Injury to Odom dulls Lakers’ win

It took the Lakers 43 days to finally venture more than one time zone from home, but they scraped past the Houston Rockets.

Then they talked about a loss.

Forward Lamar Odom left the game early in the first quarter after sustaining a moderately sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee, an injury that captured the Lakers’ thoughts after a 102-94 victory Tuesday at Toyota Center.

Odom, off to a solid start with averages of 18.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists before Tuesday, will be re-evaluated today in Los Angeles. A timetable for his return has not been established.

“He’s going to miss some time,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “I would say we’d be really happy if he’s playing again in January. That would be probably our best case. He felt it was pretty loose when he came off the court.”

Odom came down awkwardly after an off-balance drive down the lane with 10:01 left in the first quarter. His right knee appeared to jam when he landed and he reached for it immediately. He stayed in the game until a timeout with 8:31 left in the quarter and, after a brief trip to the locker room, was taken to a local hospital for an MRI exam.

He returned from the hospital after the game, had a large black brace put on his knee and limped out of the trainer’s room.

His postgame demeanor was obviously different from that of before the game, when he was poking fun at assistant coach Brian Shaw’s heavily wrinkled workout shirt.

“I don’t know exactly when it happened, on my way up or on my way down, but I guess I just twisted it up, sprained my MCL pretty good,” said Odom, who did not know when he would return but tried his best to sound optimistic. “I have no idea. Maybe a week or two. Hopefully that’s it. I’ve never had a problem with my knees.

“I know something wasn’t right, though.”

Kobe Bryant, who had 23 points, feared the worst after hearing Odom went to the hospital because of a ligament injury.

“I was very concerned when he left,” Bryant said. “Now that I hear the news, I’m glad that it’s not a season-ending type of situation for him.”

Brian Cook and Vladimir Radmanovic picked up most of Odom’s minutes, Cook scoring eight points and Radmanovic scoring 10.

Jackson declined to reveal who would start in Odom’s place tonight against Dallas.

As for Tuesday’s game, Bryant expected to sit out the rest of the fourth quarter when he checked out with 6:56 to play and the Lakers ahead, 94-73.

Then the Rockets’ reserves melted the Lakers’ lead with a 19-0 run, and the Lakers’ starters checked back into the game in a hurry.

The Rockets stalled by missing four of six free throws in the final 2:01. Kwame Brown had a key tip-in off a Bryant miss and Smush Parker made a shot with 26.5 seconds left to put the game out of reach.

“The bench has to be more solid out there to finish a ballgame out, especially when you have back-to-back games, so that our starters can get the rest,” Jackson said. “The momentum was there, but we were lucky to escape simply because they missed some free throws and we got a couple breaks.”

Like they did Sunday against San Antonio, the Lakers (15-6) owned the third quarter, turning a three-point halftime edge into an apparent one-way breeze by outscoring the Rockets, 30-13.

That the victory came, finally, against a Rockets squad that had been 8-1 at home was somewhat muted by the fact Tracy McGrady sat out because of back spasms. But after a home-heavy start to the season, the Lakers’ first step in a stretch of 22 of 32 games on the road was a relative success.

“That was the weirdest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Bryant, who had eight rebounds and seven assists. “First time I’ve had to put the ice on and take the ice off. Interesting evening.

“That’s like Red [Auerbach] lighting up the cigar then having it doused.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

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KEYS TO THE GAME

* The Lakers had another scintillating third quarter, taking a 20-point lead into the fourth after winning the third, 30-13.

* Luke Walton played well in the absence of Lamar Odom, collecting 18 points, seven assists and five rebounds.

* The Lakers fended off a late Rockets surge by scoring eight of the final 10 points.

--MIKE BRESNAHAN