Lakers Get It in Gear

It was like old times at Staples Center, a throwback to four, five, six years ago, when victories were plentiful and all -- well, most -- was well in the Lakers’ sphere of influence.

They took it to the Detroit Pistons on Saturday, beating back the league’s top team with a surprising but well-earned 105-94 victory that filled the Laker stretch drive with new life and reminded Laker followers that the past wasn’t all that long ago.

The Lakers were game enough, refusing to be pulled back to .500 for a 10th time this season, and extended their hold on eighth place in the Western Conference to two games over Utah and Sacramento with 22 left in their regular season.

On a wider scope, they took a game against the Pistons for the first time since Game 2 of the 2004 NBA Finals -- the Pistons had won the last six meetings -- and ended an 0-14 skid against Detroit, Phoenix and San Antonio since the Shaquille O’Neal trade. They play the Spurs on Monday and Friday.

An 18-0 Laker run provided an 86-78 cushion early in the fourth quarter, and the Pistons, owners of the league’s best record, never led again.

Bryant had 40 points on 13-for-26 shooting, and Lamar Odom had 24 points and 10 assists. Kwame Brown out-rebounded Ben Wallace, 12-5.

“We played about as well as we’d played all season,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said, simply and accurately.

Bryant, still fighting a sinus infection, was healthy at both ends of the court, doing his usual duty on offense and shutting down Chauncey Billups in the second half.

Odom took the ball to the basket with abandon. Brown was a factor on defense. Chris Mihm had 12 points and Brian Cook had 10.

“The timing’s perfect,” Odom said.

The first quarter couldn’t have been better for the Lakers if they had scripted it.

Bryant had been fighting his sinus problems with medication strong enough to “put me in the BALCO investigation,” he joked, but he had 15 points to go with Odom’s nine as the Lakers led, 32-29, making 14 of 21 shots against one of the league’s most notorious defenses.

Bryant was slowed in the second quarter, scoring only two points and picking up his third foul, and Odom slipped too, totaling three points and two assists. The Pistons, meanwhile, were apparently just warming up, Rasheed Wallace and Billups combining for 35 points and making seven of nine from three-point range in building a 58-51 halftime lead.

But Billups, who engaged in continual banter with two courtside fans in the first half, wasn’t nearly as effective in the second half. Neither was Wallace. Billups finished with 24 points and Wallace had 17, their combined second-half effort only six points.

“When you play team defense,” Odom said, “you give yourself a chance to beat anybody, really.”

The Lakers, for their part, countered with a flurry at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth.

They trailed, 78-68, on Carlos Delfino’s three-point shot with 3:07 left in the third but took an 80-78 lead by the end of it, as Smush Parker drove around Delfino to deliver a dunk, and Odom scored seven points in the final minute, including a three-pointer with 2.2 seconds left in the quarter.

The Lakers extended their lead until Rasheed Wallace’s 11-footer from the baseline ended the Pistons’ drought and brought them within 86-80 with 8:50 to play. The Pistons had gone 6:17 without scoring.

Both teams were playing back-to-back games, the Lakers after a victory at Golden State, the Pistons after a victory in Seattle.

“We had really quite a spell there,” Jackson said. “We would like to take all the credit for it, but they had a back-to back game like we did, and you could see it wore on them. As the game went on, their legs got tired and they weren’t hitting the same shots they were hitting early in the ball game.”

Through the losses to Atlanta, Boston and Portland in recent weeks, Jackson acknowledged not knowing the Lakers had it entirely in them to win against the Pistons.

“I didn’t have the faith ... although I did say I had the suspicion that we’d be able to win this game tonight,” he said. “But I thought they played above that expectation, even.”

The loss also meant the Pistons won’t be eclipsing the NBA-record 72-10 mark the Chicago Bulls compiled in 1995-96.

“I thought about that,” Jackson said, smiling slightly. “I did think about that as I walked back in the hallway.”

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First-rate

Kobe Bryant scored 40 points Saturday night against Detroit, the 15th time he has scored more than 40 points this season. Bryant ranks first in the NBA in the following categories (through Friday):

*--* Rank Category No. 1st Points per game 35.1 1st Field goals made 676 1st Free throws made 517 1st Field-goal attempts 1,518 1st Points 1,998

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