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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Pau Gasol left his exit meeting with general manager Mitch Kupchak on Tuesday with an increased sense that he may have played his last game with the Lakers.

“The future is uncertain,” Gasol said. “There’s no doubt about it. It’s a possibility that I could be gone and there’s a possibility that I could stay. I don’t know the exact percentages of it. But I’m prepared for either way.

“I understand the challenges that the franchise is facing, the decisions that they have to make in order to keep the team in the direction that they want to -- looking at the present and the future and also understanding the business side of it. So, it’s a lot going on. I wish things were a little simpler, but they’re not. So we’ll see.”

If the Lakers keep next season's payroll at about $100 million, as it was in 2012-13, the team would owe about $85 million in additional luxury-tax penalties because of the more punitive stipulations in the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.

Could Gasol and the rest of the Lakers' major pieces all be back next season? Kupchak said that possibility is “in play.”

“We haven’t ruled anything out as of now,” he said.

Yet Kupchak used similar language to admit that the opposite is also a possibility: "When you lose, everybody is in play ... whether it's Pau or anybody else, we'll look for ways to improve the team."

Gasol's contract has one year remaining at $19.3 million. From a financial perspective, the assumption was that the Lakers would try to trade his expiring deal or opt to use their one-time amnesty provision on the 12-year veteran.

“(Kupchak) couldn’t really tell me, ‘Hey, thanks for everything you’ve done, it’s more likely you’re going to be gone,’ or no, ‘Don’t worry about it, you’re going to stay here. We’re going to make it happen,’” Gasol said. “Which is to be expected. I appreciate Mitch’s honesty and everything that he’s done and the franchise has done for the last two years to keep me here and have me on the team.”

The two-year time frame Gasol was referring to started with his nearly being traded and has included a second-round exit from the playoffs last season, coach Mike Brown's being fired early this season, and a first-round sweep at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs last week.

Gasol, who turns 33 in July, said his experience with the Lakers changed significantly after the three-way trade between the Lakers, Houston Rockets and New Orleans Hornets was vetoed by NBA commissioner David Stern on the eve of the first day of training camp for the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season.

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LOS ANGELES -- Last week, before the Lakers' already nightmarish season seemingly veered completely off the tracks with Kobe Bryant's ruptured Achilles tendon, Bryant was still confident that the Lakers wouldn’t just make the playoffs but that they could win a championship.

As he sat in front of his locker following the media scrum he said, “Look at what the Kings did last year. They got into the playoffs as the eight seed and won the Stanley Cup. We’re trying to do the same thing.”

Bryant attended a number of the Los Angeles Kings' playoff games with his daughters during their magical and improbable run to the Stanley Cup last summer and didn’t understand why it couldn’t be duplicated on the basketball court this summer.

“There’s no reason we can’t do it,” Bryant said. “Everything resets in the playoffs.”

Of course, that was before Bryant was lost for the season and we found out that Steve Nash's assortment of injuries weren’t just day-to-day bad but taking-two-epidurals-just-to-practice bad. Nevertheless, Bryant’s stance doesn’t change and neither does the Lakers’ goal heading into the playoffs.

After the Lakers clinched a playoff berth that Bryant promised would happen back when the Lakers were well below .500, he tweeted, “And to think some said we wouldn’t make it.. #keepcalm #believe #playoffs now #makehistory”

He later tweeted, “Playoff promise fulfilled #ontothenext”

It doesn’t make sense that the Lakers will be entering the playoffs, without Bryant and possibly without Nash, as confident as they’ve been all season. But that’s exactly the way the Lakers were feeling after their 99-95 overtime win over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday to clinch the seventh seed and a first round match-up against the San Antonio Spurs which begins on Sunday.

They are finally moving the ball the way Mike D’Antoni envisioned they could. They are finally playing defense with the kind of intensity that Dwight Howard hoped they would. And they are playing inside-out and relying on their bigs as Pau Gasol and Howard have pleaded for since November.

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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Kobe Bryant emerged from the showers late Wednesday night and limped through the nearly empty visitors locker room at the Rose Garden, stopping briefly on his way to the training room to change so he could acknowledge Metta World Peace.

"You always backed me," Bryant said with intense appreciation.

