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LOS ANGELES -- The downside of the Los Angeles Lakers putting together those two inspiring comeback wins in the past two games is that they played so poorly at the start that they needed to pull the rabbit out of a hat.

The less-exciting, yet much more efficient approach is to take care of business from the start and not need to rely on any late-game heroics.

Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni called it a "ditch."

"We can't get in there," D'Antoni said before the Lakers played the Chicago Bulls on Sunday. "That's not good. We got to be able to cure that."

L.A. had the antidote for a day at least: defense.

Led by Dwight Howard (not too many Lakers sentences have started that way this season, huh?), the Lakers completely stifled Chicago's offense.

Now, the Bulls were without Derrick Rose, Kirk Hinrich and Taj Gibson of course, but the way the Lakers were protecting their turf Sunday, you could have put Jordan and Pippen back in a Chicago uniform and L.A. still would have given itself a chance.

The Lakers kept the Bulls to just 37.1 percent shooting overall, 25 percent on 3-pointers and just 81 points total -- the least points they've given up to an opponent since Golden State scored 77 back in November.

How it happened: Even though the Lakers weren't exactly sharp themselves to start the game (0-for-8 on 3-pointers in the first quarter), they held the Bulls to 6-for-18 shooting in the opening period to take a four-point lead. With balanced scoring (six players in double digits) and tough defense, L.A. was able to push that lead to as many as 18 in the third. Then the tables were turned a bit as the Lakers found themselves as the team protecting a late lead, rather than being the ones trying to dig out of a late deficit. Chicago cut the margin to just eight points with a little more than eight minutes remaining, but the Lakers were able to keep it back over 10 for pretty much the rest of the way until Marco Belinelli hit a meaningless 3-pointer in the final minute.

What it means: Get this: the Lakers are two games over .500 for the first time this season. They've now won 16 of their past 22 games (.727) -- a significant stretch spanning more than a quarter of the season. With the win, the Lakers are now a half-game ahead of the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 18 games left to play.

Hits: Bryant followed up his 40-point, 12-assist games with a solid 19 and nine along with seven rebounds.

Howard had 16 points, 21 rebounds, four blocks and a steal.

L.A.'s bench outscored Chicago's subs 16-10.

Misses: The Lakers shot just 5-for-26 (19.2 percent) on 3-pointers.

Howard shot an airball on a free throw in the first quarter and was 0-for-5 from the line overall.

Bryant and Metta World Peace got into a brief shouting match late in the first half after World Peace was called for an offensive foul while trying to set a screen for Bryant. Steve Nash intervened to settle both players down.

Stat of the game: Howard grabbed 21 rebounds, his fourth time this season grabbing 20 or more. The Lakers were just 1-2 the first three times he did it. Sunday also marked the 10th straight game that Howard had 12 or more rebounds.

What's next: The Lakers go back on the road for a three-game trip, continuing their brutal March where 10 out of their 14 games are away from Staples Center. The trip starts Tuesday against the Magic in Howard's return to Orlando. The Lakers follow that with the second night of a back-to-back Wednesday in Atlanta and then go to Indiana to play the Pacers on Friday.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Has the best story of this season hit a wall?

That would be forward Earl Clark, whom the Los Angeles Lakers discovered when three of their big men got hurt before a road trip and Clark responded with 22 points and 13 rebounds Jan. 9 in a loss to San Antonio. Recently he has fallen off some, scoring in double figures just once over his previous seven games.

"His energy level is way down," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "He might hit a wall a little bit. I don't know the reason, but his playing time has been cut back a little bit. But hopefully he will be re-energized. We need it. Hopefully he can get back up there."

However when Clark was asked whether he was tired, he disagreed.

"Not for me," Clark said. "I just continue to play. I don't know what it is. I'm just playing and trying to do whatever he wants. He's just coaching. If he feels like my energy level is down, he's going to take me out. I guess I have to provide more energy."

Clark has never played anything close to the 31 minutes a game he has averaged in 27 games as a starter. The most minutes he has played in his five NBA seasons was last year when he played almost 13 minutes a game for the Orlando Magic.

