Lakers forward Metta World Peace effectively injured for rest of season, does this open door for Jazz to reclaim 8th seed?

The Los Angeles Lakers have kind of been train wrecks for most of the season. They've had a lot of injuries this year. Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison, Earl Clark, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol, and Jordan Hill all missed a ton of games this year. Metta World Peace has missed only 1 game this year, but looks to miss at least 6 more weeks now. Check out the story from our SB Nation Lakers blog Silver Screen & Roll here.

LA has a 1 game lead over the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks. Does this new injury (which kind of wrecks their defensive rotations) open the door a bit for our Jazz? Or does Kobe Bryant just dig a little deeper and keep the Lakers in the Top 8?