Ever the sportsman, Kobe Bryant and an intereresting take the other day on pacing himself during the season. He compared the NBA season to another grueling event that, at least in the early going, also seems to have no end in sight.

"I've always approached the season like the stages in the Tour de France," he said, referring to the annual three-week bicycle race. "I'm not going to hit the hill and sprint the hill every time. I'm going to let my teammates help pull me up and then I'm going to wait for a certain part of the race to start to start picking it up. That's how I approach the season."

No practice today, so there's no update on Lamar Odom. Listening carefully to Phil Jackson before Wednesday's game, when it was announced that Odom has a bone bruise in his right knee, it sounded like the Lakers' sixth man might be out a while. Odom was hurt in Tuesday's loss to the New Orleans Hornets. He didn't play Wednesday against the Golden State Warriors and might also miss Friday's game against the Indiana Pacers.

OAKLAND -- Pau Gasol scored his points (33) on the court and then made some more good ones (see below) in the locker room after the Lakers' 114-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. Gasol made it clear that he needs more shots than the eight he got in Tuesday's loss to the New Orleans Hornets.

"You've got to find balance in your game as a team," Gasol said after matching his career high with 18 rebounds and falling one point shy of his season best for points.
"You've got to take advantage of your strengths. Some nights it's going to work out better than others, but you've got to use your weapons.

"I was disappointed because if we would have been more aggressive (Tuesday), we could have attacked their big guys. David West was having a big night (scoring 40 points), but he was resting on defense.

"When a guy is attacking me and I can't retaliate, that's upsetting. It wasn't the only thing, but it was a big reason we weren't successful (Tuesday). ... We're finding (balance) some nights, but we get away from it on other nights.

"The nights we find it, we're very effective and very successful as a team. When we get everybody involved, we move the ball and things work out well. ... We have to make sure we continue to do that and grow as a team."

OAKLAND -- Lamar Odom suffered a bone bruise in his right knee, the results of an MRI performed today revealed. He will not play tonight against the Golden State Warriors and his status for Friday's game against the Indiana Pacers is uncertain.

His status is listed as day-to-day, the Lakers said in a statement. He was hurt in Tuesday's loss to New Orleans. The initial diagnosis was a hyper-extended knee.

UPDATED
"I'm not pinning any hopes on that," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said when asked if Odom could play Friday. "We'd like to have him play, but we're not counting on that."

"Have you ever had a bone bruise?" Jackson asked a reporter during his pregame session. "It takes a while (to heal). It's a tough one. We're still not out of the woods with this just because of that diagnosis. We'll use other guys."

In addition to Odom, the Lakers also will be without Luke Walton (foot) and Jordan Farmar (knee) when they play the Warriors tonight. Walton is out two weeks because of pain in the ball of his right foot. Farmar had knee surgery Dec. 24 and might not be back until after the All-Star break next month.

Eight shots. In 42 minutes of play in Tuesday's loss to the New Orleans Hornets, that was the extent of Lakers forward Pau Gasol's involvement in the offense and he wasn't exactly thrilled by it.

``It's hard because you don't get in any rhythm,'' Gasol said. ``And obviously playing 42 minutes, eight shots for me might not be enough.

``The game didn't go my way I guess. I try not to be too worried about that, but obviously when you lose, it maximizes it a little bit.''

Afterwards, when I chatted with Gasol he said he was more frustrated by the loss than angry about his lack of involvement and didn't want to turn it into an issue.

``I think we had the two main bigs in foul trouble in the first half and we did not do a good job of recognizing that,'' he said. ``We didn't punish them, and I think it was a mistake.''

Gasol admitted that he could've crashed the offensive glass harder, and perhaps generated some second-chance points. But rebounding was a bit difficult Tuesday because so many of the Lakers misses came off of 3-pointers, which generally create long rebounds.

Neglecting to get Gasol touches has been a constant theme for the Lakers this season. And whenever it happens more than one or two games in a row, Lakers coach Phil Jackson has generally come out publicly and called on the team to make a point of feeding its second-leading scorer.

When asked about Gasol's lack of shots in Tuesday's game, Lakers guard Kobe Bryant offered another theory ... and some advice to the lanky Spaniard.

``He feels uncomfortable just catching and shooting,'' Bryant said. ``I tell him: `You can shoot the ball 25 times. You catch the ball and a guy's hands are down, just shoot it.'

``It's an adjustment to make, and that's what we need him to do. If he's got the ball and a guy's hands are down, just shoot it right in his face.''