He has been putting in extra conditioning before and after practice to try and get into the type of shape to handle the extra workload, but was told recently that he may be overdoing it.

"They say I should slow down with working out and getting more rest," Clark said. "But it's hard when you've been doing this your whole life. I just have to take more precautions and take it easy a little bit. Going to sleep and don't come in here as much. Don't overwork yourself."

How much does he sleep?

"I sleep a lot. I think I get enough rest," he said. "But it's kind of hard to stop working when you've gotten so far and see success. You want to keep going. I never played this much. I don't know the toll that it's taking on my body. It's just about learning and keep going."

LOS ANGELES -- Steve Nash went to get the ball because, well, Nash has always had the ball in his hands.

Midway through the first quarter Friday night, as Earl Clark picked up the ball to inbound it, Nash held up his hands as Clark looked at him and Kobe Bryant, who was holding up his hands as well. Clark ended up passing it to Nash, who immediately gave the ball to Bryant and ran down the court toward the right arc.

This is Nash's new role with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is no longer one of the league's best point guards, but rather its newest shooting guard.

Sure there are still moments when Nash will bring up the ball depending on defensive adjustments by the opposition, but more often than not, Nash is patrolling the perimeter and waiting for Bryant to get him the ball.

"It's a big adjustment for me and I am trying to embrace it," Nash said. "I'm trying to do what I can to help the team. It's not something I'm accustomed. It's been a difficult transition in some ways, but at the same time I love being here and I really want to help the team the best I can."

As much as Nash would like to have the ball in his hands, he has stepped up to the challenge of being an outside shooter for the Lakers. He had a season-high 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting, including 4-of-6 on 3-pointers in the Lakers' thrilling 118-116 overtime win over the Toronto Raptors on Friday. It's sill jarring, however, to see Nash finish a game with just two assists. Over the past seven games, Nash has scored at least 20 points three times but has averaged less than 4.0 assists in those three games.

"He's one of the best shooters in history and he's playing a little bit off the ball now," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said. "Kobe does some unbelievable things when he has the ball in his hands. It's going to be that way for a little bit. At the same time he'll get some pick-and-rolls and stuff but right now Kobe is orchestrating a lot of stuff and Steve is OK with it.

"It's not easy, but if anybody can do it, he can do it and he'll accept anything to win. That's what makes him so great."

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LOS ANGELES -- How do you trump coming back from 25 points to win on the road?

How about Kobe Bryant personally hitting three 3-pointers in the final 1:41 of regulation to force overtime in a game that the Los Angeles Lakers trailed the Toronto Raptors by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter?

How about the 3-pointers not even being Bryant's most impressive plays of the night?

Bryant topped himself again with yet another highlight-reel classic hammer dunk in overtime to give L.A. the lead for good at 117-115.

Bryant finished with 41 points and 12 assists, his second straight game going for 40-plus points with 12 dimes.

Unprecedented stuff.

The Lakers' season wouldn't have been over had Bryant not stepped in to save the day once again, but it certainly wouldn't have been this fun, or historic for that matter.

Bryant is not going down without a fight and that means, no matter what garbage the Lakers have had to wade through so far this season, his team has a fighter's chance.

How it happened: Stop me if you've heard this one before: The Lakers play a subpar team that is looking to give some meaning to its season by beating all the glitz and glamour that is the Lakers so the whole league pays attention, and L.A. doesn't come out with anywhere near the requisite energy and focus to keep said subpar team from thinking it has a prayer. Maybe it was just making the comeback from 15 points down even that much more spectacular. Seems kind of like the script the entire Lakers season has followed.

What it means: It took 108 days, but the 32-31 Lakers are back over .500 for the first time since Nov. 20, when they were 6-5 following Mike D'Antoni's first game on the sidelines.

Hits: Two games after tying his Lakers career high with 20 points against Oklahoma City, Steve Nash had his shooting touch going again and set a new high with 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, including a huge game-tying 3 in OT.