Bryant was winding down from what can only be described as an epic performance by the 17-year veteran -- a season-high 47 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals with only 1 turnover, a statistical line never before recorded in the league, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

And all those stats paled in comparison to Bryant's playing all 48 minutes, each and every second of the game, to help L.A. sweep a back-to-back for the first time in 16 tries this season and beat the Trail Blazers 113-106 in Portland, where the Lakers had lost 12 of their previous 14 games.

But World Peace and the rest of Bryant's teammates might not quite have his back the way he thinks they do.

After 79 games and with the Lakers on the edge of a playoff berth, holding a one-game lead over Utah for the No. 8 spot in the West with only three left to play, Bryant's teammates don't seem to be content to just feed the "All hail Kobe, the living legend" propaganda machine and ride his coattails into the playoffs.

If the season is worth saving at this point after all the trials and tribulations every player and coach in the locker room has gone through, it has to be saved as a team, the right way. If it's going to come down to Bryant playing hero ball from now until when the Lakers' season ends, there's a sense that Bryant's teammates would rather have an early summer if it means acting as the stage crew for Bryant's one-man show.

"It's bittersweet," Pau Gasol said when asked about Bryant's dominating performance against the Blazers, in which he played all 48 minutes in a non-overtime road game for the first time in his career. "Because, I think it's spectacular and it's very impressive and it's remarkable to be able to play 48 minutes and score 47 points. That's incredible. On the other hand, I'm a player that likes to see a little bit more ball movement and better balance. I've always been [like that]. That's just how I perceive this game.

"But again, he was incredible tonight. He scored a tremendous amount of points that I never scored in my life. So, like I said, it was very impressive and it's not something that you do every night, of course."

Gasol was quick to add context to his quotations, making it clear from his tone that this wasn't an issue of jealousy for the attention Bryant would receive for the feat, or a lack of appreciation for the talent Bryant has. And Gasol is certainly aware he might not be a Laker today and definitely would not be a Laker finally getting consistent post touches in Mike D'Antoni's system if it wasn't for Bryant supporting him.

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LOS ANGELES -- In pretty much the definition of a late-developing wrinkle, with it being Game No. 78 of 82 on the Los Angeles Lakers' schedule and all, the team decided to give the oft-injured, trade-speculated, over-the-hill (at least by reputation) Pau Gasol a chance to be the four-time All-Star, two-time champion, pride-of-Spain that he is.

Well, one player on the team decided it, to be specific.

"He just tells me to just run to the post and take it and screw everything else, basically," Gasol said of Kobe Bryant's instructions. "That's not my personality. I like my team and my coaching staff to want me to be there, instead of positioning myself there, but hey. ... It helps that Kobe, who has a lot of control over what happens out there, wants me to be there and sees that it works and is supportive."

The direction paid off with 22 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocks from Gasol in the Lakers' 104-96 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Tuesday, but the numbers aren't nearly as important as the revelation of what an empowered Gasol can mean for the Lakers.

Gasol was on ESPNLA 710 radio in Los Angeles after shootaround Tuesday, and host Mychal Thompson implored Gasol to be selfish and take 15 to 20 shots in the post per game. Gasol replied with the obvious: "That would be a big change from one or two."

The thing is, a Gasol reclamation project over the last four games plus any potential postseason run for L.A. would not only perhaps save Gasol from becoming trade bait in the offseason, but it would help Bryant do away with the lingering stigma that he's an impossible teammate to coexist with, and earn coach Mike D'Antoni some credit for being malleable and finally coming around.

Bryant, who can sniff out a storyline from a mile away and is as masterful as manipulating a narrative as they come, smartly gave shine to D'Antoni for the Gasol resurgence, even if it originally came at his own urging.

"I think Mike just realized what he has in Pau," Bryant said after the game. "During that stretch there, second quarter when I was out of the game, during a timeout he said, 'Guys, we just got to pound the ball inside to Pau. We just got to go to him. Stop trying to do things on the pick-and-roll, just go inside, let him muscle us.'"

For a guy who called the straight post-up play the least efficient play in basketball at his introductory news conference, that statement alone shows how much he has been willing to change his philosophies to match his personnel instead of being stubborn and insisting it be the other way around.

Gasol, for his part, tried it the other way by launching 3-pointers in the early going, limited to being a straight facilitator at other times and even swallowing the demotion to backup center off the bench for a brief while, but now he's smart enough to see this is his last chance to prove that not only is he important in the present, but he can be in the future.

