Lakers and Clippers are seeing spots

It was a funny thing for Kobe Bryant to do, a superstition demonstrated at a Lakers practice on a quiet Saturday afternoon.

When asked a few days ago about the Lakers’ soft schedule the rest of the regular season, he knocked on wood.

Literally bent down and rapped the hardwood court with a slight smile on his face.

Indeed, the Lakers were fortunate to play 16 of their first 20 games at Staples Center, then unfortunate to hit the road for the better part of two months, but now, lucky for them, their opponents the rest of the way have had mostly aimless seasons.

In other words, the Lakers are looking better than the Denver Nuggets for sixth place in the Western Conference. Make that significantly better.

With 15 games left, the Lakers (35-32) have almost no chance of catching Houston (42-25) for fifth in the West, so their main objective will be increasing the half-a-game lead they hold over Denver (33-31).

Barring an utter collapse, their chances appear good, even if Bryant didn’t knock on hardwood.

The Lakers play only five games against teams with winning records, while the Nuggets play 10 games against teams with winning records. Not to mention, the Nuggets play 13 of their final 18 games on the road. The Lakers play eight of their last 15 at home.

(Further back is a pack of sub-.500 teams -- Golden State, the Clippers, New Orleans, Sacramento and Minnesota -- all of which are 3 1/2 to six games behind the Lakers and not considered immediate threats in the standings.)

For now, the Lakers have four consecutive games against losing teams, starting with a back-to-back situation Thursday in Memphis, Tenn., and Friday in New Orleans.

“Those games for them, it’s going to be a playoff atmosphere,” Bryant said. “For us it’s going to be a big challenge to step up and see if we can meet that energy.”

Especially since the Lakers are 1-1 against Memphis and 0-2 against New Orleans, teams that are a combined 47-87.

Not exactly the stuff of champions, or even sixth-place teams in the West, although it could be only a matter of time before the Lakers are no longer so short-handed.

Vladimir Radmanovic (separated shoulder) said Sunday he was two to four weeks from returning and Brian Cook (sprained ankle) said he hoped to play Thursday.

Unless someone else gets hurt, that would leave Chris Mihm (ankle surgery) as the only player still sidelined by an injury, with his return this season a “very, very small possibility,” Coach Phil Jackson said last week.

Bryant, meanwhile, has picked up the scoring slack, becoming the first Laker with consecutive 50-point games since Elgin Baylor did it three times in a row in December 1962. The return of Luke Walton and Lamar Odom has also enhanced the team’s ball movement, with both coming close to triple-doubles Sunday against Minnesota.

“Obviously, it helps tremendously to have guys back that are healthy who understand the system, who have played together for a few years,” Bryant said. “That makes all the difference.”

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

The follow-up question

--

A list of Kobe Bryant’s 50-point games and how many points he scored in his next contest. (* playoff game)

*--* DATE PTS OPPONENT NEXT GAME PTS March 18, 2007 50 Minnesota at Memphis, four nights -- later March 16, 2007 65 Portland (OT) Minnesota, two nights later 50 Dec. 29, 2006 58 at Charlotte Philadelphia, two nights 35 (3 OT) later Dec. 15, 2006 53 Houston (2 OT) Washington, two nights 45 later (OT) Nov. 30, 2006 52 Utah Clippers, two nights later 29 May 4, 2006 50 Phoenix (OT)* at Phoenix, two nights 24 later April 14, 2006 50 Portland Phoenix, two nights later 43 April 7, 2006 51 at Phoenix Clippers, two nights later 38 Jan. 22, 2006 81 Toronto Golden State, five nights 30 later Jan. 19, 2006 51 at Sacramento at Phoenix, the next night 37 (OT) Jan. 7, 2006 50 Clippers Indiana, two nights later 45 Dec. 20, 2005 62 Dallas at Orlando, three nights 21 later March 28, 2003 55 Washington at Seattle, two nights 14 later Feb. 18, 2003 52 Houston (2 OT) at Utah, the next night 40 Feb. 12, 2003 51 at Denver San Antonio, two nights 44 later Jan. 14, 2002 56 Memphis Miami, two nights later 29 Dec. 6, 2000 51 at Golden Seattle, two nights later 19 State (OT)

Average 55.2 33.9

*--*

Source: The Associated Press