Howard, although just 6-for-13 from the line for the game, went 2-for-2 from the stripe with 3:55 remaining in the fourth when the Raptors briefly employed a Hack-a-Howard strategy. Oh, not to mention he had 24 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and five blocks.

Misses: Bryant had nine turnovers, but who are we to quibble?

Other than Bryant's ridiculous 5-for-10 night from deep, the Lakers shot 9-for-29 from 3 as a team (31.0 percent) with the main culprits being Jodie Meeks (2-for-9), Metta World Peace (1-for-6) and Antawn Jamison (1-for-4).

Stat of the game: Just take a look at Bryant's line one more time: 41 points and 12 assists, a game after he had 42 and 12. Nutty. Simply nutty.

What's next: The Lakers host the Chicago Bulls on Sunday in a game that tips off at 12:30 p.m. PT. L.A. always seems to struggle with early starts, but it should be thrilled to play the Bulls any time of day considering Chicago's Marco Belinelli knocked off the Utah Jazz, the team currently occupying the No. 8 spot in the West, with a winning shot on Friday night.

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.

If you thought that the compression shirt Dwight Howard has been wearing under his Lakers uniform these days was just another accessory like the arm sleeves and headband he wore earlier in the season or a way to accentuate his shoulder muscles for the cameras, think again.

Howard has been wearing a Posture Shirt for the last 11 games and hasn't missed any playing time because of the torn labrum in his right shoulder since putting it on.

"It’s been doing a pretty good job of keeping everything straight as far as my back and my shoulder, making sure that everything is inline," Howard said recently. "A lot of people think that it’s just a regular Polo T, but it’s not. It’s a shirt that was made strictly for posture and making sure the scapula and everything stay straight."

Howard aggravated his shoulder in the first quarter of the Lakers' 122-105 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday but was able to play the rest of the game as well as the next day against New Orleans in part because of the garment.

"Anybody who has had a torn labrum knows that it’s not something that you feel all the time," Howard said last week. "It’s not something that just bothers you while you’re walking or you’re working out. There’s moments where it feels really good and then once someone pulls you or hits you in the wrong position, that’s when sometimes everything in your arm goes numb. It just depends."

The Lakers had to receive permission from the league for Howard to wear the shirt as part of his uniform and it was approved because it is considered a medical device.

"We’ve had them in the locker room all year, but nobody is using them and I just started to wear it and actually felt a lot better," Howard said after shootaround Friday.

Kobe Bryant joins Jimmy Kimmel to talk about his performance against the New Orleans Hornets, the challenges this season for the Los Angeles Lakers, their playoff chances and Dennis Rodman's trip to North Korea.

LOS ANGELES – The popular theory when Dwight Howard arrived in Los Angeles this summer was that Kobe Bryant would groom Howard to eventually become the leader of the Los Angeles Lakers. During a season as unpredictable as this one has been for the Lakers, it only makes sense now that another veteran, Metta World Peace, is trying to help groom Howard to be that leader.

“Dwight is learning how to be a leader,” World Peace told ESPNLA 710 on Thursday. “He’s not yet a vocal leader because he hasn’t been in that situation enough to lead by example, so I have to really step up and lead more vocally and by example and I try to teach Dwight a little bit about what it takes to lead. I don’t have all the accolades that these guys have, mainly because of my dysfunction and my Tourette's [syndrome]. It’s not because of my play, because I’ve been suspended.

“Some guys look at my stats and they don’t see extra defensive player of the years and extra All-Stars because I’ve been in trouble my whole career. So sometimes I lead by example and make big shots and gain these guys’ respect. Everybody leads in different ways. We have a lot of different leaders.”

World Peace said that Kobe “leads by example” and Steve Nash “is out there thinking the game” while he tries to serve as a “support system for everybody.”

During Howard’s tumultuous first season in Los Angeles, World Peace has consistently been by his side, publicly supporting him while he was critiqued and criticized for his play on the court and his comments off the court. World Peace said he learned how to be a leader in the locker room from former Lakers guard Derek Fisher.

