Lakers Are Feeling Warmth of Season

Now for the real game.

The Lakers drilled the short-handed Orlando Magic in a tuneup for Sunday’s main event, 104-88, a victory that was as breezy as it looked Friday at TD Waterhouse Centre.

Kobe Bryant passed the scoring torch to none other than Chris Mihm, who had 20 points in 24 minutes and helped the Lakers to a win that allowed them to officially turn their attention to the Christmas Day game against the Miami Heat.

Bryant had 21 points, 41 fewer than he had Tuesday against Dallas, but more than enough against the hapless Magic, which lost for the ninth time in 11 games. The Lakers, heading in the opposite direction, won for the ninth time in 11 games, making them the hottest team in the Western Conference over that span.

Bryant, who did not have an assist in Tuesday’s game, had nine Friday, seven in the first half, helping alleviate the concerns of Coach Phil Jackson.

Fearful the Lakers would dismiss this game en route to Miami, Jackson began planting its importance in players’ ears two days ahead of time. He revisited the theme Friday.

“He was kind of beating it into our heads all day,” Mihm said.

The Magic, pretty much beaten from the start when double-double phenom Dwight Howard left 2:22 into the game because of a sprained ankle, couldn’t stop a 22-1 Laker run at the end of the second quarter and into the third, a spurt that provided a 59-40 lead. Orlando never came closer than nine the rest of the way.

“I’ve seen a lot of times where the media’s looking forward and a team’s looking forward to a big game and you can let one get away from you and it will haunt you the rest of the season,” Mihm said. Instead, the Lakers improved to 15-11, a half-game better than Miami.

The Laker defense, fourth-worst in the league last season in points allowed, again stood strong, holding the Magic to 32-for-81 shooting (39.5%).

It was a stout reminder of how much things had changed since last season, when the Magic made 12 of 22 three-point attempts in a 122-113 mid-November victory, the most points the Lakers had given up in a non-overtime game in nine years. The Magic made one of 13 three-point attempts Friday.

Before the game, the Lakers were 10th in the league defensively, giving up 94 points a game.

“We did a great job rotating, making them uncomfortable ... breaking their rhythm,” Bryant said. “That’s the most important thing, you want to break their rhythm, because then when you do that, when guys have open shots, their rhythm isn’t there and they tend to miss those.”

Mihm was the story on offense, dunking alley-oop passes from Smush Parker and Lamar Odom, making hook shots down low and burying 13-footers from the wing.

He was stopped only by his season-long enemy, foul trouble, sitting down for almost a full quarter after drawing his fourth foul with 6:22 left in the third.

Bryant, blanketed with double teams, facilitated through most of the first half -- “Just using myself as bait,” he said -- but jumped in when necessary, drilling an 18-foot fadeaway with 4.7 seconds left in the second quarter for a 54-40 Laker lead.

“We passed the test,” Bryant said. “A game we could have easily overlooked but we didn’t do that. We came out and took care of business.”