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Lakers' forward Pau Gasol joins Mark Willard and Mychal Thompson on ESPNLA 710 to touch on his aggressiveness, his relationship with Mike D'Antoni, and the trade rumors surrounding him.

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LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant was running on fumes. Pau Gasol had just a few more jumps left in his sore right foot. Antawn Jamison's sprained right wrist was throbbing after another hard fall. Steve Nash was still in street clothes because of a sore hip and hamstrings.

But whatever the Los Angeles Lakers had left was left on the court Friday night in a gutty 86-84 win over the Memphis Grizzlies that kept their playoff hopes alive another night.

"This is the big push for us," a weary Bryant said after logging another 42 minutes Friday. "It's a very tough stretch, but we're excited for it. If you're going into the playoffs, you want to go in playing the best teams.

"There's no point in being all excited to get to the first round to get your [butt] kicked. You want to be going into the playoffs feeling like you're playing well, playing against top competition, so you're ready for a No. 1 seed."

These are the most desperate times of the season for the Lakers. All the turmoil, all the drama, all the intrigue and dysfunction that has landed them in this ugly place -- fighting for their playoff lives with a roster full of future Hall of Famers -- all that is the past.

The last six games of the season ultimately will determine whether they go down as one of the biggest flops in recent history, whether they're just a garden-variety disappointment or, maybe just maybe, there's a little magic in there after all.

And fittingly, with their backs up against the proverbial wall, the Lakers relied on the 1-2 punch that led them to back-to-back NBA titles not so long ago.

Bryant and Gasol combined to score 43 of the Lakers' 86 points Friday. They made the big plays and the small ones. They facilitated for the rest of the team, they organized the offense, but mostly they just led the way.

"You've seen us run it over the years," Bryant said. "It really is unstoppable."

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, with just Bryant and Gasol on the court together (and Dwight Howard off the court) Friday night, the Lakers had a plus/minus rating of plus-46 over 12 minutes. With just Bryant and Gasol on the court this season (and Howard and Nash off the court), the Lakers have a plus-20.4 rating, the highest of any of their two-man combinations.

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Pau Gasol underwent an ultrasound on his right foot Tuesday and results of the test showed continued healing and improvement of the plantar fascia tear that has kept him out of the lineup since being injured Feb. 5, according to a Los Angeles Lakers spokesman.

Gasol will continue to increase his work load and return to the lineup when he is ready and pain free.

The Lakers, who don't return to game action until Friday night at home when they host the Washington Wizards, have gone 13-7 with Gasol out of the lineup.

LOS ANGELES -- Before the question had even fully left the reporter's mouth, Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni sought to shut it down.

"We're not going there," D'Antoni said. "We're not going there. We're not going there. We don't need to go there yet, do we? We can have that uproar later on. OK?"

The uproar he was referring to was the potential backlash that could occur when Pau Gasol returns from the plantar fascia injury in his right foot and D'Antoni chooses to bring the four-time All-Star off the bench.

Gasol graduated from elliptical machine workouts to running on the "AlterG" anti-gravity treadmill with 75 percent of his body weight Thursday. The Lakers' plan is to have Gasol gradually add weight day by day to the point where Gasol is able to do on-court running next week when he accompanies the team on their three-game trip.

Whether Gasol starts or not, D'Antoni said it would be unlikely the Lakers' forward would play during the trip to Orlando, Atlanta and Indiana.

"I don't think so," D'Antoni said. "I don't think that's the plan. Now, if trainers tell me he's ready to go, but I don't think we're there yet."

Gasol was originally estimated to be sidelined 6-8 weeks.

Tuesday marked the fourth week that Gasol has been out since injuring his foot against Brooklyn. The Lakers have gone 8-5 in the 13 games without Gasol, heading into Friday's game against the Raptors.

If Gasol returns on the early end of that timeline, he could be back the week of March 18 at Phoenix or at home against Washington.

D'Antoni says he is already thinking about the prospect of having the two-time champion back at his disposal.

"You think about it every day," D'Antoni said. "That's what coaches do.

"In my mind [there is a plan], but it never works out, so we'll see how that goes. You can't predict anything. When he comes back, obviously he'll be a big part of what we do and getting back to the level that he was at when he got hurt. If he does that, he's going to help a heck of a lot."

D'Antoni told reporters earlier in the season that he believed the team performed better with Gasol backing up Dwight Howard at center than putting the two on the floor together, and Earl Clark has become the regular starter at power forward since Gasol went out.

