Trail Blazers Are Just What Lakers Ordered

What ails the Lakers? Nothing the Portland Trail Blazers couldn’t fix.

The lowest-scoring team in the league continued to come to the aid of defenses in need of a boost, the Lakers eagerly scooping up opportunity with a 99-82 victory Tuesday at Staples Center.

The Lakers, broken and bent before the All-Star break, were lively and fresh against the Trail Blazers and moved two games ahead of Utah for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

Lamar Odom had one of his best all-around games of the season -- 20 points, a season-high 17 rebounds, six assists and only one turnover -- and Kobe Bryant added 27 points on 11-for-19 shooting.

Solid defense? A determined Odom? A 15-point effort from Bryant in the fourth quarter?

“That’s a pretty good formula,” Bryant said. “That’s a pretty good equation, actually, when other guys are contributing, Lamar’s doing his thing for the first three quarters, then the fourth quarter I step in and do what I do.”

Odom, who is only about 80% recovered from a rib injury sustained three weeks ago, looked fluid and fearless after being matched up against former Clipper teammate Darius Miles.

“When he’s playing like that, he’s being aggressive, taking the open jumper and doing a good job moving the ball, we’re a very, very dangerous team,” Bryant said. “I’ll have more room to operate when guys are knocking down shots, particularly when I penetrate and they collapse and I pitch out. You knock a couple of those shots down, then all of a sudden, that lane gets a little bit bigger.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson, unimpressed by the Lakers’ recent woes at home, moved Tuesday morning’s shoot-around to Staples Center instead of the cozier, closer confines of the team training facility in El Segundo, a decision that forced most of the players out of bed an hour earlier.

Apparently, it was worth it, as the Lakers improved to 14-10 in home games.

Beyond Odom and Bryant, the Lakers did it with defense, a sore spot through their first 52 games.

The Lakers were giving up 97.2 points a game before Tuesday, putting them 16th in the league, and were tied for 13th in opponents’ field-goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot 44.7%.

On Tuesday, the Trail Blazers, averaging a league-low 88.7 points, were slowed even further, making only 32 of 82 shots (39%).

“I think that’s really where the change of this team has to be made,” Jackson said, weighing the Lakers’ chances of improving down the stretch. “We’ve given a lot of 100-point games up recently. We’ve got to get back to the defensive end and think about that.”

The Lakers, who had surrendered 100 or more points in 11 of their previous 14 games, were especially effective in the third quarter, holding the Trail Blazers to 15 points on seven-for-23 shooting.

“Time off is always important for your mind and your body to keep your spirit,” Odom said. “Defense when we needed it, is important.”

Bryant blocked Zach Randolph’s shot with 9:09 left in the quarter, flying across the lane from the weak side to knock the ball out of bounds, and the Lakers even recovered when they were caught off guard. Ruben Patterson tip-toed behind Devean George for a length-of-court pass in the final seconds of the quarter, but George got back in time to block Patterson’s dunk attempt.

Patterson protested and was hit with a technical foul. The Lakers, unperturbed, led after three quarters, 67-55.

(Patterson, the self-proclaimed “Kobe Stopper” from years past, had a rough night all around, getting booed when he entered the game and finishing with seven points on three-for-10 shooting.)

The Blazers were further weakened when Randolph, their leading scorer, left in the third quarter after being elbowed in the mouth and sustaining a possible fractured tooth. Randolph had seven points on three-for-12 shooting.

But the Lakers will take it, moving a game over .500 always being preferable to the alternative.