“You never know what somebody is going through in their life,” World Peace said. “You never know what somebody is going through physically or mentally. You never know if somebody is not ready for this pressure. You never know what anybody is going through. You can only be there for support. You just got to be there by their side, and I learned that from playing with Derek Fisher. You have to be there for your teammate because all you have is each other. You’re not going to win with just one person.”

While Bryant has been leading by example and has the Lakers on the cusp of making the playoffs, World Peace wishes some of his teammates would snap out of that follower mentality on the court and stop simply watching Bryant try to bail the Lakers out late in games.

“Kobe is playing at a high level right now,” World Peace said. “I think guys have to stop watching him at times and just play at the highest level they can play at. We can’t do all the great things Kobe can do, but you can be as great as you can be. So that means Earl [Clark] has to go coast-to-coast sometimes and Steve Nash has to do his thing. Obviously it’s not going to be Kobe Bryant-ish, but be as great as you can be, and as long as we stop watching Kobe and start doing what’s best for the team I think that’s going to turn into great team play.”

The Lakers seemed to do that in the fourth quarter against the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday, as they came back from a 25-point deficit to win the game and get to within a game and half of the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final playoff seed in the West. World Peace, however, refused to put much stock in that game. Regardless of the result, he still thinks the Lakers are making the playoffs and winning a championship this season.

“Even if we would have lost that game, I’m still playing for championships, I couldn’t care less,” World Peace said. “If we win or lose that game we’re still coming out No. 1 at the end of the season. That game means nothing to me.”

NEW ORLEANS -- Crisis averted.

This one was a wrap. Until it wasn't.

Win of the season?

Sum up the Los Angeles Lakers' 108-102 come-from-behind victory over the New Orleans Hornets on Wednesday any way you want, but know that it was as important a game as the team has played all season.

You can say a lot against these Lakers, but they have certainly figured out some mental toughness, if nothing else.

Who was the hero in this one? Kobe Bryant with 42 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds? Dwight Howard with four blocks, including one to save the game? Jodie Meeks with 19 points off the bench?

Singling out one wouldn't give proper due to Metta World Peace sticking those second-half 3-pointers when the team was stagnant or Pau Gasol in street clothes keeping Howard mentally in the game during timeouts or Steve Nash's mere presence opening up space on the floor for Bryant to operate.

What a win.

Here's a look at what L.A. did to get back to 31-31 …

How it happened: The Lakers shot just 38.5 from the field for the game and 33.3 percent on 3-pointers (4-for-12) in the first half as the Hornets hit at a 56.8 percent clip overall en route to leading by as many as 25. L.A. trailed by 18 heading into the fourth before mounting a furious comeback. Bryant put them ahead with a pull-up jumper with 32.6 seconds left, and Howard followed that up with a block on 7-footer Robin Lopez on the other end before L.A. cushioned its lead at the end.

What it means: It could have been more of the same one step forward, two steps back basketball the Lakers have toyed with all season long. After that ever-so-brief sigh of relief L.A. had after beating the Atlanta Hawks at home in thrilling fashion, the Lakers came precariously close to going back to 30-32. But they somehow figured it out and got some help from Utah, which lost 104-101 to Cleveland, and Houston, which lost 112-108 in Dallas to boot. And so, the Laker playoff push continues.

Hits: After being limited to just seven points and three rebounds in the first half while playing only 11 minutes because of foul trouble, Howard was a beast in the second. He finished with 20 points, 14 rebounds and the aforementioned four blocks.

Bryant had the first 42-plus point, 12-plus assist effort the NBA has seen in three seasons since LeBron James did it.

Misses: Exhibit A of why the Lakers should have been aware of what could be coming Wednesday night:

The last time the Lakers played the Hornets at home back in late January, L.A. saw its 18-point fourth-quarter lead cut all the way to one before holding on to win by five.

If that wasn't enough of a wake-up call, how about Exhibit B: The last time the Lakers played a true bottom-feeder on the road in the Charlotte Bobcats -- who had the worst record in the East just like the Hornets have the second-worst record in the West -- they trailed by as many as 20 before rallying to win.

When will they learn? Or maybe, more appropriately, will they ever learn?

Stat of the game: The Lakers outscored the Hornets 33-9 in the fourth quarter.

What's next: The Lakers host the Toronto Raptors (who followed up six wins out of seven games around the All-Star break by losing five straight) on Friday and then get the Chicago Bulls at home in a Sunday matinee.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Los Angeles Lakers might have been able to forget about their loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder as soon as they boarded the plane to fly to New Orleans for a back-to-back Wednesday, but it will be a little harder for their bodies to forget what happened.

Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace all sustained a physical setback in L.A.'s 122-105 loss Tuesday, but all plan to play against the Hornets.

Bryant suffered an ulnar nerve contusion in the first quarter -- aggravating a funny bone injury he has been dealing with for most of the season -- and had to leave the court to receive treatment, before returning to score 30 points on 8-for-19 shooting.

"I just got popped on a nerve," Bryant said. "That's the exact reason why I wear the sleeve is to protect that thing, and I just got popped right on that button."

Bryant initially seemed to hurt the elbow while catching a pass from Steve Nash. The injury flared up several other times throughout the game, such as when Bryant drove to the lane or got his arms tangled up with Thunder center Kendrick Perkins as they jockeyed for a rebound.

"Every time you try to bend your elbow extended with a little resistance, it's a lot of pain," Bryant said.

Bryant was able to keep up his scoring streak, topping 30 points for the fifth time in the past six games, but his efficiency dropped, as he shot just 42.1 percent; he had gone into the contest shooting better than 56 percent over his previous five games.

"You got to adjust your shooting mechanics, and I wasn't able to hold my follow-through too much, but you just got to adjust to it and go from there," Bryant said.

He missed only a couple of minutes of game time, checking out with 8:40 to go in the first quarter and returning with 4:01 remaining, so it's no surprise Bryant will be back in uniform going forward.

"This is a critical part of the season, to say the least, so I'm going to play," Bryant said.

Howard also got hurt in the first quarter, needing the team to call timeout when he aggravated the torn labrum in his right shoulder that has caused him to miss six games already this season.

"It was bugging me the whole game," Howard said.

What also had to bug him was the way the injury happened, as he collided with a teammate by mistake.

"Metta was trying to run through and I was trying to run back, and as he was turning around his momentum pulled my arm all the way back [across my body], and it's been bugging me since," Howard said. "I just played through it as much as I can and I try not to worry about it."

The All-Star center said this aggravation wasn't like the previous two that caused him to miss games, however.

"It was different," Howard said. "The last ones were me going up, but this one just came across my body, so it was a different kind of hit. But I'm just in a lot of pain."

After World Peace unintentionally hurt Howard early, he unintentionally hurt himself late. World Peace scored 10 fourth-quarter points, but he stepped on an opponent's foot and had to exit the game because of his rolled right ankle with 2:24 remaining and the Lakers trailing by nine.

"I did the Harlem Shake, then I twisted my ankle," World Peace joked after the game as his feet and ankles rested in an ice bath. "But it will be OK."

World Peace underwent an X-ray on his right ankle after the game, and it came back inconclusive. He will have further tests Wednesday in New Orleans, even though he said he planned to play.

"It didn't say nothing," World Peace said of the X-ray. "It's probably just sore."

World Peace seemed shocked to hear that he was the cause of Howard's pain, but was confident he and his teammates would conquer their various maladies.

"Oh, that sucks," World Peace said when informed of the pain in Howard's shoulder. "He's OK? I didn't see him since it happened, but we should be OK, though."

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Before the game Tuesday night, Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said he believed his team had truly turned the corner and it had "stuck" for the previous 18 games, with L.A. winning 13 of them.

The second of those wins was against the Oklahoma City Thunder back in January, when the Lakers held OKC's potent offense to just 96 points. It was a needed win at the time.

But to do it again at Chesapeake Energy Arena, where the Thunder were 26-4, could really legitimize the run the Lakers have been on.

"You look at the schedule, you look at OKC, and I use it more as a measuring stick of where we need to go," D'Antoni said. "What we have to improve on."

They can start with protecting the basketball.

A game after coughing it up 21 times against Atlanta, leading to 29 points for the Hawks, the Lakers had 16 turnovers Tuesday against the Thunder that led to 22 points.

Shoring up their defense overall would help, too.

Despite Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard stating repeatedly that the Lakers would have to control the tempo and slow down the rolling Thunder in order to have a chance in the game, Oklahoma City scored 71 points in the first half en route to 122 for the game.

Even if the Lakers accomplish their goal of making the playoffs, they have a long ways to go to have a chance of knocking off a team such as the Thunder in a seven-game series. Here’s a quick overview of Tuesday’s tilt:

How it happened: Things looked mighty bleak in the early going, with Bryant going to the locker room with an ulnar nerve contusion in his right arm and Howard needing a timeout to attend to his sore right shoulder. All the while, the Thunder kept putting up points like the scoreboard was a pinball machine. The Lakers crawled their way back within five in the fourth, thanks to 10 points in the final period from Metta World Peace and Steve Nash's finding his stroke (finishing 7-for-15 for 20 points, after going just 1-for-7 in the first half).

What it means: The Lakers’ time at .500 was short lived, and they'll have to wait until at least Friday against Toronto to get back over .500 for the first time since Nov. 20. Meanwhile, L.A. still doesn't have an answer for Russell Westbrook (37 points, 10 rebounds, five assists) or Kevin Durant (26 points, nine rebounds, five assists, three steals, three blocks).

Hits: Bryant scored 30 points on 8-for-19 shooting, despite the right elbow injury. He hit three big 3s and helped keep L.A. within striking distance for most of the game.

Earl Clark (13 points, 11 rebounds) had another double-double, but his five first-half turnovers made D'Antoni start Antawn Jamison in the second half.

Misses: Howard fouled out with just six points on 1-for-7 shooting. (He did manage 16 rebounds.)

The Lakers were outscored 52-22 in points in the paint.

The Lakers' bench was outscored 39-20, with Derek Fisher pouring in 10 points on 3-for-4 shooting for the Thunder.

Stat of the game: The Thunder finished with just two turnovers, tying the NBA record for fewest turnovers in a game.

What's next: The Lakers play the second night of their road back-to-back in New Orleans on Wednesday. The Hornets are just 21-40 on the season, but they are full of young legs and had Tuesday off to rest in anticipation of L.A.’s visit.

As we first reported in January, the Lakers will play in the China Games next preseason and the dates of the games were announced by the NBA on Tuesday -- Oct. 15 in Beijing and Oct. 18 in Shanghai, both against the Golden State Warriors.

It will be the first trip overseas for the Lakers since the 2010 preseason, when they traveled to London and Barcelona.

There will be eight preseason games played abroad next year. Oklahoma City will be in Turkey and the Philadelphia 76ers will be in Spain before both teams will meet to play a game against each other in Manchester, England. The Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers will play in Manila, Philippines, and then in Taipei, Taiwan, and the Washington Wizards and Chicago Bulls will face off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Kobe Bryant has been in a bit of a groove lately.

In his last five games, Bryant is averaging 34.8 points on 56.9 percent shooting, 7.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists, and the Lakers are 4-1.

"I’m just playing better, that’s all," Bryant said after Monday's practice.

Well, duh.

Bryant's hot streak has provided another opportunity to look back at what he's accomplishing as a 34-year-old in his 17th season. He's averaging 27.3 points (No. 3 in the league), 5.6 assists, 5.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals and is shooting 47.2 percent from the field, the best mark of his career.

How does he do it?

"There’s a certain commitment," Bryant said. "There’s a lot of sacrifice and a lot of attention to detail that goes into trying to play at a high level for a long, long time. It’s a lot of sacrifice, man. But to me, it’s worth it."

Bryant detailed that sacrifice includes everything from what he puts in his body to how he divvies up his time.

"I think diet is always the hardest thing, because we’re all accustomed to eating what we want to eat whenever we want to eat it, and you become comfortable with that," Bryant said. "So changing that is in essence changing your lifestyle. So that’s probably been the most difficult."

Bryant changed up his diet in summer 2008 to lose weight and take pressure off his knees, but this time around it's been more of a total commitment rather than just cutting out pizza and grape soda, two of his old vices.

"I think last summer was when I really started paying attention to it, becoming obsessive about it," Bryant said. "Working out in the summer I felt I was in pretty good shape but I still felt lethargic in my conditioning. I said ‘Let me give this diet thing a shot,’ and it changed within a week for me. I knew then the significance of it."

It doesn't mean that he never cheats on his diet once in awhile.

"Sugar cookies, for sure," Bryant said. "You just try to balance it out. Sometimes I have a cookie now and then, but for the most part I stick to it pretty well."

It's been well-documented that Bryant is a workout machine, but more time in the gym means less time with his family.

"That’s always been there," Bryant said. "Even when I was a kid, hanging out with my sisters and friends and things like that, that’s always been something that you have to sacrifice, and you also have to have a family that’s understanding of that as well."

Bryant downplayed the significance of the orthokine therapy he received on his knee in the summer of 2011 as a major contributing factor, pointing out that he had a turn-back-the-clock dunk on Emeka Okafor, then on the New Orleans Hornets, in the playoffs that spring before heading to Germany for the procedure.

Ultimately, Bryant says his stay at the top of his sport has been more about mentality than physicality.

"After so many years, it becomes easy to lose focus," he said. "Some guys lose focus from game to game. I take it as a challenge to try to be focused for many, many years."

Has Bryant's focus ever waned through 17 seasons, 1,441 games (including the playoffs) and 61,947 minutes played?

"No," he said.

And so he stays on top.

LOS ANGELES -- When trying to get their players to relish the fundamentals rather than squirt more mustard on the hot dog with the fancier play, coaches at all levels remind their guys that a dunk is not worth more than a layup. They both count for two points.

Kobe Bryant put that theory to the test Sunday during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 99-98 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

Yes, Bryant's driving layup with 9 seconds left over the outstretched arms of the 6-foot-9 Josh Smith proved to be the game winner.

However, it was Bryant's turn-back-the-clock dunk two minutes earlier -- when he blew by Smith and took off past the charge circle -- that might well have decided the contest.

"It’s more of a message to my team here to try to kind of have that will, that hunger to push through it by any means necessary," Bryant said after finishing with a game-high 34 points, which is right in line with the 34.8 points on 56.9 percent shooting he's been putting up over the past five games. The Lakers have gone 4-1 in that stretch to post a 30-30 record and get back to .500 for the first time since Dec. 28.

It sums up the rigors Bryant puts his 34-year-old body through in order to be able to perform at this high of a level in his 17th season. The ice baths. The strict diet. The pre-dawn workouts.

All to make himself able to compete night in and night out. And all to make himself compete the same way as the league's best player, LeBron James, even though James is six years his junior.

And Bryant hasn't relinquished the ability to seize momentum with a good, old-fashioned, game-changing jam.

"It definitely energizes all of us. Man, he’s jumping with power, too," said Steve Blake, who had the game-ending steal off an errant Smith pass following Bryant's offensive heroics. "You got to move on to the next play. But for that split instant you’re just like, ‘Wow,’ and you know he’s demoralized the other team for that moment. Sometimes it can take confidence away from the other team, even on the offensive end."

We saw it in Brooklyn this season, when Kobe threw down on Gerald Wallace and Kris Humphries in the closing minutes and had the Nets' own fans chanting "MVP" for Bryant.

And we're seeing it more at this stage of his renaissance career then we did in previous seasons when it seemed like he was winding down.

Bryant now has 33 dunks in the Lakers' 60 games this season, good for an average of .55 dunks a night. That's a better dunking rate than the 28 he had in 58 games last season when he was 33 (.48 average). And the 38 he had in 82 games in 2010-11, when he was 32 (.46). And the 36 in 73 games in 2009-10 when he was 31 (.49).

