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LOS ANGELES -- At the very least, tip your hat to Andrew Goudelock and Darius Morris.

The Los Angeles Lakers had no business beating the San Antonio Spurs on Friday with no Kobe Bryant, no Steve Nash and no Steve Blake in the lineup.

Despite Goudelock's MVP campaign in the D-League, they had no business having as much faith in a guy who spent all season with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers to start a playoff game against the team that won the second-most games in the West this season.

And even though Morris started 17 games this season and continued to stay in the gym late even when his minutes dwindled the last two months, there was no real evidence that putting the ball in his hands for a crucial playoff game could work.

But you couldn't peg this one on the backcourt. In fact, Goudelock tied Tony Parker with 20 points and Darius Morris scored 24 to go along with six assists.

OK, enough about the silver lining.

Friday wasn't the official death knell for this (literally) painful Lakers season as L.A. doesn't go fishing until the Spurs have won four games, but no team in NBA history has ever come back from a 3-0 series deficit and this depleted Lakers squad certainly isn't going to be the first.

The 31-point blowout in Game 3 was the worst home playoff loss in franchise history, beating out Game 2 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals when Portland won by 29.

In a way, it seemed fitting.

In a season where everything that could go wrong seemingly did -- from a coaching change, to rampant injuries, slow-forming chemistry and even the death of legendary owner Dr. Jerry Buss -- why wouldn't a record like that be attached to this team?

How it happened: A whole lot of Tim Duncan (26 points on 12-for-16 shooting), some stingy Spurs defense (L.A. shot just 43.2 percent and 4-for-20 from 3) and too much depth from the guys in black and silver against the guys who are black and blue with injuries.

What it means: The offseason questions will begin sooner than a lot of us expected. Is Mike D'Antoni truly safe, or will those "We want Phil!" chants we heard on Friday actually come to fruition? Who gets waived via the amnesty clause -- Kobe? Pau Gasol? Blake? Metta World Peace? Anybody? Will Dwight Howard re-sign? Will Nash and Bryant be able to come back healthy for their 18th seasons?

Hits: Gasol had his third triple-double in his last six games with 11 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

Morris and Goudelock (see above).

Dwight Howard had 25 points and 11 rebounds but shot just 7-for-15 from the free throw line.

Misses: After 31 points combined in his last two regular-season games, Antawn Jamison has just 19 points combined in the playoffs.

Stat of the game: The Spurs bench scored 46 points. The Lakers' bench scored nine.

Up next: Game 4 is Sunday at 4 p.m. PT. There's a chance Nash will be back, but you get the feeling that chance would be better if L.A. had won Friday.

SAN ANTONIO -- Without the guy with the reputation for being basketball's ultimate closer, the Los Angeles Lakers looked lost and overmatched in the final minutes of quarters all night in their 102-91 loss in Game 2 to the San Antonio Spurs.

While the Spurs' Tim Duncan, who turns 37 on Thursday, was able to put his stamp on the game with 16 points, five rebounds and two blocks, the Lakers' 39-year-old Steve Nash looked, quite literally, to be on his last leg.

Playing for only the second time since missing the Lakers' final eight regular-season games with nerve damage in his right hamstring stemming from a right hip injury, Nash was just a shell of his former two-time MVP self.

Nash gave it his all in 32 minutes, shooting 50 percent from the field (nine points on 4-for-8 shooting) and dishing out a game-high six assists, but he didn't have the type of impact on the game he's used to having, and was seen limping around the court in dead-ball situations.

The Kobe Bryant-less Lakers just didn't have an answer on offense or composure on defense at the end of quarters, whereas the Spurs hunkered down and made what started off as anybody's game, another W for the team in silver and black.

How it happened: The Spurs were 35-6 at home and the No. 2 team in the West during the regular season for a reason. As much as it was Duncan's consistency, it was about Tony Parker's brilliance (28 points and seven assists), Matt Bonner's timeliness (10 points on 4-for-5 shooting, five rebounds and three steals), Kawhi Leonard's athleticism (16 points, seven rebounds) and Manu Ginobili's Manu-ness (13 points and seven assists in 19 minutes).

What it means: The Lakers played inside-out as planned and it wasn't enough. Dwight Howard (16 points, nine rebounds, four blocks) wasn't as dominant as planned (five turnovers, five fouls), nor was Pau Gasol (13 points on 5-for-14 shooting).

Hits: L.A. made slight improvements in 3-point shooting (8-for-22 instead of 3-for-15) and turnovers (13 instead of 18) from Game 1.
Steve Blake had 16 points before injuring his leg late in the game.

Misses: Jodie Meeks (sprained left ankle) did not play.

Stat of the game: The Spurs had seven players with seven points or more.

Up next: The Lakers are sure to get an emotional lift with Bryant in the building for Friday's Game 3 at Staples Center. As they say in this business, a playoff series doesn't truly start until a team wins on the road. If the Lakers can hold serve and win on their home court, then going into Game 4 down 2-1 doesn't seem so daunting. Of course, if they lose Friday then it will just about be time to turn the lights off on the Lakers' thoroughly disappointing 2012-13 season.

SAN ANTONIO -- Sometime during the third quarter of a Game 1 that just couldn't find a rhythm, Kobe Bryant chimed in on Twitter some 1,350 miles away from San Antonio at his Newport Beach, Calif. home.

"This game has a 'steal one' written all over it for us," Bryant tweeted.

It looked that way for a little while, with the Los Angeles Lakers cutting the San Antonio Spurs' lead that was 12 shortly after halftime down to four after a Steve Blake fadeaway jumper midway through the third. But rather than wilt with a little pressure, San Antonio had the cushion back to 13 heading into the fourth and ultimately held firm for a 91-79 victory.

Coming into the series, the Lakers talked about their defense needing to show up and set the tone, and guess what? That happened.

The Spurs shot just 37.6 percent from the field, but L.A. was more anemic on offense, shooting three for 15 (20 percent) on 3-pointers.

We'll see if the Lakers missed a golden opportunity Sunday or if they just needed to flush a game out of their system before Game 2.

How it happened: Quite simply, the Spurs' guy with the injured hamstring outplayed the Lakers' guy with the injured hamstring. Not that Steve Nash was terrible out there, he gutted out 16 points on 6-for-15 shooting in 31 minutes with three assists and just one turnover, but he was a step slow on defense and missed a few timely shots that really could have made it a tight game in the third. Manu Ginobili, meanwhile, only scored two more points than Nash (18) and shot slightly better (6-for-13), but he made timely contributions with a momentum-swinging 3-pointer late in the third quarter to put the Spurs up 12 and a nail-in-the-coffin assist to Matt Bonner, who hit a 3 late in the fourth, to seal it.

What it means: The Spurs came into the game having lost their last five regular-season games against Western Conference playoff teams, and coach Gregg Popovich admitted that his team looked "discombobulated" when he spoke to the media before Sunday's game. Meanwhile, the Lakers had won five straight, including two in a row without Bryant, and seemed to be clicking. So, what does Game 1 mean? That the regular season is ancient history. The Spurs got back to their game when it counted. Now L.A. has to prove it can do the same.

Hits: Pau Gasol (16 points, 16 rebounds, six assists) was just four assists away from his third triple-double in his past four games.

Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds and was able to manage playing with five fouls without fouling out.

Misses: Jodie Meeks (1-for-4) not only had a rough day from the field, but he suffered a mild sprain of his left ankle. Lakers trainer Gary Vitti re-taped Meeks, and the backup guard was able to get back in the game, but they’ll have to monitor the swelling heading into Game 2.

Howard started off 2-for-2 from the free throw line and finished 4-for-8.

Stat of the game: Howard (8-for-12) was the only Lakers player to shoot better than 50 percent.

Up next: The teams get two days of rest before Wednesday's Game 2. The time off should benefit the Lakers, as it will give Nash and Meeks two days to recover and Mike D'Antoni two days to make adjustments.

LOS ANGELES -- In what has seemed at times like a never-ending Los Angeles Lakers season, the last game of the regular season came down to the last minute of overtime.

The Memphis Grizzlies seemingly took most of the drama out of the night for the Los Angeles Lakers before their game had even tipped off against the Houston Rockets.

Memphis beat the Utah Jazz to assure the Lakers a playoff berth for the eighth straight season and 19th time in the past 20.

So, as disastrous as the Lakers' season has seemed, L.A. did make good on Kobe Bryant's playoff guarantee even with Bryant out for the rest of the season after Achilles tendon surgery and, even with a loss against Houston, L.A. would finish the season 28-12 over its final 40 games.

But there was still the business of who the Lakers' and Rockets' first-round opponents would be.

The winner would get to play the No. 2-seeded San Antonio Spurs. The loser would have to face the Western Conference's top team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.

L.A. gets the Spurs, it turns out, after a 99-95 overtime win over the Rockets. So instead of having to face a 60-win Oklahoma City team that ousted L.A. from the playoffs last season, the Lakers get a Spurs team that is just 3-7 over its last 10 games heading into the playoffs, including a 91-86 loss to the Lakers last weekend.

How it happened: L.A. fell down 18-12 early, prompting coach Mike D'Antoni to call a timeout, which spurred a 9-0 run by the Lakers. The Rockets built their lead to 11 in the second half before the Lakers' new "big three" of Steve Blake (24 points after 23 points Sunday against San Antonio), Dwight Howard (16 points) and Pau Gasol (17 points and a bunch of other great stats), gave the team a three-point lead with less than a minute left in the fourth. That's when the ball found itself in the hands of the Rockets' Chandler Parsons, who hit a dead-away 3-pointer from 36 feet to tie the score at the regulation buzzer.

In overtime, Jodie Meeks atoned for his 1-for-9 start from the field by throwing down a momentum-changing baseline dunk, and tacking on a huge free throw to put L.A. up by four with 14.5 seconds left. James Harden cut it to two with two free throws, but Blake iced it with a final two freebies to end the game 8-for-8 from the line.

What it means: The Lakers are 2-0 without Bryant, and even though San Antonio is still a tough place to open the playoffs, there is no denying the momentum they will take with them into the postseason whether No. 24 is in the lineup or not.

Hits: Gasol finished with 17 points, 20 rebounds and 11 assists for his second triple-double in his last three games.

Blake's 47 points over his last two games are more than Steve Nash's highest two-game total this season (38, twice).

Antawn Jamison scored 16 points off the bench.

Misses: Nash missed his eighth straight game because of right hip, hamstring and lower-back pain. Nash revealed to ESPN's Chris Broussard during an in-game sideline interview that he received two epidurals this week to try to deal with the pain.

Stat of the game: L.A. held Houston, which had averaged 106.1 points coming into Wednesday, to just 95 points in 53 minutes of game time.

Up next: The Lakers will open up the postseason with Game 1 of its first-round series with the Spurs in San Antonio on Sunday.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers got the win, but they lost the man who pushed them to get there.

Kobe Bryant had beaten the odds all season long, tossing in turn-back-the-clock dunks while racking up statistical achievements that were supposed to be impossible for a 34-year-old in his 17th season until it all came to a crashing halt on Friday.

Even Bryant proved to be not totally indestructible.

After hurting both his left knee and right knee following collisions with Golden State's Festus Ezeli in the third quarter and managing to stay in the game, Bryant took one hit too many and couldn't keep playing in the fourth.

Bryant checked out of the game with 3:06 remaining in the fourth quarter after playing every minute up to that point and did not return. The team announced after the game that Bryant had suffered a probable torn Achilles tendon and that an MRI exam would be performed Saturday. He finished with 34 points.

L.A. won a game it needed to win, but with Bryant out of the lineup going forward, the Lakers will have a major challenge in front of them if they want to reach the playoffs.

How it happened: L.A. erased a nine-point Warriors lead in the second half thanks to some clutch play down the stretch from Steve Blake (14 points, five assists) and Dwight Howard (28 points, seven rebounds), and Carl Landry missed a go-ahead jumper that could have won it for the Warriors.

What it means: Utah started the night with a win against Minnesota, so the Lakers knew what was at stake before tipoff. The Lakers held serve. They lead the Jazz by one game with two left to play. They still control their own destiny.

Hits: Pau Gasol finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists to register his sixth career triple-double.

Misses: A game after the Lakers allowed Portland's Damian Lillard to go off for 38, Friday was Stephen Curry's turn to shine. Curry was absolutely on fire, finishing with 47 points on 17-for-31 shooting, including a 9-for-15 mark from 3.

Stat of the game: Howard went into Friday shooting 49 percent from the free throw line this season -- the lowest percentage of his career -- but he had been on a minor upswing recently, shooting 12-for-20 in his previous three games. He made 14 of 22 free throw attempts Friday night.

Up next: Eighty down, two to go. All that's left is Sunday at 6:30 p.m. PT against San Antonio and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. against Houston.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Rose Garden has been a place, for quite some time, where the Los Angeles Lakers' hopes and dreams have come to die.

Coming into Wednesday, the Lakers' previous three games in Portland were losses. As were 12 of their previous 14 and, going back all the way to 2002, 17 of their past 21.

But Kobe Bryant has shown that he has the power to rise above the Trail Blazers' house of horrors before, and boy did he ever do it again in a 113-106 victory.

Bryant has been going by the self-appointed "vino" nickname this season to describe how his game has been aging like a fine wine.

Forget vino, Wednesday was straight vintage.

Bryant did everything but sell popcorn, as they say, finishing with 47 points, eight rebounds, five assists, four blocks and three steals in an epic performance.

If the Lakers are going to live up to Bryant's playoff guarantee, he just might have to be the guy to will them there.

How it happened: L.A. gave up one of its all-too-typical poison-pill quarters to start things off, as Portland posted 41 points in the opening frame, but thanks to Bryant keeping up the torrid pace that he started against New Orleans, things never got too out of hand. The Lakers settled down on defense and used a 17-2 spurt to start the third quarter to really take back control of the game. They outscored the Blazers by nine in the fourth thanks to Bryant and Pau Gasol two-manning them to death, and the team defense holding Portland to just 16 points.

What it means: L.A. has a one-game lead over the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final spot in the Western Conference playoffs with three games left to play. That's what matters.

Hits: As brilliant as Bryant was, Gasol had himself a night. Gasol finished with 23 points, nine assists, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Dwight Howard had 20 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.

Misses: The Lakers' defense allowed surefire rookie of the year winner Damian Lillard to score a career-high 38 points.

L.A. had 15 turnovers leading to 16 Portland points.

Steve Nash missed his fifth straight game because of lingering right hip and hamstring issues. He is questionable for Friday.

Stat of the game: Bryant put up his eighth 40-point game of the season.

Up next: The Lakers have three games left in the regular season, all of them at home: Friday against Golden State, Sunday against San Antonio and Wednesday against Houston.

LOS ANGELES -- With all the 5-0 talk surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers' finish to the season, it was questionable whether L.A. would even have enough fight left to get the first game toward that goal.

The severely sub-.500 New Orleans would seem like an easy opponent to start things off against, but then again, the Hornets led by 25 against L.A. back in March before Kobe Bryant scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to key a ridiculous rally.

He one-upped himself Tuesday, scoring 23 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to put the pesky Hornets away.

How it happened: L.A. led by as many as 10 points in the second quarter before New Orleans used a 14-0 run to erase that to take a 50-45 lead into the locker room. Things were tied at 70-all to start the fourth quarter before Bryant went on a personal 7-0 run, connecting on three straight jumpers, to give L.A. a small cushion, and he extended that spurt to score the Lakers' first 14 points of the final period as the Hornets kept it close.

What it means: The Utah Jazz did their part, falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder 90-80 on Tuesday. L.A. is back to holding a half-game lead over the Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot as the games continue to be checked off the schedule. The Lakers are back to being in the driver's seat when it comes to meeting their postseason goal; now they just have to stay on the road.

Hits: Metta World Peace returned to the lineup after missing just 12 days following knee surgery. Remarkable stuff. He finished with just four points and one assist, but he was able to play 15 minutes and take some of the load off the starters.

Antawn Jamison scored 13 points off the bench, including a crucial five straight with less than five minutes to go in the fourth when L.A. was getting offense out of only Bryant to that point.

Misses: Earl Clark scored zero points, going 0-for-3 from the field in 24 minutes while picking up four fouls. He did collect five assists, however, often hooking up with Dwight Howard.

Howard had problems with the whistle-blowers, too, getting called for five fouls. He did notch 19 points, six rebounds and four assists in 33 minutes, however.

Howard had a careless violation with 2:16 left, stepping on the endline when he went to inbound the ball, thus turning it over when it was only a six-point game.

L.A. had 16 turnovers leading to 12 points for the Hornets.

Stat of the game: Every Lakers starter had at least four assists as L.A. recorded dimes on 26 of its 40 baskets.

Up next: It's on to Portland, where the Lakers will try to elude the hold the Rose Garden seems to have over them. They also will attempt to sweep a back-to-back for the first time all season. "Save the best for last, probably," World Peace said. He better hope so.

LOS ANGELES -- There's been little doubt who the best basketball team in Los Angeles is for a while now. The Los Angeles Clippers took care of that with a 17-game winning streak earlier this season and the first 50-win season in franchise history.

But just to put an exclamation point on that statement, the Clippers dealt a devastating blow to the Lakers' desperate playoff push Sunday with a 109-95 win at Staples Center.

The win marked the first time the Clippers have swept the season series from the Lakers since moving to Los Angeles. You have to go back to the 1974-75 Buffalo Braves for the only other time in franchise history it's happened.

The Lakers put up a fight early, but this one was never really close. The Clippers were too good. The Lakers looked too tired after what's been a frantic last month of the season as they try to salvage what's left of this awful season.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 25 points but took 19 shots to get there. Twelve of his points came at the free-throw line.

It didn't help that the Lakers got virtually nothing from their starting backcourt of Steve Blake (eight points, two assists in 39 minutes) and Jodie Meeks (six points in 31 minutes.) while point guard Chris Paul led the Clippers with 24 points and 12 assists.

How it happened: The Lakers jumped out to an early lead, but the Clippers went on a run as soon as Dwight Howard came out of the game and wasn't around to protect the rim. The Lakers rallied to make it close at the end but just didn't have enough firepower to match the Clippers, who got another nice game from Sixth Man of the Year candidate Jamal Crawford (20 points) and ex-Laker Matt Barnes (12 points on 5-for-6 shooting).

What it means: Every game is critical for the Lakers the rest of the way as they try to nose out the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff berth. Because Utah holds the head-to-head tiebreaker, the Lakers must finish a game ahead of the Jazz to get in. All the storylines about the rivalry between the Lakers and Clippers were far less important Sunday than what's become a rather desperate playoff push for the NBA's highest payroll and most disappointing team.

Hits: Dwight Howard has the size and speed to dominate inside against the undersized Clippers. Pau Gasol has the skill and savvy to be effective against them as well. The Lakers' big men combined to score 37 points and grab 17 rebounds Sunday. You'd like to see more than four rebounds from Howard, but on this disappointing day, his 25-point performance passes for a positive.

Misses: Kobe Bryant came into the game having missed his past 16 3-point attempts, which makes sense considering the heavy minutes he's been logging and the effect that has had on his legs. Though he finally made a 3-pointer, he had an off shooting night overall (6 for 19). To his credit, though, he switched into facilitator mode when his shot wasn't falling and finished with 10 assists.

Stat of the game: The Lakers made just seven of their 24 3-pointers Sunday. Seven. It was ugly.

Up next: The Lakers have a day to recover from this one before their final back-to-back of the season -- at home against New Orleans on Tuesday and on the road in Portland on Wednesday. The Lakers have yet to sweep a back-to-back this season.

LOS ANGELES -- Playing the Memphis Grizzlies on any given night is like signing up for an MMA fight. The Griz are among the NBA's most physical teams. Nothing comes easy against them and their stout defense, which gives up a league-low 89.8 points a game.

Of course that's nothing new for the Los Angeles Lakers in a difficult season. The next thing that comes easy for the Lakers will be the first.

Friday was no exception as the Lakers held off the Grizzlies 86-84 to maintain a tenuous grip on the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.

While L.A. always seemed in control of the game, Memphis was never out of it. It took a key free throw by Dwight Howard with 4.1 seconds left, after a key rebound by Howard off Mike Conley's miss with 4.1 seconds remaining, and every bit of energy Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol had left to pull out the win.

How it happened: The Lakers built a 13-point lead in the first half and a seven-point lead late in the third quarter. But Memphis is the kind of team that never seems to go away. The Grizzlies, who came in having won four in a row, rallied time and again to keep the pressure on the increasingly desperate Lakers.

Ultimately though, the Lakers pulled it out behind clutch performances from Bryant, (24 points), Gasol (19 points, 9 rebounds), Earl Clark (13 points) and Antawn Jamison (13 points).

What it means: After the Utah Jazz took care of business at home against the lowly New Orleans Hornets, the Lakers basically had to win this game to maintain their slim half-game lead in what's shaping up to be a dogfight for the last playoff berth. With Utah owning the season-series tiebreaker, the Lakers need to finish a game ahead of the Jazz to get in as the No. 8 seed. This win was critical.

Hits: With Memphis' interior defense collapsing on Howard every time he tried to post up, Gasol had room to operate out of the high post and had one of his most effective games of the season. Gasol made 8 of 14 shots to finish with 19 points and 9 rebounds.

Clark had another nice game, finishing with 13 points, 5 rebounds and one very impressive fourth-quarter block on Grizzlies guard Quincy Pondexter that you'll be seeing on "SportsCenter."

Misses: Steve Blake had been on a roll coming into this game, averaging 13 points on 52.9 percent shooting in the two games he'd filled in for the injured Steve Nash. But he struggled in this one, finishing with just six points and turning the ball over five times, all in the first half.

Stat of the game: Jamison needed to average 16 points a game over the Lakers' final seven games of the season to get to 20,000 career points. With a badly sprained right (shooting) wrist, it's not going to be easy. But the crafty veteran continues to soldier on, finishing with 13 points in 25 minutes Friday night.

What's next: The Lakers will have a light workout Saturday to prepare for Sunday's 12:30 p.m. PT tip against the Los Angeles Clippers. It figures to be a heated game, because it always is between these two teams, but also because both are playing for playoff seeding, the Clippers for the critical No. 3 seed, the Lakers for the No. 8 spot.

LOS ANGELES -- It was a night to remember in Lakers history Tuesday as Shaquille O'Neal had his No. 34 jersey retired, but the current team had to make sure its playoff hopes didn't become history with a gutsy 101-81 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Here's a quick look:

How it happened: The Lakers jumped out to a 16-point lead with Kobe Bryant leading the way, getting off to a tremendous start with seven points, three rebounds, one assist and one block in the first quarter (and also tallying several approval-seeking glances to Phil Jackson, it seemed, who was sitting next to Jeanie Buss in the second row). Things got a little hairy in the fourth quarter (that wasn't meant to be a Dallas beard joke, but it works) as L.A.'s lead was cut to eight, but the Lakers surged late to take it by 20.

What it means: The Lakers are 2-0 on their quest to finish off the season 9-0 and they may have quieted the Mavericks for good, as they now lead them by 2 1/2 games with seven left to play. Now they just have to catch the Utah Jazz, who owns the tiebreaker over the Lakers despite the teams having the same record.

Hits: Before the game, O'Neal challenged Dwight Howard to consistently average 28 points and 10 rebounds. Howard came close with 24 and 12.

Earl Clark was everywhere with 17 points, 12 rebounds and a career-high five rebounds.

L.A. held the Mavs to just 81 total points on 42 percent shooting.

Misses: After tying a season low with just seven turnovers against Sacramento on Saturday, the Lakers had 18 turnovers against Dallas leading to 16 points.

Jodie Meeks and Antawn Jamison combined to shoot just 4-for-16.

Stat of the game: Bryant racked up his second triple-double of the season with 23 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds.

What's next: The Lakers have the day off Wednesday before getting back at it Thursday when they hope Steve Nash's strained right hip and hamstring will be healthy enough for him to ramp up to return to the lineup Friday against the Memphis Grizzlies.

MILWAUKEE -- Here's a quick look at how the Los Angeles Lakers failed to go 2-0 in a back-to-back for the 15th time in 15 tries, losing to the Milwaukee Bucks 113-103 on Thursday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center:

How it happened: In a word? Turnovers. A night after giving it away 21 times and coming precariously close to blowing a game in Minnesota, the Lakers had 18 turnovers against the Bucks leading to 22 Milwaukee points. It was the one thing on coach Mike D'Antoni's mind before the game, too; that's the rough part. "We've got to find the energy necessary to maintain some concentration and not turn the ball over," D'Antoni said. "These guys are really good at turning you over and also leading into the open court. If we can stop that, get our defense set, then we'll be better."

They didn't do any of those things and they weren't any better.

What it means: With just nine games remaining in the regular season, L.A.'s lead over Utah for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West is down to just a half-game.

Hits: All five Lakers starters scored in double digits, led by Kobe Bryant's 30 points.

Misses: Bryant shot just 6-for-17, and Jodie Meeks shot 4-for-12, making his two-game shooting total 6-for-19 since filling in for the injured Metta World Peace in the starting lineup.

Dwight Howard shot 3-for-10 from the free throw line.

Stat of the game: The Lakers led by 13 points in the first half and ended the game down by 10.

What's next: The Lakers finish off their last multigame trip of the season Saturday in Sacramento. They'll try to salvage a 2-2 trip.

MINNEAPOLIS – Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said it best at shootaround Wednesday when asked about Metta World Peace going down with a knee injury:

“Nobody is feeling sorry for us and we got plenty [of talent remaining] to win anyway, so let’s just do what we’re supposed to do and go out and play as hard as we can and see what happens.”

Later that day the Lakers learned they will be without World Peace for at least six weeks as he recovers from surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee.

Even with the bad news, L.A. did what its coach wanted it to do, what it was supposed to do.

It beat up on an inferior opponent (for the most part).

It shared the ball (for the most part).

It played with energy (for the most part).

It acted professional (for the most part).

It acted like a team that still has the best shooting guard-center combination in the league, even if World Peace is hurt.

As it’s been this whole Lakers season, it didn’t go off without a hitch, of course.

It missed its free throws (for the most part).

Dwight Howard was 2-for-8 on Hack-a-Howard situations in the fourth quarter, as the Wolves crept back from 15 down to get within three points.

But Kobe Bryant was able to can a jumper and a few free throws in the final minute, and Steve Nash tacked on two freebies, as well, to barely keep Minnesota at arm’s length.

Bryant missed a free throw with 3.4 seconds left that would have put L.A. up by four. Ricky Rubio streaked upcourt after the miss and let go a potentially game-tying 3 at the buzzer that fell short.

The replay showed that Bryant hit Rubio on the arm, but the officials didn’t call it.

L.A. survived.

How it happened: L.A. started off hot, opening up a quick 11-6 lead by shooting 5-for-5 from the floor. The Lakers made just three of their next 13 attempts to allow Minnesota back in the game. Bryant scored his first bucket of the game on a rousing dunk late in the quarter that put L.A. up 26-23 after one. The Lakers were only able to extend that lead by one at halftime before breaking it open in the third quarter, leading 91-79 after three as Bryant scored 16 in the period. It got interesting (er, ugly) there in the fourth, but a win is a win.

What it means: L.A. stopped the bleeding. If L.A. extended its losing streak to four games with an upset to the Kevin Love-less Wolves, it could easily be the tipping point for major problems down the stretch. Instead, Bryant (31 points, seven assists) and Howard (25 points, 16 rebounds, five steals, five blocks) looked like a formidable 1-2 punch once again. Granted, the Lakers were playing against a Wolves team that came into the night 25-44, but that’s not the point. L.A. played the right way and it showed.

Hits: Pau Gasol had his best game by far since returning from his plantar fascia injury in his right foot. After shooting just 27.8 percent from the field in his first two games back, Gasol was an efficient 8-for-12 from the field en route to 17 points and nine rebounds.

Antawn Jamison looked just fine gutting through his sprained right wrist for the majority of the game. He scored 18 points and shot 6-for-10 with five rebounds, but subbed out midway through the fourth clutching his wrist and wincing in pain after tweaking it on a layup attempt.

Misses: The Lakers had 15 first-half turnovers, leading to 13 points for Minnesota. That’s unacceptable. It got better in the second half, with L.A. finishing with 21 turnovers overall leading to 20 Minny points.

Howard shot 7-for-17 from the free throw line overall.

Steve Blake fouled out, picking up six whistles against him in 23 minutes, while shooting 3-for-9 form the floor and finishing with eight points and three assists.

Stat of the game: Jodie Meeks shot 2-for-7 overall and 1-for-4 from 3 in his first start in World Peace’s place, finishing with five points, four rebounds and three assists.

What's next: The Lakers will look to sweep a back-to-back for the first time all season, as they play in Milwaukee on Thursday. The Bucks will be playing a second night of a back-to-back themselves after facing Philadelphia on Wednesday. Even though Milwaukee is a decent home team, it should be prime for the taking for L.A. as the Bucks came into Wednesday having lost six out of eight games.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The second quarter was so ugly that Kobe Bryant decided he had seen enough even while there was still time left on the clock.

Bryant left the court and stalked off to the locker room with 0.5 seconds remaining after the Golden State Warriors had upped their already ample 19-point lead to 23 with two tip-ins in the span of 1.4 seconds.

There was a comedy of errors from the Los Angeles Lakers to end the quarter, from Dwight Howard picking up a technical foul after getting smacked in the face by a David Lee elbow (causing a cut to his lip that required three stitches) to Metta World Peace nearly stealing a ball, only to deflect it to a wide-open Klay Thompson for a 3-pointer, to World Peace throwing a full-court inbound pass away, which led to the second of the aforementioned tip-ins by Andrew Bogut.

Sham-mockery, indeed.

The second half was better, as L.A. held Golden State to 44 points after allowing 63 in the first two quarters, but too much damage was done early on.

How it happened: The Warriors used runs of 8-0 and 7-0 in the first quarter to open up a 12-point lead after the first period. That was the closest L.A. would get the rest of the way. The last time the Lakers came to Golden State in December, they erased a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to win. That was not the case Monday. The Lakers attempted a rally, cutting the Warriors' lead all the way down to six, but a win wasn't in the cards.

What it means: "We’re in a fight for our lives, and let’s act on it," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said before the game.

If the Lakers didn't know that going into the night -- having lost consecutive games to the Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards -- they should certainly be well aware of it after getting embarrassed by Golden State.

It's the Lakers' first three-game losing streak since that air-it-out meeting they had in Memphis back in late January.

For a team that has said its strategy to get into the postseason is to win three out of every four games the rest of the way, that constitutes a crisis.

As bad as Utah has played, with a 4-9 record in March so far, the Jazz are just a game behind L.A. for the eighth seed in the Western Conference and hold the tiebreaker over the Lakers.

Hits: Dwight Howard had 15 rebounds.

Steve Nash neared a triple-double with 21 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists.

This dunk by Bryant.

Misses: Three Warriors players -- Lee, Thompson and Stephen Curry -- scored 20 or more points.

Bryant, while scoring a game-high 36 points, shot 11-for-27 overall and 2-for-10 from 3.

Stat of the game: Jarrett Jack, who scored 29 points the last time the Lakers played in Golden State, scored 19 Monday and nearly matched the 21 points scored by the Lakers' bench contingent of Jodie Meeks (13), Antawn Jamison (five), Steve Blake (three) and Earl Clark (zero). The L.A. bench shot 7-for-26 overall while Jack was 9-for-16.

What's next: The Lakers continue their four-game road trip with a back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday in Minnesota and Milwaukee, respectively, and then finish it up in Sacramento on Saturday.

LOS ANGELES -- It's never easy with this team, is it?

It was an important night for the Los Angeles Lakers, welcoming two starters back in the lineup in Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol and facing a team buried way below .500 after losing to a team just like that Monday in Phoenix.

And boy, did they blow it.

L.A. dropped its second straight game to a team that has no prayer of making the playoffs and instead of using a soft spot in the schedule to build momentum, finds itself back in a bit of a tailspin with just 12 games remaining in the regular season.

Gasol's night started off great, as he grabbed a defensive rebound on the Washington Wizards' first possession and picked up a no-look assist to Metta World Peace on the Lakers' first possession, but he finished with just four points on 2-for-10 shooting and eight rebounds.

That's OK. Gasol had missed close to seven weeks of action and 20 games, so rust was expected.

Turns out Gasol was a minor part of the story.

Former Laker Trevor Ariza ended up having a much bigger impact on the game.

Ariza scored 19 of his game-high 25 points after halftime, setting a new career high by hitting seven 3-pointers as he was able to help Washington come all the way back from an early 18-point deficit to briefly take a two-point lead in the fourth.

While the Wizards came into the game with a 24-43 record, they were actually 19-15 this season with their best player, John Wall, in the lineup, so the fact that they gave L.A. a challenge shouldn't have been a surprise.

Bryant didn't have his normal late-game magic working, as he missed an open 8-foot jumper to tie it in the final minute, and had one more chance at it with a desperation heave at the buzzer on a fadeaway 3, which clanked short off the rim.

L.A. got some help by Utah losing to San Antonio on Friday, so it holds on to its eighth seed for the time being -- but at some point you worry about these missed opportunities piling up.

How it happened: L.A. controlled the game at the start, leading by 16 at the end of the first quarter and never letting up. Washington was playing its fifth game in seven days and its third road game in a row, while the Lakers on came in on three days' rest -- and it showed. Washington made its run on the backs of Ariza and John Wall (24 points, 16 assists) and finished the upset.


What it means: Mike D'Antoni's pregame remarks were pretty prescient.

"We got to win, first of all," D'Antoni said. "We can’t experiment and we can’t play around with it too much. We got to win every game and that’s how it’s going to be played, and hopefully we get better every game because they have some improvement they can do -- a lot of improvement because they haven’t played together. A lot of talent is on the floor; let’s see if we can get it together."

Getting Gasol and Bryant back is certainly a boost to the Lakers' chances down the stretch, but L.A. has to stick to what it did to get back in the playoff hunt in the first place. It can't get too cute.

Hits: Dwight Howard had 20 points and 15 rebounds.

Jodie Meeks scored 16 points off the bench, including eight in the fourth quarter.

Bryant added another momentum-changing dunk to his season-long aerial display, sending home a reverse jam with 7:04 remaining in the fourth quarter to put L.A. up by 3 when its offense was struggling. It ended up being a moot point, though.

Misses: Seeing World Peace take it upon himself to go 1-on-5 and pick up an offensive foul in a crucial possession when he has playmakers like Bryant and Steve Nash on his team is a crime against basketball.

While Bryant's distribution game was strong (11 assists), his defensive game wasn't. Bryant was routinely late to close out on open shooters (most notably Garrett Temple, who scored 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting) and L.A. in turn let Washington hang around longer than it should have in the third quarter when the Lakers could have put it away.

Antawn Jamison was brilliant in the first half, scoring 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting to go with seven rebounds, but he suffered a sprained right wrist in the third quarter which ended his night early. He will receive X-rays on it after the game.

Stat of the game: The Lakers had 10 assists on 13 buckets in the first quarter, but finished with 27 on 39 baskets for the game as the ball started to stick.

What's next: For the first time in a long time, the Lakers do not have games on either Saturday or Sunday, as they'll have the weekend to get ready for their final multi-game road trip of the season -- four games through Golden State, Minnesota, Milwaukee and Sacramento beginning Monday. The Warriors game will be doubly important as L.A. is still in the hunt to catch Golden State for the No. 6 seed in the West, and it will also set the tone for the trip.

PHOENIX -- Thomas Wolfe said it, and Steve Nash has now lived it.

"You can't go home again."

Boy, was that ever true for Nash, the former two-time league MVP with the Phoenix Suns, who returned to his former city twice this season and came up empty both times.

The last time the Los Angeles Lakers came to Phoenix, Nash's initial return was spoiled by a 92-86 loss in a game in which L.A. blew a late lead and Nash had just 11 points on 3-for-8 shooting.

Nash struggled in this one, too, scoring 19 points but shooting just six-for-17 in the process and dishing out just four assists against three turnovers.

It wasn't any better for his teammates.

Here's a recap of what went down:

How it happened: It was a two-man game for L.A. early as Nash and Dwight Howard combined for 21 of the Lakers' 25 first-quarter points, but the Lakers only led by four. Suns rookie Kendall Marshall caught fire in the second quarter, scoring eight points, as the Suns led by as many as eight. But the Lakers were able to cut the deficit down to three at the half. The Suns' lead was five heading into the fourth when it all fall apart for the Lakers. The final blow came when Luis Scola beat the shot clock with a 3 from the top of the key to put Phoenix up by 17 with less than four minutes remaining.

What it means: After two inspiring team-centric wins against Indiana and Sacramento, the Lakers looked flat and sorely missed the energy that Kobe Bryant (sprained left ankle) brings to the game. If you thought the playoffs were all but locked up, think again. Monday was a major reminder of the work that's still ahead for this Lakers team with 13 games left to play.

Hits: At least nobody was seriously injured. There's that. As Mike D'Antoni put it when asked about Bryant getting some rest while all the Lakers had to do was take care of the 23-45 Suns: "If we can win, it’s a silver lining because he rests and gets his body in shape, but if we don’t win, then it’s not very good. So, it’s a double-edged sword."

Misses: Howard missed 12 of 18 shots, Nash missed 11 of 17 and Metta World Peace missed 12 of 17.

The Lakers were outrebounded 55-45.

Nash got a bloody gash on his face by his left eye in the third quarter stemming from a collision with P.J. Tucker. It wasn't quite this bad, however.

Stat of the game: Steve Blake (6-for-11) was the only Laker to shoot 50 percent or better from the field. L.A. shot just 29-for-87 (33.3 percent) as a team.

What's next: The Lakers, mercifully, have the day off Tuesday coming out of their back-to-back and don't play again until Friday, when they host the Washington Wizards. D'Antoni said Bryant would "probably" be back in the lineup by then, and there is a chance that Pau Gasol will also target that game to make his return from the torn plantar fascia injury to his right foot that's kept him out the past six weeks.