Short-term problems are issues of old

Have you noticed how nothing works anymore in Lakerdom?

The Lakers celebrated playing two weeks without Andrew Bynum on Sunday -- I know, it seems longer -- losing their fourth game in the last five.

The game was actually halted because of rain, which Staples Center officials explained wasn’t really from leaks, although there were other leaks in other spots.

And when you come right down to it, the weather here has been awful the last two weeks too.

Andrew Bynum . . . one minute he’s some clueless kid they should trade for Jason Kidd, the next life around here is unendurable without him.

Then there’s the Lakers’ upcoming nine-game trip that seemed to loom so ominously after Sunday’s 98-95 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers that Coach Phil Jackson laughed at a question about what lay ahead.

“Doom,” said Jackson, grinning. “It’s just doom from here on out.”

Actually, if you remember back as far as October when the Lakers really did seem doomed, their prospects are wondrous -- on Sunday Kobe Bryant went so far as to call Bynum “the player I prayed for” -- in the long term.

If only they can get through the short term.

“The Lakers, when they get Bynum back, to me, I think they can come out of the West,” said ABC commentator Jeff Van Gundy before the game.

“But they may drop out [of the playoffs] in Bynum’s absence.”

Without Bynum, the Lakers have returned to those thrilling days of yesteryear when everything revolved around the tandem of Bryant and Lamar Odom . . . which didn’t work.

Odom could never score enough.

Bryant always shot too much or not enough.

They missed the playoffs once and lost in the first round twice with memorable moments such as Odom explaining he wasn’t that kind of player . . . Lamar occasionally conceding that if it was so important, he’d go out and score 20 . . . Lamar actually going out and scoring 20 . . . before going back to being Lamar.

One definition of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result, or welcome to the last six games.

Odom has indeed done a lot of other things, averaging 11 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

Nevertheless, he’s still Lamar, averaging 11.5 points, which is actually less than the 13.5 he averaged as the No. 3 option behind Bryant and Bynum.

So, the Lakers now are left with a No. 1 option and a No. 3.

There’s a word for this: dysfunctional.

If this were all the Lakers had, Bryant would in all probability have been out of here after this season, but along came Bynum.

“He developed into the player that I prayed about having on my team for years,” said Bryant after the game, in his most lyrical praise of Bynum yet.

“You know one, he was going to get you at least 10 rebounds, he was going to get you about three blocks and he was going to get you 20 points.

“And the second thing, it was much harder for teams to match up. Teams couldn’t double me as easily, and if they did, I could throw it over the top and he could complete at the basket [score].

“That being said, he’s not out for the season, so it’s important for these guys not to get discouraged. Just continue to play and understand, we’re going to continue to struggle a little bit, but the important thing is not to get down, to continue to play hard and then when we get those guys back, get ready for the playoffs.”

If you haven’t noticed, this is no longer the fire-breathing, management-scorching, get-me-out-of-here Bryant of last spring.

Nor is it the detached this-can’t-last Kobe of fall.

This is a new, what-me-worry, who-cares-what-I-said, let’s-go win-more-titles Bryant, whom no one ever expected to see again in Lakerdom.

This Bryant is so constructive that the last thing on his mind was shooting it out with Cleveland’s LeBron James.

Bryant played an almost perfect first half (six for six from the field, 17 points, seven rebounds, five assists) . . . and the Lakers were still nine points behind.

So he went out and started firing, taking 15 shots in the second half, making four.

They weren’t all good ones, but this is Bryant taking personal responsibility for the outcome. This is the way he plays when he cares.

The Lakers’ loss Sunday was their fifth in a row to the Cavaliers over three seasons, but Bryant wasn’t even taking that personally.

“We weren’t the best team in the league a couple years ago,” he said, smiling.

Then there’s that trip that is going to be such a killer . . . or not.

“Everybody’s talking about this road trip like we’re going to drop like nine straight,” Bryant said. “It’s ridiculous, you know what I mean? Like it’s Murderers’ Row. I’m not too concerned.”

Keep that sense of humor. You’ll need it.

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mark.heisler@latimes.com