Pau Gasol's return to the court was a good one Thursday night at Staples- 24 points, 13 rebounds- as the Lakers (wait for it...) ran the Bulls (ha!) by a final score of 108-93. The only sour note? Andrew Bynum left the game midway through the third quarter and didn't return, suffering what was called a jammed right ankle. He's officially listed as day-to-day.

Bynum indicated that not re-entering the game was based less on worries of serious injury and more on the score- with the Lakers up big, there was no reason to screw around. We'll learn more at practice Friday afternoon, but for now there doesn't seem to be overwhelming reason for concern.

More on the game to come.

BK

Nuggets from Phil Jackson's pregame press conference:

Pau Gasol will travel with the team this week, but playing is a different story. Asked if they're going to wait until Pau is totally healthy to get him back on the floor, PJ's response was interesting: "No, this isn't something you have to be (100% back). You can't be 100% on this unless you take forever and ever to let it heal. I think that's one of the things that is the issue right now is that probably his initial diagnosis was the fact that it takes six weeks for a hamstring to heal. We don't have six weeks. Right now, it'll be three weeks as of tomorrow. So that's half the time, supposedly. We just have to figure it out, and there are ways to come through this without having to jeopardize him. But he still has to have some security that he's not going to go out there and hurt himself." 

After Friday's loss to Dallas, PJ made a point to note how Thursday's practice leading into the game was poor. I asked if the team responded better Saturday afternoon. "I talked to the coaches, we didn't feel 100% about the practice but we felt better about it. The effort was there, but the lack of enthusiasm bothered us more than anything else."

What accounts for that?

"I don't know," he said. "We talked a little bit about it, where we lost a little bit of our enthusiasm for playing ball and getting it out there, and going after it. Some of it is just the malaise coming out. The ring ceremony is a high energy night, and then we come out Friday and there's no energy in the building and everybody's talking about something else other than basketball. There's the World Series going on, whatever. Whatever else is coming up. We just weren't focused to take care of our business."

They don't let us watch practice, so I don't know exactly how well things went. To some extent, we might find out based on Sunday's result against the Hawks. Either way, it's a public reminder to his team that focus and energy aren't givens, that the team must put in the work with an attention to detail to get where they're going. 

BK

UPDATE: Heard from Drew before the game.  Sort of.  The kid mumbles, and was short on pith, so we'll have to review the recording to get super-exacts.  But I can report that he's feeling no pain right now, including with lateral movement and the like.  Still no return date, but everything seems hunky dory.

Assuming they haven't forgotten how to find the arena, the Lakers ought to get a boost playing in front of their home crowd for what feels like the first time since Eisenhower left office.  They'll need it, because the Rockets are a good team playing with motivation in a tightly bunched Western Conference playoff ladder.  The last time they met, March 11th in Houston, the Lakers used a strong second half to overcome a nine point deficit at the break, led by Kobe Bryant's scoring/invasion of Ron Artest's gray matter.

Looking over the ol' DVR recording, a few things stuck out about those final 24 minutes:

• The Lakers were extremely aggressive on the offensive boards. The Rockets may be undersized, but they rebound well.  The Lakers need to make Houston work to secure boards on their end. 
• Artest is talented, but will take shots that make Kobe seem conservative and judicious by comparison. High Volume Ron is a good Ron or LA.  The more time Artest spends dribbling and creating, the better off the Lakers will be.
• The Lakers did a great job pressuring Yao on the block with double teams to force the ball from his hands.  Yao averages over 13 shots a night.  That game he had only nine.  Generally speaking, the Lakers were effective in making the Rockets shoot jumpers to try and beat them.

Keep in mind that in Houston, LO was serving a one-game suspension for leaving the bench in Portland.  With Odom back, the dynamic defensively for Houston changes.  Probably more Battier on 24 than Ron Ron.  More reading: Forum Blue and Gold's game preview, likewise from The Dream Shake.

Chat box below.

BK

This one should be fun.  The Blazers are a top shelf team at home (26-5), where their splits show they're stronger in virtually every meaningful statistical category.  Bottom line, don't expect to see the same Portland team the Lakers beat by 20 on Oct. 28 or 14 on Jan. 4 when the teams hit the floor tonight at the Rose Garden. 

And, of course, we all know about the six straight losses for LA up Oregon way, just in case the opposition wasn't problem enough.

A few thoughts, and some good pregame reading:

• Pace is going to be an interesting factor, as each team tries to nudge the other from its comfort zone.  The Lakers are the fifth fastest team by pace factor in the NBA, but for all their youth and athleticism, the Blazers are 30th.  Out of 30, in case there was confusion.  Don't mistake slow with inefficient or ineffective.  Portland is second only to the Lakers in offensive efficiency, producing 113.3 points per 100 trips.  (LA is at 114.)  With two teams that produce points so proficiently, holding on to the ball is more important than normal.  Interestingly enough, both teams produce turnovers from the opposition at almost identical rates.

