacDonald and that pretty much sums it up until he gets more minutes.

You know the deal; starters for tonight’s game for the Lakers were Derek Fisher, Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and Kobe Bryant. For the Hornets, it would be Darren Collison, Devin Brown, James Posey, David West, and Emeka Okafor. In the first quarter it seemed like the Hornets were going to make a game of it. They did a good job finishing it up just four points behind the home team despite the fact that David West spent most of the first quarter on the bench after picking up two quick fouls early in the contest.

The Lakers, however, have too many scoring options and persist on the defensive end making it difficult for the Hornets to keep up. Perhaps had the score been closer, Darren Collison’s three-pointer to beat the buzzer at halftime would have seemed more impressive. Alas, it only put the Hornets back within 20. The halftime score stood at 42-62.

The entirety of the third quarter continued in the same fashion as more Lakers made it to double figures; the Hornets never came close. It wasn’t until there was four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter that Sasha checked into the game and joined the rest of the second unit. With so little time remaining he was only able to take two shot attempts, making his second which was a two-pointer. There was no debate as to who would win this tournament, but the Hornets did their best to draw the game out and hit that 100 point mark in order to upset the Laker fans and deprive them of their tacos. Luckily for those at Staples Center tonight, the final score was 99-110. Sasha finished the game with two points in four minutes.