"I was in my coffin a few years ago," Bryant said, gladly reminding the media that plenty of the pundits and scribes out there have soiled hands from prematurely throwing dirt on his grave. "Vino is out of the barrel."

"Vino" is the new nickname Bryant adopted after a writer for his advertising agency called him it in a text after Bryant had three highlight reel variety dunks Thursday against Minnesota.

As Bryant has gotten better with age, his new-look Lakers team also has improved as the season has progressed. They've won 13 of their past 18 games, with Bryant making a playoff guarantee to Sports Illustrated during that stretch.

"His belief in himself is huge," Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said of Bryant.

The formula for Bryant's slam-dunk resurgence is part confidence and part physical dedication. It’s partly schematic, too.

"I can get to the rim a lot more because the floor is more spread," Bryant explained this week. "So I can attack the basket. And my passing and teammates knocking down shots opens the floor more for me, because I can get all the way to the rim."

The one teammate who will matter most in determining if these dunks by Bryant will lead to something more, or just end up in YouTube mixes for years to come, is Dwight Howard.

"It was a great dunk," Howard said. "He probably surprised himself with that one."

Even though Howard jokingly gave Bryant only an "8 or 9" out of 10 for the dunk, any praise for Bryant was positive to hear after Howard bizarrely refused to comment on Bryant's dunks after the Minnesota game.

That doesn't mean they're destined to pour championship champagne on one another, but even Howard seems to have accepted the recipe for how the Lakers are winning games.

"People are starting to see how tough we can be when we play together," Howard said.

For now, the rest of the league is drinking the "Vino" Kool-Aid right along with Bryant.

Atlanta's Al Horford called Bryant "the best player in the game." Denver's Andre Iguodala tweeted that Bryant's fourth-quarter slam was the dunk of the season.

However, Bryant's 1996 NBA vintage seems to age better when stored along with some doubt.

"I got plenty in the tank, but if you all want to feel free to criticize and say I don’t, go right ahead," Bryant said.

LOS ANGELES -- Are we sure Kobe Bryant is really 34 years old and in his 17th season?

He put on yet another turn-back-the clock performance on Sunday with 11 of his game-high 34 points in the fourth quarter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ thrilling 99-98 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

Much in the same fashion that Bryant's game seemingly has gotten better with age, he saved his best stuff for the final minutes against the Hawks -- soaring past Josh Smith for his best dunk of the season, knocking down clutch free throws and hitting a tough, driving layup with nine seconds left that proved to be the difference-maker.

How it happened: The Lakers led by as many as 16 points in the third quarter but allowed Atlanta's hot shooters off the bench (Kyle Korver and Devin Harris had 16 points apiece) to get the Hawks back in it. But Bryant and Metta World Peace (two 3-pointers in the fourth quarter) made the plays that mattered in the win.

What it means: All the jokes about the Lakers restarting the season for the umpteenth time aside, the guys in purple and gold got back to the same even record they began the 2012-13 campaign with on Sunday.

At 30-30 with the win over the Hawks, the Lakers are .500 for the first time since Dec. 28, when they were 15-15.

Hits: Bryant did the scoring (34 points on 13-for-27 shooting), Dwight Howard did the rebounding (a game-high 15 boards) and Steve Nash did the passing (a game-high 10 assists). That's how it's supposed to work.

Novak Djokovic, the world's No. 1 ranked tennis player, visited the Lakers' locker room before the game and spent time with Howard and Antawn Jamison joking and posing for photographs.

Misses: Howard shot 5-for-12 from the field and allowed his frustration to boil over into being called for a technical foul.

Jamison finished 3-for-7 after starting the game 3-for-3.

Stat of the game: This isn't an encouraging one. The Lakers had 21 turnovers, leading to 29 points for Atlanta.


What's next: The Lakers go on the road for a back-to-back tilts starting Tuesday in Oklahoma City. The Thunder have won four of their past five games and are 26-4 at home, including a 114-108 win the last time the Lakers visited Chesapeake Energy Arena. The Lakers follow it up Wednesday on the road against the New Orleans Hornets, who are just 21-39 as of Sunday.