Okay, Kobe Bryant, I'll see your behind the backboard shot and raise you one of these:

After the game, Kobe said nobody he's seen- whether teammates, opponents, or himself- gets up like Shannon Brown. He never saw AK pre-ACL injury, but that aside, who am I to argue?  I was fortunate enough to be on the side of the floor where the oop went down, and fair to say it led to a momentary suspension of the standard media-row prohibition on "Holy **@&#!" reactions to on-court events. That play could have raised the dead.

More on the game to come.

BK

From Sunday's game against the Thunder. The next guy to shoot is almost guaranteed to get an "H..."

For his next trick, I want to see Kobe do this...

BK

The headline sums things up pretty well...

...but we've been told our posts need to be...

...at least three lines long so they can be picked up by Google searches.

BK

A well run pick and roll is a great thing to watch, impossible to defend completely given the right personnel. That doesn't mean I want to see it all the time. But as Jonathan Abrams of the New York Times confirms and quantifies here, increasingly in today's NBA, it's a P and R world, the rest of us are just passengers.

The Lakers, who originated only 11% of their offensive plays last year through the set writes Abrams, are an exception. Fans and the game are better for it.

LA's offense demands players think and interpret, share the ball, display a varied skill set, and move in space. It thrives on players with basketball intellect who understand the relationship between their play and the four other guys on the floor. I appreciate the balance the triangle creates between a strong coaching hand necessary to implement, teach, and perfect the system with the trust given to players to do it properly once games start, and how it defines roles without mandating exactly how they be filled on every trip down the floor. (No question some of this is a byproduct of Phil Jackson's coaching style, but the style is also a reflection of the system.) Done right, the Lakers' offense is elevated stuff in a lowest common denominator world, a throwback to days when the sports world (the whole world, really) wasn't wasn't continuously dissected in a way too often requiring players and coaches to take the path of least resistance.

Given the number of Lakers I (and most of you) watch, that their games don't look the same as every other team in the league is particularly appealing. Expect the Lakers to do it well, but celebrate that they do it differently. Appreciate that the Lakers can run great pick and rolls with most of their roster (particularly Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol), but don't need it to generate looks. Get excited by the understanding that even on days when the Lakers don't look good, they'll almost always still produce a handful of exceptional plays on the offensive end.

(I now step off the soap box... click below for more Lakers and NBA news.)

(Self Promotional Notes: Don't forget to download this week's 710 ESPN.com Lakers PodKast, and to follow us on the Twitter at latimesKbros. Finally, AK and I are the, ahem, "personalities" representing 710 ESPN at this poker tourney at Hollywood Park Casino. Apparently, there's a bounty on our heads. Not for capturing us Boba Fett style for delivery to Jabba the Hutt, but rather knocking us out of the event. Come down/up/over and play if you can. That is all... for now. Moving on...)

Sorry for what will be a brief report from Friday afternoon's practice in El Segundo, but it's nearly Mom K's birthday, and that gift won't buy itself. I need to do a little shopping this afternoon. But I digress... There are two bits of genuine news to report. First, Andrew Bynum didn't practice, but instead received treatment on the ankle he turned in Thursday's win over Chicago. It included lasers, and while they were mounted on the heads of neither sharks nor sea bass, they ought to help reduce swelling in the area. He expects to play Sunday against Oklahoma City.

Pau Gasol, who made his season debut last night, did practice, working through the natural soreness that comes with the first game after a long layoff. He was quick to note, as you'll see in the videos below, that none of said aches were located in the bum right hamstring that kept him out of the season's first 11 games. 

Click below for today's moving pictures...

Or A.B.A.U., for the acronymically* inclined...

No surprise, after turning his right ankle in the third quarter of Thursday's 108-93 win over the Bulls, Andrew Bynum didn't practice Friday afternoon in El Segundo, instead receiving treatment ranging from medicine to ice to something he called a "laser level," which I always thought was used to hang picture frames properly. (Note: If my Google skills are worth their salt, I'm pretty sure he meant a low-level laser, which is used to help reduce swelling.)

"It was sorer than last night, he said. "I left last (the arena) last night without doing (any heavy treatment) because I was, you know, trying to walk it off, but it stiffened up this morning." Still, just as he did Thursday, Bynum said he doesn't expect to miss any games. "The ankle is alright. It's not too serious. I should be back by Sunday,"

Generally speaking, the best way to judge the severity of a Bynum injury is to measure the reactions of those around him, since Drew is notoriously bad at self-diagnosis. In that regard, nobody seemed too concerned. More to come from Friday's run.

BK

*new word

Hamstring!

It sounds like a bad musical, but really, it was just the major running subplot for the Lakers over their first 11 games as they waited for Pau Gasol's balky hammy to heal up. Thursday night, the curtain finally rose on Gasol's '09-'10 season, and the reviews (I'm already sick of this metaphor, but it's too late to turn back) were sterling. Tony Award quality, even. (Wow, that last one made me cringe... hackneyed, thy name is me.) 24 points, 13 boards, 35 minutes as the Lakers knocked off the Bulls 108-93. 