Gasol is averaging 13.4 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 34.7 minutes per game overall this season. In seven games coming off the bench, Gasol is averaging 13.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 28.7 minutes per game.

Gasol is shooting 53.0 percent from the field coming off the bench, compared to 43.8 percent from the field as a starter this season.

Geez. Again?

It just keeps raining on the Los Angeles Lakers this season. Wednesday's news that Pau Gasol had indeed torn the facia in his right foot and will be out at least four weeks is just the latest cold front to blow through town.

From the jump it seems as if the Lakers have been snakebit. First Steve Blake stepped on a metal grate and punctured his foot right before camp, then Kobe Bryant hurt his foot and missed half the exhibition games, then Steve Nash broke his leg in the second game of the year, then Blake suffered an abdominal injury that kept him out for months.

Heck, the Lakers couldn't even hire a coach who was healthy as Mike D'Antoni was heavily medicated for his first two weeks on the job as he recovered from knee surgery.

By the time Gasol went down because of a hamstring injury, Jordan Hill was lost for the season because of a hip injury, Dwight Howard tore the labrum in his shoulder and Gasol suffered a concussion, Lakers fans had grown weary of injury news.

But the hits just keep on coming. So often, and so much so, that you almost have to laugh to keep from crying.

What makes this latest development so difficult to digest is that it comes at a time when the Lakers had finally started looking like the fearsome, overly-talented team people thought would roll through the league when it was first assembled over the summer. Their 92-83 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday night was one of their best of the season, and marked their sixth win in seven games.

But alas, there was no glow to bask in after the game. Just another ice bath of bad news.

LOS ANGELES – Despite starting 2013 with a loss and a below-500 record, Kobe Bryant still expects the Los Angeles Lakers to make the playoffs and compete for a championship.

“I don’t think there’s a doubt about that,” Bryant told Colin Cowherd Wednesday on ESPN Radio when asked if the Lakers were built for the playoffs. “The problem is we’ve dug ourselves such a deep hole we got to do a lot of fighting just to catch up and get in that conversation. We firmly believe it’s going to happen but we have to do a lot of fighting just to get there.”

The Lakers are currently 9.5 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers in the Pacific Division and are the tenth place team in the Western Conference, 1.5 games behind the Portland Trailblazers for the eighth and final playoff seed. The Lakers can cut into that deficit on Friday night when they play the Clippers at Staples Center.

“It’s very deep, we’re very concerned but we’ve been playing well lately,” Bryant said of his concern for the Lakers right now. “The last eight games we’ve been playing pretty well but the hole we dug ourselves in the start is very deep so every loss now cuts a little deeper than it should. So we have to keep focused on how we’ve been playing lately and just continuing to get better from that.”

The one thing Bryant is not concerned about is possible dysfunction within the team about Pau Gasol’s role, Dwight Howard’s health, Mike D’Antoni’s rotation or anything else. Bryant actually thinks a little confrontation could be good for the team.

“I’ve been on teams where we’ve confronted each with Phil (Jackson) and Shaq (O’Neal) and we had altercations and yelled at each other and then you figure things out,” Bryant said. “I don’t want to be on a type of team where you feel like you’re afraid of confrontation or afraid of a little dysfunction because without having those things you really cannot get on the same page. You just walk around and everybody is comfortable being whatever and whispering about what they should be doing and what they want to be doing instead of having confrontations and ironing things out.”

Listen to full interview here.

LOS ANGELES -- Christmas Day hasn't always been kind to the Los Angeles Lakers. Even as they were winning five championships over the past 14 years, the Lakers were 5-9 on Dec. 25.

Even Kobe Bryant, who always expects to win, had almost come to expect a loss shortly after opening presents with his family.

