Lakers are out of step in win

The Lakers picked up another victory, along with a subtle reminder of how quickly things could change.

The 101-87 win over the Indiana Pacers was less of a story than the sprained right ankle suffered by Kobe Bryant in the third quarter Monday at Staples Center.

It didn’t appear to be serious -- Bryant returned to the bench a few minutes after walking to the locker room under his own power -- but it was enough to send some minds into what-if territory, especially after the Lakers lost a chunk of the 19-point lead they held when Bryant left them.

Coach Phil Jackson described the injury as a moderate sprain and said Bryant was day to day. A team spokesman said X-rays were negative.

Bryant had been playing some of his best basketball since returning from off-season knee surgery. He had 52 points against Utah last Thursday, 29 against the Clippers and 21 Monday before he came down on the foot of Indiana center Jeff Foster with 9:49 left in the third quarter. The Lakers led, 65-46, at the time.

The injury initially looked serious, Bryant getting to the bench only after throwing an arm around Ronny Turiaf and athletic trainer Gary Vitti. Bryant stayed there for a minute before going to the locker room without further help.

He returned to the bench and draped a towel over his shoulders with 7:46 left in the third quarter. He never reentered the game, although he didn’t seem to be in too much pain, standing and cheering after a Vladimir Radmanovic dunk late in the third quarter. He also joined team huddles during timeouts.

“It should be a lot worse, the way I came down on it,” Bryant said. “I’m happy the way I feel right now. [But] it’s always the next day. I’m in for a painful, long night.”

The Lakers led by as many as 23 in the second quarter, a deficit that was more than halved by the Pacers early in the fourth quarter, a 15-footer by Sarunas Jasikevicius cutting the lead to 85-75 with 9:21 to play.

But the Pacers went almost five minutes before scoring again, too long to salvage a victory, even with Bryant watching from the sideline. The Pacers made one last challenge, pulling to within 90-83 on Jermaine O’Neal’s baseline jump shot with 3:11 to play.

Then Kwame Brown answered with a layup, and then a dunk, and then another dunk, and the Lakers had taken another victory, Bryant or no Bryant.

The Lakers are now 12-5 overall, 10-2 at home and winners of eight consecutive home games against the Pacers.

Brown had 17 points on eight-for-12 shooting. Lamar Odom had 15 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out with 1:46 to play.

“It looked ugly in the beginning,” Brown said. “Our offense was a little stagnant. There was a little bit of worry. Actually [Bryant] was thinking about coming back in.”

The Lakers’ defense, 18th in the league in points given up before the game, made sure that wouldn’t be necessary, holding the Pacers to 43.3% shooting. O’Neal had 18 points and was the only Pacers starter to hit double-figure scoring.

“We were fortunate not to have to use him tonight,” Jackson said of Bryant. “I think we could have used him right away when he came back to the court before he sat.”

“I was just coming out really, just focusing on playing defense,” Brown said. “Guys were kind of looking for somebody else to take over. Coach was like, ‘Get it in the post.’ ”

The Lakers have three more home games -- New Orleans, Atlanta and San Antonio -- before hitting the road for eight of their next 10, a subject Jackson had yet to bring up to the team.

“It’s still too many games away,” he said. “These guys are pretty much OK with the next moment or the next game, but don’t get too far down the road.”

Even Jackson wasn’t sure how to weigh the home-heavy part of the schedule.

“Ask me at the end of February,” he said.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com