Hmmm... Anyone think the Lakers miss Lamar Odom?

With Odom out with a knee injury for the second half of Tuesday's loss to the Hornets, David West went wild, scoring 27 of his game-high 40 points in the second half.

He also helped key a 15-0 New Orleans midway through the 4th quarter, which turned the game from a 99-94 Lakers lead with 8:31 into a 109-99 Hornets lead with 4:48 to go.

In the previous two meetings with the Lakers, West had been relatively quiet, averaging just 17 points on a combined 14 of 34 shooting (41 percent).

But Tuesday night, with the Lakers most versatile athletic big man out, West was virtually unstoppable.

Lamar Odom suffered a hyper-extended right knee late in the first half against the New Orleans Hornets and will not return to the game. Odom will undergo an MRI exam Wednesday, according to a Lakers spokesman. He was hurt on a play in which he fouled Chris Paul with 3:03 left in the half. He left the game and went directly to the locker room.

...Vladimir Radmanovic!

Phil Jackson announced that the player formerly known as his favorite Martian would once again be his starting small forward. At least for tonight. While Luke Walton is out. Or as long as he says so.

Here's exactly how he un-resoundingly delivered the news:

Q: Who is starting for you at small forward?
A: ``Vlade Radmanovic."

Q: Why?
A: ``Because he's the best choice."

Q: Why?
"Because I said so."

The only thing coaches hate more than players who complain about a lack of playing time are players who don't complain about a lack of playing time. And that brings us to Vladimir Radmanovic, who has had difficulty masking his disappointment after Lakers coach Phil Jackson stapled his rear end to the bench after 20 games as a starter.

Here's the full text of Radmanovic's postgame comments Sunday, after he scored a season-high 16 points in the Lakers' victory over the Portland Trail Blazers:

"It was just one game. I took advantage of the chance I got. That's basically it. There's no big talk or philosophy about it. It is what it is.

"The position I'm in right now is really frustrating. I've tried not to bring it up because we have something really great going on here. But for me personally, from starting and playing decent, I believe, to not playing at all is something I'm still trying to understand and figure out.

"Whenever I get a chance to play, as a professional, I have to contribute as much as I can."

Luke Walton saw foot specialist Ken Jung today and learned he has something called sesamoiditis, which is more commonly seen in long-distance runners and dancers. In layman's terms, he is experiencing pain in the ball of his right foot.

Walton will be sidelined for at least two weeks and will wear a protective boot. He was cleared to begin rehab exercises in a pool today.

"It stinks that I've got to be out for a while, but it's nothing too serious," said Walton, who moved into the starting lineup Dec. 10 after playing infrequently in the season's first 20 games. "They gave me some strong meds. There's nothing you can really do besides stay off of it, which is the reason I'm in the boot."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson declined to name a starter to replace Walton for Tuesday's game against the New Orleans Hornets. Trevor Ariza replaced Walton in Sunday's victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Expect him to start again.

The Lakers' 100-86 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers moved them percentage points ahead of the Boston Celtics for the best record in the NBA. The Lakers are 27-5 for an .844 winning percentage. The Celtics are 29-6 for an .829 winning percentage.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are third (27-6, .818).

Kobe Bryant had this to say about having the best record on Jan. 4: "Well, it's just a challenge, that's how we look at it. It's obviously important to have home-court advantage, but we have to win on the road, anyway. But we look at it as a challenge for us to achieve that goal."

Said Pau Gasol: "Well, obviously, it's a good sign, but it's a long year. There are still many games to come, and we know that. We're just trying to take advantage of this nice homestand. It's always a good sign to be on top. You just can't relax. there's just too many games and too much competition to relax and get comfortable and be satisfied."

The Lakers had the best record in the Western Conference last season, earning home-court advantage for the first three rounds of the playoffs. Boston had a better record and held home-court advantage for the Finals, however. The Celtics won the first two games in Boston and went on to a six-game victory over the Lakers.

"We do want to be the best and we do want the best record," Trevor Ariza said. "It's definitely worth something, home-court advantage."

With Boston, Cleveland and Orlando all losing Sunday night, it seemed like something strange was going around the NBA. Whatever breeze that was, didn't seem to make its way west.

The Lakers breezed to another win Sunday night against the Brandon Roy-less Trail Blazers.

A 15-3 run in the third quarter did the trick this time.

Kobe Bryant scored 26 points, Pau Gasol added 19.

Trevor Ariza started in place of the injured Luke Walton (foot).