Things would be different this time around. After doing their fair share of losing before Christmas, the Lakers were ready to turn around their season on Dec. 25 this season. With Steve Nash and Pau Gasol back in the lineup, the Lakers not only beat the New York Knicks 100-94 but also extended their winning streak to five games. The Lakers are now 14-14 and back at .500 for the first time since Mike D'Antoni's first loss as Lakers coach on Nov. 21. They are also just two games behind the No. 6 playoff seed in the Western Conference. In other words, the reports of the Lakers' demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Metta World Peace’s role

Since D'Antoni became the coach of the Lakers, no player has had a more wide-ranging role than Metta World Peace. Whether it's starting, coming off the bench, being a lockdown defender or a spot-up shooter, D'Antoni has tinkered with World Peace's role. Considering some players have completely fallen out of the rotation (i.e., Antawn Jamison), it's actually not the worst thing in the world for him. D'Antoni knows the Lakers need a spark off the bench, and he believes World Peace can be that spark. Against the Knicks, World Peace provided an early spark, scoring 16 points in the second quarter on 4-of-4 shooting, and hitting all three of his attempts from 3-point range. D'Antoni actually went to World Peace quicker than he had anticipated since Darius Morris, who was guarding Carmelo Anthony, was getting destroyed. World Peace was slightly more successful but was just as important on the offensive end, finishing with 20 points and seven rebounds, before he fouled out.

Steve Nash factor

Everyone on the Lakers kept preaching patience while the team struggled and lost games. Players and coaches said that when Nash returned to the lineup, all the pieces to the puzzle would finally fit. He was the quarterback of an offense that had been run without a quarterback. It hasn't taken long to see how much of a difference Nash can make. Nash finished the game with 16 points and 11 assists and was a coach on the floor, constantly talking to Dwight Howard and Gasol about their place on the court and on pick-and-rolls. Everything the Lakers do flows better when Nash is on the court. He not only finds players open and gets them the ball quickly in transition, but his ability to protect the ball also has meant fewer turnovers and fewer transition buckets for the opposition. While Nash might not be the best defender, the fact that the Lakers no longer have to run back on defense as much after a turnover is critical.

Gasol and Howard co-existing

The biggest challenge for D’Antoni is getting Howard and Gasol to co-exist on the court. His offense doesn't naturally lend itself to a pair of 7-footers who like the ball in the post, but he will have to find a way to make it work if the Lakers are to turn around their season and be championship contenders. One of his solutions is playing Howard and Gasol separately during the game, which he did against the Knicks before finishing the game with both players on the court. Howard finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while Gasol finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. Gasol's running dunk at the end of the game not only sealed the win for the Lakers but also may be a turning point for both Gasol and the team. Both Howard and Gasol contend that they can play together and that they are getting more comfortable in their roles. That's a good thing, because the Lakers are simply not as good when one of them is on the bench.

LOS ANGELES – Don’t look to Mike D’Antoni for any answers when it comes to fixing the Los Angeles Lakers.

You can certainly ask him; just don’t expect to get much of a response. Not yet anyway.

Moments after streamers came down onto the court at Staples Center as the Lakers celebrated a 101-100 win over the Charlotte Bobcats -- a game in which they were behind by as many as 18 points in the third quarter -- D’Antoni could only smile as he sat in front of a room full of speechless reporters.

“It’s hard to ask questions, I know,” D’Antoni said. “I feel for you. I don’t know what to answer and I don’t think you guys know what to ask but I think we’ll try.”

That seems to be D’Antoni’s philosophy when it comes to figuring out the Lakers as well. He might not know the answers but he’s certainly trying to find them.

Coaches normally hate lineup and rotation questions. They’ll tell you they aren’t looking to change anything and if they do, well, you’ll be the last to find out.

D’Antoni, on the other hand, nodded his head Tuesday night whenever he was asked about a player changing his role with the team. Whether that’s Metta World Peace coming off the bench, as he did Tuesday, Jodie Meeks becoming the starting shooting guard, Kobe Bryant moving to small forward or Antawn Jamison and Jordan Hill being taken out of the rotation. Everything is seemingly on the table at the moment and few things, if any, are set in stone.

The first domino in what could be a never-ending spiral of lineup changes this season was Devin Ebanks starting at small forward with World Peace coming off the bench and playing power forward. Ebanks wound up playing less than five minutes but the tweak and the return of Pau Gasol earned Jamison and Hill DNP-CDs and a spot at the end of the bench next to Robert Sacre’s dance party.

“I want (World Peace) to play the four,” D’Antoni said. “We have to be able to change our team. I hate it for Jordan Hill right now, because he's the odd man out. He's played well. He's a good player. But for us to have a different team, a different look, Metta has to play the four. If he starts at the three, then once I get him to the four, it's too many minutes for him. He needs rest. So that's a whole process. And I think Metta, going forward, once he gets more comfortable with the four role, will be very productive as a four and our team will be very productive.”

