Lakers' problem is finding a true problem worth fixing

Into each life, some rain must fall. Longfellow first said that, though you easily could get confused and credit it simply to a long fellow -- Pau Gasol? Andrew Bynum? Some other lanky lad in purple and gold?-- after the hard times that have befallen the Los Angeles Lakers these days.

Consider their travails Wednesday night in Milwaukee: The Lakers had precious time ripped from their lives that they'll never get back after Kobe Bryant needed not one but two shots attempts from basically the same spot to beat the Bucks in overtime. What Bryant did at the buzzer for a 107-106 victory, nailing a dramatic game-winner at Bradley Center from near the left elbow, he could have done when the score was tied at 95-95 and he got the same look at the end of regulation.

"I told him, 'Why did you keep us waiting?' through the whole [overtime],'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said, tongue in cheek, after the latest in a series of Bryant heroics and charmed-life moments for his team. "'You had the same situation. I mean, really. You wasted a half hour of our lives.' ''

Things are tough all over for the Lakers, what with the set of splints Bryant has been swapping out on his right index finger (one plastic, one metal), Gasol's recent discontent with his touches, Ron Artest's continued prattling about Tiger Woods, God and Twitter, and a stern schedulemaker who has sent them on the road for (gasp!) seven games already compared to, y'know, the 17 they have had at home. Oh, and someone said the lobster on a recent team charter flight was a little rubbery.

This, at least, is what passes for tough for L.A., which seems to be right where it wants and needs to be -- waking up Thursday tied with Boston for the league's best record (20-4) -- in its defense of the NBA championship. Now the Lakers have four months to kill, navigating across still waters with a cool breeze and nary a cloud in sight. As cool as George Clooney sailing Lake Como. How great is that?

The fracture in Bryant's finger clearly isn't thwarting his results; he scored 20 in the first 10 minutes at Chicago Tuesday, on his way to a season-best 42, before getting 39 at Milwaukee. Gasol had 26 points and 22 rebounds against the Bucks, giving him 78 over the past four games. Artest has been more comic relief than serious distraction. Jackson has enough twinkle in his eye and spring in his step to keep the will-he-be-back? speculation at bay. The starting lineup is arguably the NBA's best, and the bench -- notably Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar and feisty Shannon Brown -- has carried the club at times.

Other than injuries -- which can rock any team at any time -- it's difficult to see any problems standing between the Lakers, the Western Conference playoffs and maybe even a third straight trip to the Finals. Which then becomes the problem: Can they maintain it? How much will they be tested, if the West rabbits fall off their pace? Where will the challenges come from, and don't they need those to maximize their potential?

"The challenge is to play at a high level every night,'' Odom said. "We have people who won't accept anything else. Our coach. The leaders of our team -- Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant. We push each other every day. We have a chance to get back to a championship level, and because we've won before, we know what it takes to get back there again.''

Still, that's a little nebulous. When a team can play poorly by its standards, and still beat NBA opponents at their best, a false sense of security can creep in. An unpreparedness for the real tests.

"We look at the whole picture,'' Gasol said. "Obviously we see Boston. Orlando has a good record too. Atlanta. We try to look at those teams too, not only in our conference.''

There's always the road to help. After the early home-tilt of their schedule, the Lakers are in the midst of a five-game trip (they're 2-1) and a stretch that has them playing 11 games in 19 days with five sets of back-to-backs. Rockets coach Rick Adelman might scream bloody murder over that, but the Lakers mostly have shrugged.

"This is where you prove yourself,'' Odom said. "We got off to a good start at home, now we go on the road. We think we can hold our own. It should be fun.''

It helps having a coach who kept one previous championship team focused enough to win 72 regular-season games. Jackson, whose 1995-96 Bulls club did that, seems intrigued by the changes, sometimes slight, sometimes big, in a team from one season to the next. "This year's challenge is entirely different from last year,'' he said in Milwaukee. "Now it's kind of a veteran group we have out there, along with Andrew Bynum. It's a whole different kind of feel about our team. Our team is slower, it's much more pedantic and it's an interesting transformation. I think that's what keeps me coming back, is just to watch that happen for a team.''

Then again, the Lakers have had a level of stability that's rare in the NBA. This year's preseason roster featured 12 members of the title team from June. And it was the fourth consecutive year that the team brought back at least 11 guys from the season before. Surgically selected players might come and go, but the core has held.

"That's the most important thing in sports,'' Odom said. "It builds chemistry. Your team's personality. The style you play. That's important. We have a mature team. We do things together. Go to the movies, eat. We have a good time, enjoy each other.''

Helps fend off the off-court distractions too, Odom said. "We're professionals, and we pride ourselves at that. Making the right decisions on and off the court. Holding each other accountable. Phil lets us police each other. We don't have any communication problems. If somebody's doing something they're not supposed to do, somebody will come to them.''

In the mantime, the Lakers will nitpick their victories, focusing on stuff like a 51-37 rebounding shortfall in Chicago. Or needing 53 minutes instead of 48 in Milwaukee.

"We understand that when we don't play together, when we don't bring 100 percent effort, we're going to have tough nights,'' Gasol said. "We might win at the end of the night anyways, because of the quality of the players. But that doesn't mean we did the very best that we could.''

There are way worse problems to have, but for these guys, that qualifies.

Steve Aschburner has written about the NBA for 25 years. You can e-mail him here.

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