Gasol didn't expect so many minutes, or to be quite so effective, while taking advantage of an undersized Chicago frontcourt around the basket on both sides of the floor.   He seemed to have plenty of polish for a guy having played less full court hoops than most rec warriors over the last six weeks.

Nor was he the only positive from Thursday's easy win. With 21 points, Kobe Bryant passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (yes, the actor) and moved into second place on the list of all-time Lakers scoring leaders, trailing only Jerry West (yes, the actor) on one of the most impressive lists in basketball, given the talent the franchise has seen (Kobe talks about it here). The box score also notes four other Lakers in double figures, including a perfect shooting night for Derek Fisher.  The only real negative was a jammed right ankle for Andrew Bynum, suffered in the second half. He's listed as day-to-day, and we'll learn more about his condition today at practice.

With Gasol, the Lakers look like the Lakers, creating matchup problems all over the floor. "They have a lot of weapons. And talent," said Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro. "It's one thing to be tall, but there's also being tall and talented, and they got both. So that helps."

More Lakers news, notes, and thoughts below...

The first came as a 21 year-old on March 12, 2000 in LA against the Sacramento Kings, the 100th nearly 10 years later, Tuesday night in the Lakers' 106-93 win over the Pistons at Staples. In between were 98 more games in which Kobe Bryant scored 40 points or more (click here for the full list). It was the second time he lit up the Pistons, but every team in the league has been a victim: The Kings (four times), Spurs (3), Warriors (7), Raptors (4*), Rockets (8), Cavs (1), Charlotte/New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets (3), Charlotte Bobcats (1), Grizzlies (6), Celtics (4), Sixers (2), Sonics (7), Suns (6), Jazz (5), Knicks (5), Nuggets (6), Hawks (1), Bulls (1), Mavericks (5), Pacers (1), Clippers (5), Heat (1), Bucks (1), Wolves (2), Nets (1), Magic (2), Blazers (4), and Wizards (3). 

"It's a tremendous honor. It's just a lot of work," Kobe said Tuesday night. "A lot of work that went into it, and it's amazing to kind of look back on that and have 100 of those games." 

You saw Kobe's laugh when asked if he had 100 more in him. That's probably too much to ask, even of him. But anyone who can do this certainly has plenty in the tank.

BK

*Question: Should 81 technically make it five?

After consecutive losses, the Lakers needed a strong response Tuesday night at Staples against the Detroit Pistons, a middling group playing without injured stars Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince. They got it, for three quarters at least, in a 106-93 win. Kobe Bryant led the way with 40 points, the 100th time he's blown up for 40 or more (that's 100 more than me and AK... combined!) over the course of his career. Bryant missed his first four shots, but then went nuts, shaking off the effects of a strained right groin to finish 17-29 from the floor. He capped his night with a three pointer, but generally speaking continued to do his damage in the post, taking advantage of an undersized Ben Gordon in particular.

LA used a Kobe fueled Q2 (13 points for Bryant) to blow the game open, and eventually built the lead to 28. Yes, they (meaning the reserves) lost their discipline and structure in the fourth and let the Pistons back in- shouldn't happen- but overall it was a positive return to form for the purple and gold. 

Add in news that Pau Gasol is on track for a return, perhaps as soon as Thursday night against the Bulls, and the process of turning those frowns of Friday and Sunday upside-down was basically complete. Not that the healing kept Phil Jackson from skewering Gasol and his guest spot on CSI: Miami.

MORE LAKERS AND NBA NOTES...

There's almost always an upside to extended conversations with Derek Fisher, and it's typically two-fold. First, he's a given for introspective, thoughtful copy. Second, the discussion will often take unexpected turns that spotlight additionally interesting topics. Eight or so minutes with Fish after Monday's practice proved no exception.

This particular chunk of conversation began with a discussion about the recently stagnant, struggling Lakers offense, then ended up delving into the essence of what makes Phil Jackson unique and- in the eyes of many- extremely effective as a coach. Here's what Fisher had to say:

Over the last couple of games, you guys have faced a lot more double teams in the post.  Is the best way to counter those defenses just hitting outside shots?

    Some of it is shooting the ball better, but some of it is also having better spacing, so that the person that receives the pass out, if his shot isn't there for him, there's space on the floor to swing it, then swing it, (then swing it) back inside.  Those are the problems we're running into.  We're not really that concerned about guys making shots, ultimately.  We're concerned about the lack of execution that comes from if the pass is kicked out of a double team, or just offensively coming down and not ever really seeming like we've gotten into an offensive set or flow of any kind.  Those are the things that are bothering us the most, the coaches and obviously, as players.  We're confident we'll make shots if we get good open shots.