As D’Antoni explained his reasoning, he finally paused before saying, “That's the thought. We'll keep looking at it.”

These are the kind of thoughts and moves a coach would fiddle with in training camp or the preseason or maybe in the first few games of the season. D’Antoni, of course, didn’t have the luxury of doing that so he is doing it now, as the 12-14 Lakers try to work their way above .500 for the first time since they were 6-5, following D’Antoni’s debut with the team last month.

“I'm just trying to figure out the best way to play the team,” D’Antoni said. “We'll keep looking at film, keep revisiting it. We have a couple of practices, and we'll keep looking at different combinations. And there'll be a couple of times during the season, injuries, sicknesses, illnesses, whatever, that we'll give another look to different people. And hopefully they'll be ready. I hope they understand. I tried to talk to them and get them to understand, but . . .”

Everyone won’t understand right now because D’Antoni doesn’t even fully understand at the moment. He’s still trying to figure out what kind of team he has and he’s not the only one with questions. His players are still trying to figure out what kind of coach they have and how they fit into his system.

Even when Steve Nash returns to the lineup, D’Antoni still wasn’t sure how much that would settle things.

“Obviously, I'll have Nash at the point guard, “ D’Antoni said. “But other than that, I've still got the same little problem.”

That “little” problem is figuring out where to play everyone else around Nash. It may seem like a daunting task at the moment but Kobe Bryant, who has had countless conversations with D’Antoni about his rotations and adjustments, thinks the Lakers are closer to figuring it out than it looks.

“I'm probably the one that's enjoying this process the most because it's the most challenging,” Bryant said. “I'm focused; I enjoy being focused about something and digging my heels in and figuring out the puzzle…. It's coming. We're still going to have peaks and valleys, but it's coming.”

The Lakers may be short on wins relative to expectations, but they've certainly not disappointed in the "things to talk about" category. This week has been no exception. Pau Gasol's future in Los Angeles is again being called into question, a future made a little tougher to predict thanks to the knee tendinitis putting him on the shelf for a still unknown stretch of time. Dwight Howard and Kobe Bryant got into it during the first half of Wednesday's win over the Hornets in New Orleans. Is it a sign of an impending starpocalypse?

And, of course, Bryant became only the fifth player in league history to crack 30,000 points over his career. A remarkable achievement.

These are the three big issues on the docket in the newest edition of the Kamenetzky Brothers Lakers PodKast. Click on the module below to hear the show.

Editor's note: Throughout the 2012-13 NBA season we'll be asking our colleagues at The Heat Index to weigh in on the progress of the Lakers' newly minted super group. This week, Michael Wallace discusses the value of key players coming off the bench for championship teams.

MIAMI – When sizing up the Los Angeles Lakers for a potential NBA Finals showdown, few teams in the league are as equipped with tape measures as the Heat.

Miami's two key offseason acquisitions bring a combined three seasons of experience from facing Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Co. in the NBA Finals. Now, Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis see a far more potentially dangerous Lakers team developing in Los Angeles, with the additions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, than any of the previous squads each of their teams met from 2008 to 2010.

“They've got a lot of great players over there, Hall of Fame players,” Lewis said. “But we feel like we can match up with not just one particular team, but anybody in the league. We've got guys who can play multiple ways, and a team that can play multiple styles, regardless of opponent.”

The Heat's combination of experience, flexibility and versatility are considered their main strengths with a roster anchored by LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Barring injuries, conventional wisdom suggests the Lakers are capable of matching -- perhaps even surpassing -- the Heat's star power in would shape up as the most anticipated NBA Finals matchup in decades.

But Lewis and Allen believe that a series with so much at stake against the Lakers, or any opponent out west, will ultimately be decided by the team with the more reliable supporting cast. That was the case last season, when even the best postseason of James' career might have come up short had it not been for Bosh's late-playoff return from an abdominal injury or Shane Battier's breakout play early against Oklahoma City or Mike Miller's magical shooting display in the Game 5 series clincher in the Finals.

By adding Allen and Lewis to a supporting cast that already proved to be deep and effective enough to win a title, the Heat think they took significant steps to further compliment their catalysts and boost their chance to repeat.

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Mike D'Antoni has arrived, but Pau Gasol's game still remains largely absent. Can the Lakers' new coach meld his system with El Spaniard's skills? If not, what is Gasol's trade value? We discuss.