Lakers find right trail mix

OAKLAND -- The comeback was much smaller, but the reward so much larger.

The Lakers found themselves in an all-too-familiar position, flailing on defense and trailing the Golden State Warriors by double figures in the third quarter, but they managed to win this time, a scintillating 123-119 overtime victory Monday night at Oracle Arena.

Sasha Vujacic made a key three-pointer, Lamar Odom continued to put up video-game numbers (23 points, 21 rebounds), and the Lakers (49-22) regained a half-game lead over New Orleans at the top of the Western Conference standings, after a typically frenetic game against the Warriors.

And, imagine this, the play of the game came when the Lakers were on defense, Derek Fisher drawing a foul after Monta Ellis bulldozed him on an inbounds play with four seconds left in overtime.

The Lakers led by two at the time, Kobe Bryant made a pair of free throws, and the Lakers escaped unscathed.

Well, relatively speaking.

Fisher’s left knee was sore from the Ellis foul, Ronny Turiaf sprained an ankle in the first quarter, and Bryant had a large gash under his left eye, courtesy of a Baron Davis drive in the fourth quarter.

“It’s a huge win, especially for us,” Bryant said. “You have to remember we’re still not playing with two starters [Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum] and two other key members of our ballclub [Trevor Ariza and Chris Mihm]. We’re severely undermanned and we’re still playing really well.”

The pregame scribble on the whiteboard encouraged the Lakers to communicate on pick-and-roll defense, watch out for weak-side cutters and hang on to the ball

And, oh yeah, one last thing: “Have fun.”

They certainly had a better time than in their 115-111 loss Sunday to the Warriors, when a comeback from a 26-point deficit fell just shy after two late 26-foot three-pointers by Stephen Jackson.

Jackson tore at them again, finishing with 29 points, but the Lakers had an answer this time. Several, actually.

The Lakers trailed, 117-113, until Fisher made a three-pointer with 1:26 left in overtime and Vujacic had a three-pointer with 43.7 seconds left, providing a 119-117 lead.

Odom’s layup gave the Lakers a 121-119 lead with 9.1 seconds left in overtime. Then came Fisher’s play.

“I didn’t try to set it up to get an offensive foul,” Fisher said. “I thought it was going to be a no-call. When the whistle blew, it caught me off-guard as well.”

The Lakers, who haven’t lost a season series to the Warriors since 1994-95, earned a 2-2 split this season against a team that might be their first-round playoff opponent.

Coach Phil Jackson looked toward a more healthy future.

“Lord willing, we’ll have some guys back for the playoffs and we’ll have the kind of matchups that give us the capability of playing whatever we want to play, whether it’s small teams with speed or large teams with power,” he said.

Bryant began the fourth quarter with 16 points on seven-for-20 shooting. He finished with 30 points and the gash under his left eye courtesy of Davis’ elbow as the Warriors guard drove to the basket with 4:45 left in the fourth quarter.

Bryant stayed down on the court for about a minute, walked woozily to the bench and was worked on by trainer Gary Vitti, kind of like a cut man works on a boxer. After the game, Bryant received five stitches to close the wound.

The Lakers almost gave the game away, allowing the Warriors to come back from a 110-101 deficit in the last 2 1/2 minutes of regulation.

Odom made only one of two free throws with 9.9 seconds left in the fourth quarter, giving the Lakers a tenuous 111-109 lead.

Sure enough, Davis hit two free throws after being fouled by Bryant with 3.6 seconds left in regulation.

Fisher’s running 17-footer hit the rim and bounced away as time expired in the fourth quarter. On to overtime, with the score tied at 111.

Fisher saved his more effective play for the last few seconds of overtime.

Odom, for his part, became the first Laker with 20 or more rebounds in consecutive games since Vlade Divac in February 1995. Odom had 22 rebounds in the Lakers’ loss Sunday to the Warriors.

The Lakers can now look forward to Charlotte (25-44) on Wednesday and Memphis (18-52) on Friday.

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com