Randy Hollis: Utah Jazz facing the team we all love to hate

As my family waited for a lunch-time table Saturday at the Cheesecake Factory, I couldn't help but spot the "enemy" — a guy proudly wearing a Lakers jersey.

To make matters worse, the guy and his buddy got seated long before we did. What's more, he wore jersey No. 24 with the name "BRYANT" across the back.

And as I clenched my jaw to prevent myself from uttering a profanity, I couldn't help but think ... here we go again.

For the third straight year, Utah's postseason trip travels through Los Angeles. This time, the Jazz will go up against the defending NBA champion L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals — a repeat of their playoff matchup from two years ago, when the Lakers survived in a seven-game showdown.

Last year, the Lakers dispatched the eighth-seeded Jazz in fairly easy fashion, winning the best-of-seven series in just five games.

This year, though, Jazz fans are hoping it'll be different, and they can't help but hark back to a glorious time when the Jazz held the upper hand. In 1997 and again in 1998, Utah sent the Lakers packing from the playoffs, highlighted by that memorable four-game series sweep in '98.

Of course, that Kobe Bryant kid was just a cub back then, and he's since become a ferocious lion who has helped lead his team to four NBA titles in the last nine years, plus two other losing appearances in the NBA Finals.

Is it no wonder, then, that this is the team that most Jazz fans love to hate the most. The Lakers — from their ever-smug coach, Phil Jackson, to their celebrity fans like Jack Nicholson — have become the New York Yankees of professional basketball.

Sure, they may not win the championship every year, but it seems like they're always in the hunt. They've got more star-power than any franchise has a right to have.

The reasons to dislike the Lakers are many but, in all honesty, most of them amount to simple envy or downright jealousy.

Bryant has been on the short list of the league's greatest players for the last decade. But there's that alleged rape incident in Colorado hanging over his head that will always make him a villain in many people's eyes.

They essentially stole star big man Pau Gasol in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies in February 2008, and Gasol was the guy they needed to help them win the 15th championship in franchise history last year.