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Lakers brace for tough road ahead

Submitted by SHNS on Fri, 03/14/2008 - 16:42

NEW ORLEANS -- The task is tall, the challenge stiff. And the Los Angeles Lakers must deal with it, no matter how difficult. They are about to embark on a journey through the competitive Western Conference, playing four teams that all have won at least 40 games, teams that are breathing down the Lakers' neck, teams that are looking to knock them off their lofty perch. It starts Friday night here against the New Orleans Hornets (43-20), who are just a game-and-a-half behind the Lakers (45-19). It winds through Houston on Sunday. The Rockets (44-20) have won 20 consecutive games heading into Friday night, making them the third team in NBA history to accomplish that feat and tying them for the second longest winning streak in NBA history. Then it's on to Dallas on Tuesday. The Mavericks (42-23) are just 3-1/2 games behind the Lakers and are 28-4 at home. The journey ends Thursday against the Utah Jazz. The Jazz (43-23) is three games behind the Lakers and is 28-3 at home. "It's a nice little measuring stick before the playoffs to see how we hold up against the top teams on the road," forward Luke Walton said. "You can go from anywhere from first place on this road trip to dropping all the way to fifth or sixth. You can't have that." The Lakers have been very good in road games, posting a 22-11 record. They went 7-2 on an arduous 16-day trip in February. That, the Lakers maintain, will help them now. "It's very challenging and it'll let us know where we stand and where we're going to be positioned," Pau Gasol said. "They are not the last four games of the year, but I think it'll be significant. "If we have a very successful road trip, it'll say a lot and it'll make a statement to the rest of the teams. And if we don't, we don't want to think about it. It'll also be a message. We're excited about the opportunity that we have to go to these four places and prove ourselves." The Lakers aren't as healthy as they'd like to be. Kobe Bryant still has a torn ligament in his right pinkie that's an issue when he gets hit on the hand as he was against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, making his hand "throb for like five minutes." Bryant will push on and insist that his teammates maintain their focus, especially since they are playing four teams with a cumulative record of 172-86, a 66.7 percent winning percentage. "Normally when we go on the road, we're a pretty focused bunch,"(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)