They Refuse to Say ‘Glass Dismissed’

The Lakers rebounded well without Kobe Bryant, in more ways than one.

“That’s one thing people don’t talk about this year,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “There was a great center here before, and all that, and I think right now the Lakers are No. 1 in defensive rebounding in the whole league. You look at our personnel, and people would say [it’s] probably not going to happen with this team.

“[This] team’s got a lot of heart. We don’t always play good, but I think we play hard.”

The Lakers are averaging 44.54 rebounds a game, most in the league. They averaged 43.1 last season.

Lamar Odom is eighth in the league with 10.4 rebounds a game. After Saturday’s 104-102 victory over Golden State, Tomjanovich singled out center Chris Mihm, who had 12 rebounds, increasing his average to 7.3.

“He was in scrums under the basket where it was anybody’s ball, and he’s the guy who came up with the ball,” Tomjanovich said.

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Odom was hardly filling Bryant’s scoring role in the first half of Saturday’s game, making one of five shots, good for three points.

But he had 24 points on 10-for-21 shooting in the second half, including the winner, a driving layup with 1.3 seconds to play.

“He led the pack,” forward Caron Butler said. “We just followed him. That shot at the end was just big. It was gutsy.”

Said Tomjanovich: “To have that in your memory, in your confidence bank, is just invaluable.”

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Bryant’s severely sprained right ankle will be reevaluated today, and a definitive timetable for his return will be established. He is out until at least Jan. 26. ... The biggest difference without Bryant? “Less double teams,” Butler said. “The [Warrior] defense was kind of a little more honest, playing man to man.” ... The Lakers have now won two consecutive games eight times but have yet to win three consecutive games.