Lakers Notes: Gasol, Blake, Payton

The starters for the All-Star game were announced on Thursday, and two members of the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, were among those selected. Here are the latest updates around the Lakers:

• Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times writes that the Lakers have been playing well with Pau Gasol sidelined.
• Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com tweets that Steve Blake will receive a cortisone shot and get reevaluated this weekend before deciding on a return date.
• Gary Payton told Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com that the Lakers' current struggles are not comparable to those of the 2004 team that featured him and Karl Malone.