Luke Walton will not play tonight against the Portland Trail Blazers because he has an injured right foot. He is scheduled to see a foot specialist Monday. He is out indefinitely, according to Lakers spokesman John Black. The initial diagnosis is sesamoiditis, a pain in the ball of the foot most commonly associated with long-distance running or dancing.

The Trail Blazers have lived up to their billing as one of the hottest young teams in the NBA and have ostensibly improved quite a bit since their opening night drubbing in Los Angeles. But it's going to be hard to get a true read on where Portland stands tonight because star point guard Brandon Roy didn't even make the trip to Los Angeles due to his sprained hamstring.

According to the Oregonian, Roy will miss 7-10 days with the injury.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said today after practice that he asked center Andrew Bynum for a progress report the other day. It's been almost a year since Bynum suffered a season-ending left kneecap injury during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies. His scoring and rebounding averages are off slightly from what they were at this time last season.

"He said he wasn't totally happy with the way things were going," Jackson said. "He thought he had fallen into a little rut lately."

Bynum wasn't available to speak with reporters after practice, leaving the facility before media members were admitted to the gym. He also did not stick around to talk after Friday's victory over the Utah Jazz, when he had eight points and two rebounds in the Lakers' win.

So, it was left to Jackson to analyze the 7-footer's game.

"He's gone through a lot of games now," Jackson said. "I think some of it is power and going through the motions and getting the power (back in his knee). ... I think he has endurance. I think he has enough endurance, but I think he loses energy. There is a difference."

Bynum's averages this season: 12.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.9 blocks in 31 games so far.

His averages last season: 13.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 2.1 blocks in 35 games before he was injured.

It got a little snug there towards the end as Utah cut the Lakers 15-point fourth-quarter lead to 97-93 with just 2:58 remaining, but Trevor Ariza made several key steals down the stretch to spark a 16-7 closing run for the Lakers, who extended their current winning streak to five games.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 40 points, one off of his season-high set two weeks ago in Orlando, and Pau Gasol added 21 points, 11 rebounds and six assists.

Mehmet Okur led the Jazz with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Paul Millsap had 16 points and 17 rebounds in his first game back since missing three games with a knee injury.

With his last two points in the game Gasol passed the 10,000-point mark for his career, making him the fourth European player in NBA history to achieve that status.

Already this season, the Lakers (26-5) have had two seven-game winning streaks, one five-game streak (current), one four-game streak and one three-game streak.

Wait, wasn't this supposed to be the game where the Western Conference's elite finally walked through the doors of Staples Center?

So far, it looks like just another rout as the banged-up Utah Jazz have shot just 37.8 percent in the first half and scored just 43 points.

The Lakers are getting another all-around night from Pau Gasol (11 points, seven rebounds, four assists) and Kobe Bryant (17 points on 6-of-8 shooting).

With the Lakers run to the NBA Finals, then the Olympics and his commitments back in Spain, Pau Gasol has been going pretty strong without an extended break for nearly a year. If anyone could use a few days off to recharge around the All-Star break in mid-February, it's Gasol.

The thing is, Gasol wants to go.

He's only been an All Star one other time in his career, in Houston for the 2006 All Star Game as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, and it was a fairly miserable experience he'd like to have another crack at.

``Trust me. I know the beauty of enjoying those days off,'' Gasol said. ``But I also know the pride of playing in the All Star game. The time that I did make it, I got sick and I was in bed the whole weekend. I played like 15 minutes, but playing in the game was like the only thing I got to do. I had to just stay in bed the whole time so I would have the energy to play in the game. ''

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he expected ``a lot of support'' for Gasol among Western Conference coaches who will be filling out the roster after fan voting. Gasol is averaging 17.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists in just over 35 minutes a game this season. Perhaps most impressively though, he's shooting a torrid 56 percent from the field and has an efficiency rating (the measure of how a team does when a particular player is on the court) of +23.28.

Jackson's support for his own candidacy -- the coach with the best record in the conference coaches at the All-Star game -- was far less enthusiastic.

``I have go and grin and bear it. That's what my mom told me,'' he said. ``It's just all that stuff you have to do. If it was just the game it wouldn't be so bad.''

Kobe Bryant was named the Western Conference's player of the month for December. Bryant led the conference-leading Lakers to an 11-4 record in the month, averaging 28.2 points. He topped 30 points five times during the month, hitting his season high of 41 during the Lakers' loss to the Orlando Magic on Dec. 20.

Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat was the Eastern Conference player of the month.