I always enjoy watching the Spurs, and things are no different this year.  Whether they're struggling with injuries as they did opening the season or playing well as they currently are- San Antonio is 18-6 since a 6-6 start, and 8-2 over their last 10- Gregg Popovich's crew always provides a test.  They're like the Terminator.  Or the Energizer Bunny.  Or death and taxes.  Or whatever comparison to something that is steady, consistent, and relatively hard to kill that you prefer.  While they're generally not the most athletic or dynamic team, they're always smart, fundamentally sound, play to their strengths, and most importantly, San Antonio doesn't do the opposition's work for them. 

With that in mind, some thoughts about tonight's game:

• SA's frontcourt combination provides an interesting matchup for the Lakers.  Power forward Tim Duncan spends more time near the basket, while center Matt Bonner loves to bomb from the outside, taking three triples a game and shooting nearly 50% from beyond the arc.  It's a similar setup to the Jazz, with Boozer/Millsap and Okur. Look for Bynum to play Duncan, Gasol on Bonner.  On the other end, as Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold points out, whoever gets Bonner needs to take advantage.

Until the Lakers get some players back in the lineup there are no sure things.  Not even if you threw John Cusack in there*.  But that doesn't mean the Lakers shouldn't win, especially given their massive size advantage.  It'll be interesting to see if Miami defends Pau and Bynum as they did a few weeks back.  Writes Kurt at Forum Blue and Gold:

"...There are a lot of teams that are smaller than the Lakers, but the Heat have been the only team whose coach had the guts to front the Lakers bigs and try to force turnovers... If and when the Heat front the Lakers bigs in the post, the weak-side post must flash to the free throw line and create a high-low game that can expose the Heat (with Pau and the ball at the free throw line he can lob to Drew, attack the rim or just bury the jumper)..."

Good ball movement helps there as well, as the bigs can seal their fronting defenders and accept passes from better angles for almost automatic points.  If the Lakers don't force the issue, they ought to find plenty of opportunities to exploit Miami's lack of size.  I've been impressed with how the Lakers have, in the absence of three ball movers and with a slumping Vlad Rad, continued to stay dedicated to inside play.  Much credit should go to Kobe, who has helped grease the team's wheels and is playing incredibly efficient basketball these days (even by his lofty standards). 

After the Lakers laid an egg in their visit to Hoosier country back in early December, it will be impossible for the Pacers to sneak up on the Lakers tonight at Staples.  Or it damn well ought to be, at least, especially in the context of LA's upcoming schedule, which grows pretty damn brutal over the five games that'll follow this one.  With that, a few thoughts, slapped together:

• At last reading, Lamar Odom is "questionable" for tonight's game because of that bone bruise in his right knee, but it's unlikely he'll play tonight, and I'm thinking the absence could easily stretch into next week.  But if there's a positive aspect to injuries, it's that they can force a team to pay extra attention to the basics.  On Wednesday against the Warriors, we saw it with LA as they steadfastly pushed the ball into the post, refusing to get caught up in the perimeter chuck fest that Don Nelson loves to promote.  While the Pacers have more size than Golden State- so do most of the teams I run with at the rec- the Lakers still can push an advantage inside, whether with Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum or through penetration at the perimeter.

I'm not going to call the Kings craptastic, despite their 5-16 record, their lack of really good NBA players, or what I consider to be among the more unattractive uniforms the league has to offer.  No, they'll be spared because, at least against the Lakers, they always play hard.  Thus, the Sacramento Kings are not craptastic, they're scraptastic.  Same thing, with an S.  Still crappy, yes, but a better, more honorable grade of crappy. 

When last these teams met, the Lakers won in relatively convincing but wholly unappealing fashion.  Tonight?...

• Take care of the freakin' ball.  On November 23rd, the Kings were handed 30 points off turnovers.  30.  That's just ridiculous. They've talked about playing under control, building a lead, and maintaining focus for 48 minutes.  This is a game where the Lakers should have an opportunity to do all three. 
• Pound the lane.  Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol vs. Spencer Hawes and Brad Miller.  Advantage LAL.  Add in LO in the post (assuming he'll shoot) and it's an even larger advantage. The trio was a combined 20-31 in the first meeting.  But getting the ball into the post repeatedly requires discipline, and the Lakers tend to get away from it.  And I didn't even mention Kobe's post skills. 

But just to let everyone know, the Lakers will be donating $100,000 in relief of the 2008 Wildlife fires.  Also, the proceeds from the Staples Center in-arena silent auctions over the duration of the next six November games (tonight's included) will accompany this donation.  Plus, those in attendance during tonight's game can- for a minimum five dollar donation- head down to the court after the action and get some face time and autographs with the Laker Girls.  All for a good cause, the latter two sources being funneled through the Lakers Youth Foundation.  For information about tonight's Laker Girl offering, go to the concourse level behind section 112.

Also, an exchange between a writer and Phil Jackson in regards to Vlad Radmanovic's starting status: