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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Los Angeles Lakers went into the All-Star break vowing to play better basketball in the final 28 games of the season to make a push for the playoffs.

Now that they're out of the break, coach Mike D'Antoni has quantified just how good the Lakers have to play.

"I think everybody can do the math," D'Antoni said before practice Tuesday. "We got to get in the 20s -- 20 or up. You're not going to make the playoffs, I don't think, with less than 45 wins. You kind of count it off from there. You might need more, you might need a little bit less, but it's got to be in that area somewhere."

Going 20-8 to end the season would be a winning percentage of .714. The Lakers, at 25-29, won just 46.3 percent of the time through the first 54 games of the season.

"We need to make the playoffs," D'Antoni said. "We have to make a run. Every game is going to be extremely important. They were before, even more now. Historically everybody kind of ups their game a little bit and you try to make the last run. We're going to see if we can get it done. It's a heck of a challenge, but I think guys are up for it and I'm looking forward to it."

The Lakers are currently 3 1/2 games behind the Houston Rockets for the eighth and final playoff spot in the West.

"Hopefully there's urgency," D'Antoni said. "We've turned the corner 15 times so far, but we keep falling back into the same traps and maybe the urgency will keep us on the right path. No guarantees, but that's definitely our plan."

D'Antoni's coaching tactics in utilizing Dwight Howard were recently called into question by Phil Jackson, who said, "They've basically eliminated [Howard's] assets."

The embattled Lakers coach, who admitted Wednesday this has been the toughest coaching stretch of his 11 seasons in the NBA, said he was willing to make changes to reach his postseason goal.

"We're going to try everything," D'Antoni said. "We'll probably try to expand some guys’ games, maybe. Maybe throw a couple wrinkles in, which you always will do. Approach-wise, I don't know if there's something that I thought of like, 'Oh, this will work.' "

D'Antoni maintained that the Lakers' struggles this season have been less about attitude and more about execution.

"Chemistry will go back to personalities and I think those are things that are sometimes blown out of [proportion]," D'Antoni said. "Sometimes games don't fit and you just got to be able to fit the pieces together and make sure the ball's being put in places that people can feel more comfortable in what they do. We got to get Steve [Nash] more pick-and-rolls. We got to get Dwight to post up more. We got to get that ball moving a little bit so that people can feel better about their game. I do think a lot has been made on the personality side and whether it's blown out of proportion or there's some truth to it, big deal. On the court is where we're having problems with the chemistry."

In the last three full NBA seasons, the West's eighth seed has averaged 48 wins. To reach that mark, the Lakers would have to finish the season 23-5.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Pau Gasol said Tuesday he is hopeful he will be able to return this season from the torn plantar fascia injury to his right foot.

"I hope," Gasol said after using crutches to make his way around the Lakers' practice facility on the team's first day back to work after the All-Star break. "It’s a thing that you take one day at a time, and you go with the symptoms and see how well and how quick your body is able to heal.

"A certain injury varies from different individuals, so we’ve made a lot of good progress. I’m expecting to get off those crutches very soon, and we’re in the right path. That’s all I know right now two weeks into the injury."

Gasol suffered the injury in the Lakers' 92-83 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 5. The 12-year veteran, who was averaging 13.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists before going down with the injury, was initially expected to be out 6-8 weeks.

If Gasol is able to return on the short end of that time frame, he could be back in the lineup when L.A. hosts the Washington Wizards on March 22 and for the final 13 games of the Lakers' season at that point.

The Lakers have gone just 2-3 since Gasol's injury.

Despite Gasol's injury and Jordan Hill's season-ending hip surgery, Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said the team has enough talent to stand pat as Thursday's NBA trade deadline approaches.

"We have the pieces," D'Antoni said. "It’s just not fitting together. It’s a little frustrating right now … I remain convinced that we have enough to do something right now and be pretty good."

The Los Angeles Lakers on Monday lost their patriarch, Dr. Jerry Buss. Buss was long the symbol of stability for a franchise that has had its fair share of Hollywood drama throughout the years. Where will the Lakers go without his guiding presence? Here are six questions to be answered in the near future:

1. Will the team be up for sale?

In a word, no. While the Lakers were purchased by Buss for $67.5 million in 1979 and now are estimated to be worth $1 billion, according to Forbes magazine, the Buss family does not plan to test the market. "We unanimously agree that we have no intention of ever selling the Lakers and intend to keep ownership of the team in our family for generations to come,” the Buss family said in a statement in January. Lakers minority owner Patrick Soon-Shiong could look to own a larger part of the team even if the Buss family doesn’t intend to sell, however.

Soon-Shiong owns a small percentage of the team after buying out Magic Johnson’s stake in the Lakers a couple of years ago. With the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) -- which owns approximately 30 percent of the Lakers, along with Staples Center -- up for sale, Soon-Shiong could grow his share of the team tremendously. The billionaire already has been linked to the sale. Soon-Shiong’s representative, Chuck Kenworthy, told the L.A. Times in September 2012 that Soon-Shiong “is keenly aware that AEG is in play” and is “interested.”

2. Who makes the decisions?

In the past several seasons, the Lakers have relied on a three-headed decision-making team of Buss; his son, Jim Buss, who is the team’s vice president of player personnel; and Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers’ general manager. But Jerry Buss had the final say. “If there’s a decision to be made that’s important to the franchise -- a player movement -- he’s the final hammer,” Jim Buss told ESPNLosAngeles.com in April. “I’ll have a recommendation, Mitch might have a different recommendation, and we’ll just let him decide.”

The Lakers' upper management will have to decide whether and how to diversify the decision-making process now that Buss’ 34-year run at the helm is over. For a long time, all of the decisions were made by a four-man crew that also included assistant GM Ronnie Lester, who worked for the Lakers for more than 25 years before being let go right before the lockout in 2011. The Lakers since have promoted Glenn Carraro to help fill Lester’s role, but this could be a time for the team to consider adding another smart basketball mind or two to the mix to help continue steering the franchise in the right direction.

3. How has Jim Buss prepared himself for this moment?

Apart from dealing with the pain of losing his father, Jim Buss will be challenged to replicate the success the Lakers have accomplished over the past 30 years. “It’s like watching your kid grow up,” Jim Buss said about taking on more responsibility. “Somebody that you haven’t seen in a year comes in and all of the sudden says, ‘Holy crimminy! Look how tall they’ve gotten!’ I do this every day, so I don’t think it’s one day I walked out and started doing this [Buss flaps his arms] kind of thing. I think it’s so gradual that I really haven’t seen the growth that I have.

“Now, if I look back five years, yes, there’s a lot of responsibility and a lot more say and a lot more decision-making, but it wasn’t overnight. It’s been a long process. It’s a fun process, but it’s been a long process and a lot of teachers. So this year I think it’s coming to fruition because my dad has mentioned that I’m responsible now for the decisions. But really, I haven’t felt it. It seems like I do this all the time.”

Jim Buss was able to live in relative anonymity during his five-year apprenticeship, but now the moves of the franchise will come under even more scrutiny from a Lakers fan base that had complete trust in the father but is still forming its opinion of the son.

4. Will the Lakers' power structure stay the way it is?

Jim Buss seemingly was groomed to take over the basketball side of things after Jerry Buss died, and Jeanie Buss has worked as the executive vice president of business operations for more than a decade. It appears that will remain the same going forward.

Questions remain, however. Now that Jeanie Buss is engaged to Phil Jackson, her longtime companion and former Lakers coach, could the most accomplished championship coach in NBA history enter the picture again once he is officially part of the family? The relationship between Jim and Jeanie has sometimes been tense, according to multiple sources. Now that their father is gone, will everyone be content with the roles they have assumed before, or are there new options to be explored?

5. Are the Lakers going to have the same commitment to winning as before?

This is a big question for Lakers fans. Buss seemingly had the same mentality that they did, saying at his Hall of Fame induction speech in 2010: "There were times when I was in the locker room and I would be surrounded by five Hall of Famers. As a fan, you can't imagine how that feels." All fans want for their favorite teams are more titles, regardless of luxury-tax implications. Buss approached it the same way, always investing in his team rather than being satisfied with the revenue it generated for him.

"We are spending way too much money," Buss said with a chuckle in the summer before the 2010-11 season. "It's tough. You sit there and you say, 'We really can't afford this, we can't afford this and we can't afford this,' and then somehow the next day we end up spending some more money and getting another player and signing a new extension, etc., etc."

With the new collective bargaining agreement threatening punitive luxury-tax penalties and dipping into big-market team’s pockets through substantial revenue sharing, will the Lakers still operate under a “whatever it takes” credo?

6. How will this affect the Lakers players this season?

Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace are the only members of the current team who were on the Lakers’ most recent championship squad in 2010. "He means everything to me," Bryant recently told USA Today. "He took a chance on a 17-year-old kid coming out of Philadelphia when nobody really saw that potential. He believed in me the entire way."

Could the loss of Buss be a rallying cry for the 25-29 Lakers in the final 28 games of the season, led by the memories of Bryant, Gasol and World Peace? Could the loss of Buss be something that spurs the Lakers back to dig deeper in pursuit of a return to glory?

Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss, who presided over a team that won 10 NBA titles and showcased some of the biggest names in professional basketball, died Monday. He was 80. Full story here:

HOUSTON -- Different All-Star city, same mixed messages from Dwight Howard regarding his future.

For a second straight season, Howard's commitment to his team has come under intense scrutiny during All-Star Weekend. And much like in last year's midseason showcase in Orlando, Fla., when he was still with the Magic, Howard shuffled between conflicting statements and left no indication whether he wanted to remain with the Lakers.

Howard confirmed Friday he has received assurances from Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak that he wouldn't be dealt by next week's trade deadline despite his unwillingness to commit to an extension or a new contract after the season.

Asked during Friday's All-Star media session if he'd be shocked if the Lakers traded him in the coming days, Howard said: "Well, they told me they weren't going to trade me. So, yeah, I would be surprised."

Howard spent much of his 30-minute session with reporters trying to deflect questions about his future. But ultimately, he said he wouldn't be pressured by anyone into making a decision about his future before the end of the season.

"The only thing that matters is the present, and right now," Howard said. "There's no need to talk about what's going to happen at the end of the season. No reason to go back and forth about it. I just feel like at the end of the year, I should have my opportunity to make my own decision. I shouldn't be criticized for waiting for the end of the year."

Without some kind of indication from Howard, the Lakers could risk losing the league's best center in free agency this summer without getting key assets in return. Orlando faced the same dilemma this time last season, but ultimately got Howard to waive an early termination contract clause that would have allowed him to enter free agency last summer.

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LOS ANGELES -- The first half of the Los Angeles Lakers' season finally, mercifully came to an end Thursday.

Actually, it's more like 65 percent of the season is in the books, but the team likes to look at the All-Star break as the midpoint of the season.

The Lakers have had their fair share of experience rationalizing what's happened to them so far -- blame it on the injuries, blame it on the coaching change, blame it on everybody just coming together to play in L.A. -- but at the end of the day, they have to realize they're just not as good as the teams they're chasing.

The Los Angeles Clippers outclassed the Lakers on Thursday, controlling them from the opening tip on through the final buzzer.

"Every day that goes by, it gets a little bit harder," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said at shootaround Thursday of the Lakers' postseason goal.

He wasn't kidding.

D'Antoni was then asked what the break could do for his team.

"I think it comes at a good time," he said. "It gives some guys a little bit of rest, and we’ll get ready to make the final sprint in the last 100 yards. That’s when everybody typically picks it up and knows what’s at stake. It should be interesting the last 28 games."

Interesting is one way to put it.

How it happened: It wasn't looking too hot for the Lakers early, with the Clippers racing out to a 15-0 lead out of the gates and Blake Griffin personally outscoring the Lakers as a team 18-17 at the end of the first quarter (with the Clips up 31-17 overall). The Lakers clawed back into it by shooting 12-for-17 in the second quarter, but a late 11-0 run by the Clippers put their lead back to 12 at the half. That swelled to 21 headed into the fourth, and it was garbage time from there. The Lakers were outplayed in every facet of the game.

What it means: The Lakers are 24-29 with 28 games left to play. Just to get to .500, they have to go 16-12. To really get into the playoff hunt, with the Houston Rockets three games above .500 at the break, they have to start thinking about going 19-9 or even better to really make a dent in the standings, unless they get some help from a team such as Houston or Utah falling off.

Hits: Kobe Bryant had 20 points and 11 assists.

Antawn Jamison scored 17 points on 7-for-13 shooting off the bench.

Misses: Bryant had six of the Lakers' 16 turnovers, which led to 23 points overall for the Clippers.

The Clippers have won the first three meetings between the two teams this season, clinching their first season series victory against the Lakers since 1992-93.

Referee Bill Spooner called Metta World Peace for a technical foul in the second quarter when World Peace threw his arm in the air in celebration after pulling the Lakers to within four after they had trailed by as many as 16 early. It was purely a reputation call and blatantly incorrect.

Stat of the night: The Clippers shot 16-for-30 (53.3 percent) from 3, and the Lakers were just 6-for-20 (30 percent) from 3 after starting the game 0-for-8 from deep in the first quarter.

What's next: How do you keep the Lakers from losing ground in the standings for nearly a week? Don't schedule any games. The Lakers have six days before their next game, against Boston on Wednesday.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Even while the Los Angeles Lakers struggled at the onset of the 2012-13 season, Kobe Bryant was playing at a prolific pace. Months into the season, Bryant's shooting percentages from the field and from 3-point range were as good as they've ever been in his 17-year career.

Those numbers have come down to earth.

Bryant's 46.3 percent mark from the field is better than his career average of 45.3 and the best he has shot since the 2008-09 season, but his shots from beyond the arc have gone awry. Bryant has made just one of his last 30 3-point attempts over his last 13 games, dropping his 3-point percentage to 32.6 -- lower than his 33.6 career average.

Bryant's cold streak was punctuated by a 1-of-8 performance against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday (including an 0-for-4 mark from the outside), but he insisted he is not concerned.

"I'm not in a slump," Bryant said after practice Wednesday. "I just haven't shot it (much). I can't be in a slump. The game before against a good team in Miami, I shot the s--- out of the ball. So I'm not worried about it."

Slump or not, Bryant spent an extended period shooting Wednesday from spots all over the court, but the vast majority of the attempts came from inside the arc.

"I really haven't been focusing on 3-pointers the last three or four games," said Bryant, who had attempted just three 3s in his previous three games before taking four against the Suns. "I haven't really shot that many consciously. I'm just trying to get into areas where I'm a little more threatening and get away from the long ball a bit."

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said the extra practice is all a player can really do to try to find their shooting stroke.

"You got to work through it," D'Antoni said. "There's no solutions, otherwise no one would ever go through a slump. You wouldn't have that word. That's why you have them and people do go into it at different times of the season. Your legs might be a little tired. The break might be good for everybody. There's a lot of things that go (into it). February is usually the dog days. So, you go through that stuff. Try to keep your head, try to keep things simple and keep moving forward."

Aside from tired legs, Bryant has been playing with a sore right elbow that he aggravated on a dunk against the Detroit Pistons during L.A's recent trip. He also has a sore right hand that he hurt against Miami. Both injuries are worth mentioning because Bryant shoots right-handed.

"I've shot through worse," Bryant said when asked about his health.

Bryant's shooting has taken a backseat to his passing as he's adopted more of a facilitator role in recent weeks. While his assists have spiked, he still needs to adjust to having his shots reduced.

"It takes me out of my rhythm quite a bit, so it's just getting used to it, that's all," Bryant said. "It's just working it out."

Bryant recently had zero points on just two shots in the first half against Charlotte and zero points on zero shots in the first half against Phoenix.

"You just go through periods where it just doesn't quite go in," D'Antoni said. "But, it will be back, I'm sure."

Is the coach worried Bryant will abandon his pass-first mentality to try to get his shot back on track?

"You hope not, because I think he's playing the right way," D'Antoni said. "You hope he can play the right way and be really good at it. So, I don't think there’s a correlation."

Will Ferrell, dressed like a Staples Center security guard, escorts Shaquille O'Neal out of the building at Tuesday's Lakers-Suns game.

LOS ANGELES -- Kobe Bryant has had these kinds of games before. Certainly not often and not recently, but they're always memorable when he does.

Presumably, before any game, Bryant will have a point to prove once it starts and will do everything in his power to prove it the moment he steps onto the court. Maybe he heard that he shoots too much or maybe he read that someone wants the ball more, whatever the case may be.

For whatever reason, Bryant appeared to choose Tuesday night against the Phoenix Suns to show what the Los Angeles Lakers would look like if he didn't shoot and the offense ran through Dwight Howard and others.

It's one thing to be the facilitator and look for the open man and take what the defense gives you, but it's another thing to pass up easy transition baskets to make cross-court passes as Bryant did time after time in the first half.

Bryant finished the first half Tuesday night without a single field-goal attempt for the first time since March 5, 2004, which was a game he left because of an injury within the first minute. You have to go all the way back to his rookie season for a time he has done that when he wasn't injured.

Entering the fourth quarter, Bryant was 0-for-4 from the field, which is the most attempts he has had in a game without a make since April 2001 against the New York Knicks.

Bryant finally made his first field goal with 2:10 left, after going 0-for-7 from the field, and finished with 4 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds and 8 turnovers. Luckily for the Lakers, that's all they needed from Bryant on Tuesday as they beat the Phoenix Suns, 91-85.

How it happened: It's a good question if you simply look at Bryant's stat line, but the truth is other players on the Lakers stepped up. Howard had 19 points and 18 rebounds, and Antawn Jamison came off the bench to put up 19 points and 10 rebounds.

What it means: It means the Lakers are still mathematically alive in the playoff picture, as coach Mike D'Antoni likes to say sometimes, and did not drop another heartbreaker to the 17-36 Suns. The Lakers have had some bad losses this season but a loss to the Suns in a game D'Antoni called a "playoff game" might have been a season killer.

Hits: Aside from the aforementioned Howard and Jamison, Metta World Peace had 17 points and eight rebounds, Earl Clark put up 11 points and four rebounds and Steve Nash came up big at the end to gave the Lakers 10 points and eight assists.

Misses: Bryant finishing the game going 1-for-8 from the field with eight turnovers is pretty bad.

Stat of the night: You hate to belabor the point but considering how rare it was, it deserves repeating that with nearly two minutes left in a game in which he played 36 minutes, Bryant had not made a single shot and didn't even attempt one in the first half. His four points was his lowest scoring total for a game in which he has played at least 30 minutes.

What's next: The Lakers will play the Los Angeles Clippers in a Lakers home game on Thursday night in what will be their final game before All-Star Weekend. This has been a nightmarish first half of the season for the Lakers but a win over their in-building rival would go a long way toward putting them on the right track going into home stretch of the season.

Add Rick Fox to the list of former Los Angeles Lakers who are down on Dwight Howard.

Fox, who played a key role in three Lakers championships between 2000-02, said Monday in a radio interview with Max Kellerman and Marcellus Wiley on ESPNLA 710 that he doesn't think Howard "wants to be here," or that he appreciates and respects the history of the Lakers franchise.

"I’d like to see a lot more of the actions that tell me that winning is the most important thing to him, as well as being a Laker, and I don’t get that yet," Fox said.

"Maybe in another city he can fool some people with that, but unfortunately for him, in Los Angeles, you got a legacy of great players that have shown the city what it looks like. What commitment looks like, what championship play looks like, what championship talk looks like," Fox continued.

Fox, of course, played for the Lakers while Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant often openly feuded with each other through the media and behind closed doors.

"Even when there’s been inner struggles between teammates on the Lakers to actually work it out, once they hit the floor, you still saw effort that was respectful of the uniform, respectful of all the fans out here in L.A. that fight and argue with so much pride for the Lakers organization that we aren’t getting," Fox said. "And so, for my money, I’m not seeing a guy that wants to be here."

Fox said he felt Howard was trying to prove a point with the way he's played this season.

"He feels entitled that he should be given the ball, things should be run through him, and he’s trying to prove a point, and the point is that like, 'I, in some way, should be No. 1 and I should be respected and therefore I’m giving the effort that you get because I don’t feel respected.' At the end of the day he’s had teams where he’s been the No. 1, for a number of years, and it’s led to exactly what he has: no championships."

Fox isn't the first former Lakers player to publicly criticize Howard and the Lakers in this most disappointing of seasons. Magic Johnson, O'Neal, Robert Horry and James Worthy have all been critical.

Fox said he has thus far tried to keep his feelings private, but wasn't going to censor himself when asked questions.

"I try to dance around and be politically correct, but it’s hard to do that when the people that love this team, and care about this team, are more passionate and upset about this situation than he’s been, or that other people have been. And quite frankly, there’s no room for that. There’s no room. I don’t want to turn my TV on and pay my money to watch that," Fox said.

“If Dwight ever really took a second -- and I don’t know if he’s done this -- to really look at the history of the organization and what it stands for and who has come before him and what this is about, then he would never look at it for a second at himself as bigger than this situation.

"That’s what it feels like; he wouldn’t look across the locker room at arguably one of the top players ever to play the game, ever, and he’s butting heads. Would he butt heads with Michael Jordan like this? Then he gotta go, he gotta go.”

Click here to listen to the full interview

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- The Lakers' already depleted front line has another injury on its hands.

Earl Clark underwent tests on his sore right foot on Tuesday, keeping him out of shoot-around in advance of the Lakers' game against the Phoenix Suns. But the Lakers said the results were negative, and that Clark would play Tuesday night.

Clark has averaged 11.6 points and 8.8 rebounds in 16 games as a starter at power forward this season.

The Lakers are without Pau Gasol (torn plantar fascia) for the next 6-8 weeks, Jordan Hill (hip surgery) is out for the rest of the season and Dwight Howard (right shoulder) continues to play with a torn labrum that has already caused him to sit out six games.

The Los Angeles Lakers have no immediate plans to add a free agent big man to help fill in their suddenly depleted front court, a source told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Monday. The Lakers have been discussing their options since Pau Gasol suffered a tear in the plantar fascia of his right foot. The situation is still being evaluated, and much depends on how much Dwight Howard is able to contribute with his injured shoulder, but for now, the Lakers are sitting tight.

The Lakers have one roster spot open to sign a free agent to either a 10-day contract or for the rest of the season. Kenyon Martin, Greg Oden and Louis Amundson are some of the best frontcourt players currently available via free agency.

MIAMI -- If Sunday's Los Angeles Lakers-Miami Heat matchup had any less meaning because of Los Angeles' sub-.500 record, nobody informed the teams that was the case.

Even though Miami came into the game winners of four in a row and owners of the best record in the Eastern Conference at 33-14, that didn't mean coach Erik Spoelstra was about to overlook the 24-27 Lakers.

"What you notice is that they have won seven out of their last nine despite everything that is circling around their team," Spoelstra said before the game. "They have found a way."

Spoelstra called it a way, Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni called it a route.

"I think they’ll be back up," D'Antoni said of Kobe Bryant's assist totals that had dwindled to just 9 total against Boston, Brooklyn and Detroit before dropping 8 dimes on the Bobcats. "I think he’s trying to get a feel, but obviously the right route is keep passing and trying to find open guys."

Bryant was back on the distribution wagon against Miami, doling out nine assists and putting his stamp on the game with 28 points and 6 rebounds, but as well as Bryant played, Miami had LeBron James on the other side of the ball.

James, who came into the game shooting 43-for-59 in his past four games (72.9 percent), was just as hot against L.A. After starting the game 4-for-4 for 12 points in the first half but having his playing time limited by three fouls, the three-time MVP exploded for 14 of his 32 points in the third quarter. He ended up shooting 12-for-18 from the floor.

"He’s unbelievable," D'Antoni, who coached James in each of the past two Olympics, said of the Heat forward. "His work ethic, his energy -- when everybody is down in practice, he’s the guy that gets it going, his love of the game. Besides winning the lottery gene pool that he won, besides all that, he takes it to a different level that I don’t know if anybody can go there to be honest with you. He’s unbelievable and he studies the game, there’s just a lot of great things that he does."

Not so great if you're a Laker fan.

Sunday wasn't exactly a classic James-versus-Bryant battle. They were rarely matched up with one another and as brilliant as Bryant has been in his 17th season, he's no match for James steamrolling his way through the league in his 10th.

The bigger takeaway was that Bryant's teammates didn't have nearly the same impact as James' running mate Dwyane Wade (30 points on 12-for-18 shooting), who dominated right there with James.

L.A. got 15 points and 9 rebounds from Dwight Howard, but he also had 3 turnovers and 0 blocks. Steve Nash had 15 points but just 2 assists against 3 turnovers.

How it happened:The Lakers led by one point after the first quarter and the game was tied up 53-53 at halftime as the Heat were able to erase an early 7-point deficit. James started to take over in the third, but L.A. kept plugging away and made it close thanks to a couple of early fourth quarter 3's by Earl Clark (18 points, 9 rebounds) and Jodie Meeks (six points on 2-for-3 shooting). But after just 7 team turnovers through the first three quarters, the Lakers coughed it up an additional 8 times in the fourth quarter alone, and Miami made them pay in transition to turn the close affair into a blowout.

What it means: L.A. went 4-3 on its all-important Grammy trip. Not the end of the world, but at 24-28, they didn't do themselves any favors, especially with Pau Gasol out for the next 6-8 weeks. Blowing that sure win in Phoenix hurts even more now after they squandered the game in Miami.

Hits: The Lakers had four players with 15 points or more and shot 50 percent as a team (35-for-70).

Misses: The Heat outscored the Lakers 19-4 in fast-break points.

Miami outrebounded L.A. 38-29.

Stat of the night: Metta World Peace shot 3-for-11 from the field, extending his shooting slump to 13 straight games shooting less than 50 percent from the field. World Peace has been particularly bad as of late, going 22-for-82 in his past seven games.

What's next: The Lakers return home for two games against the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers before the All-Star break.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Mike D'Antoni still wasn't over the Lakers' blowout loss to Boston before their game against the Bobcats Friday.

"It just didn’t seem like there was a commitment there of, no matter what, we got to win this game," D'Antoni said, thinking back at the way the Lakers trailed by as many as 32 points in an embarrassing loss to the Celtics. "We’ve been doing that -- play good, play bad, it doesn’t really matter if you play with your head and heart and everybody for everybody. It didn’t seem like it was there [Thursday] night, so hopefully something’s changed in 24 hours and we can get it."

For the first 2½ quarters against the Bobcats, nothing seemed to change.

The Lakers were lackadaisical on defense. They turned the ball over on offense. Their flow and cohesion were pretty much nonexistent.

But they kept at it in Charlotte, which they didn't do in Boston, and cut a 20-point deficit down to nine heading into the fourth quarter.

By the end of the game, they had a seven-point lead and one of their most balanced box scores of the season, with six Lakers players scoring in double digits and the shots evenly distributed throughout the lineup.

How it happened: L.A. completed a remarkable turnaround thanks to sharing the ball and clamping down on defense, holding Charlotte to 15 points in the fourth.

What it means: Don't put a fork in them just yet. If they can bottle the chemistry they showed in the fourth quarter, they will still make some noise in the race for the Western Conference playoffs.

Hits: Jodie Meeks scored 14 points off the bench on 5-for-7 shooting, including 4-for-4 from 3.

Antawn Jamison scored nine off the bench, including five in the fourth quarter, playing where he makes his offseason home in North Carolina.

Misses: Steve Blake was 0-for-5 from the field.

The Bobcats outscored the Lakers 24-11 in fast-break points.

Stat of the night: Kobe Bryant was scoreless in the first half for the first time since March 31, 2012, going just 0-for-2 from the field. The second half was a completely different story as he went 6-for-13 from the field and scored all 20 of his team-high total after intermission and received "MVP" chants in a road arena for the second time in three games.

What's next: The Lakers finish off their seven-game "Grammy" road trip Sunday in Miami, with a chance to go 5-2 on the jaunt. Considering all that has happened from Pau Gasol's foot, to Dwight Howard's shoulder, to the blown lead in Phoenix and the blowout in Boston, a win over the Heat would be a pretty spectacular finish to the trip.

BOSTON -- A couple of Lakers players' nicknames seriously need to be called into question after this one.

So much for the "Magic Mamba" moniker the pass-happy Kobe Bryant has picked up in recent weeks.

Bryant, who had amassed 75 assists in his last seven games to pick up the nickname, finished with zero assists to go with his 27 points and seven rebounds in 30 minutes on Thursday.

And so long to the "Superman" pseudonym by which Dwight Howard has been known for so long.

Howard, who played for the first time in four games after aggravating the torn labrum in his right shoulder at the start of the Lakers' seven-game trip, had just nine points and nine rebounds while shooting 1-for-6 from the free throw line in 28 minutes before fouling out Thursday night. Those numbers were nearly equaled by Boston backup big Chris Wilcox (eight points, nine rebounds), and nobody is calling him Superman. In fact, when I tweeted that Wilcox was playing in the game, several people hit me up on Twitter surprised that he was even still in the league.

The loss can't be put on just Kobe Bryant and Howard, of course. The Lakers' defense gave up a ridiculous 116 points to a Celtics team that had just played the night before on the road in Toronto. The Lakers missed 12 free throws as a team. Other than Bryant and Howard, the Lakers shot just 23-for-64 (35.9 percent) from the floor.

How it happened: Howard's return didn't give the team the type of boost right from the start that it was hoping for in Pau Gasol's absence. The Lakers trailed by four at the end of the first quarter and 14 at the half, as both their offense (just 37.8 percent shooting as a team overall, not to mention going 2-for-12 from 3 and 8-for-18 from the free throw line) and their defense (allowing Boston to shoot 51.1 percent as a team) struggled mightily in the first half. It didn't get any better after halftime.

The Celtics used a flurry of fast-break points and 3-pointers to break the game wide open and take a 26-point lead into the fourth. Boston shot 16-for-21 (76.2 percent) in the third quarter and scored 37 points in the period to run away with it.

What it means: All the good feeling from the Lakers' winning six out of seven games is gone, and reality is creeping in for a 23-27 Lakers team that will be without Gasol for a minimum of six to eight weeks, according to the team. The hard work is still ahead of the Lakers if they're going to pull off this improbable playoff push.

Hits: Bryant shot 9-for-15 from the field. After that? Umm …

Misses: The Celtics outscored the Lakers 58-36 in the paint.

The Celtics outscored the Lakers 22-4 in fast-break points.

The Lakers' biggest lead was one point. The Celtics' biggest lead was 32.

Devin Ebanks ended his string of 13 straight DNP-CDs only to go 2-for-6 from the field in five minutes in the fourth.

Stat of the night: Kevin Garnett (15 points) became just the 16th player in NBA history to score 25,000 career points, passing the milestone in the first half.

What's next: The Lakers will escape the major snowstorm set to blanket Boston with up to 2 feet of snow Friday afternoon by flying to Charlotte late Thursday night. (We'll see whether we beat writers are as lucky with getting out of Beantown on Friday morning.) The Lakers play the Bobcats in Charlotte on the second night of a back-to-back Friday, and while they've done OK this season on the second night of back-to-backs on the road (3-2), they are just 2-5 all time on the road against the Bobcats. Then, they finish up their road trip Sunday in Miami.