From Bill Plashke, LA Times: On the first night of the rest of their season, the Lakers without Kobe Bryant looked like Steve Blake’s bright purple low-cut sneakers. They were ungodly ugly, but delightfully fun. It’s impossible to imagine them taking more than a few steps before splitting apart at their bubble gum seams, but it’s going to be interesting to watch. “Hey, you’re talking about them, right?” said a smiling Blake. He was referring to the shoes, but he could have been talking about the team, which defeated somnolent San Antonio, 91-86, Sunday to move within a breath of the playoffs. It was their first game without Bryant, who underwent season-ending surgery Saturday to repair a torn Achilles’ tendon. It was a game marked by one question with two answers.

From Drew Garrison, Silver Screen & Roll: One. That’s the number of games the Los Angeles Lakers need to win in order to make the playoffs. Now seven games over .500 after spending the majority of the season cleaning the gutters at the bottom of the Western Conference, they’ve managed to push themselves back into a potential playoff run. Of course, with Kobe Bryant going down the entire narrative, focus, team, and outlook has changed. The potential of the Lakers being a force led by Bryant going into the playoffs has become smoke against the sky as the fire is now just a pile of smoldering ashes.

From Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk: Maybe it was every Laker knowing they had to step up their game with Kobe Bryant sidelined. Maybe it was the desperation of a Lakers team trying to salvage something from a train wreck season, playing much harder than a Spurs team Gregg Popovich described as “floating” through the game. Maybe it was the law of averages — eventually somebody had to hit a shot after a rough first three-quarters of the game. It just happened to be the Lakers. Whatever the reason the Lakers found the stroke from three when it mattered — the Lakers hit 5-of-9 threes in the fourth — and finished with a 91-86 win over San Antonio that makes the playoffs likely for them — their magic number is now one.

From Ramona Shelburne, ESPN LA: On the first day of training camp last fall, Kobe Bryant made one thing crystal clear: This was still his team. For better or worse, in sickness and in health, and for as long as he was putting on that No. 24 jersey, the Los Angeles Lakers were going to be Kobe Bryant’s team. The pecking order might change. Dwight Howard was going to be elevated above Pau Gasol in the offense. Steve Nash would have the ball in his hands more than Bryant. (That was the plan anyway.) But when it came down to it, at the end of the game, or when they looked in the mirror, Kobe would have the ball in his hands. There was no contingency plan. There was no reason for one. This was just how it was going to be.

From Stanley Lee, Lakers Nation: On Sunday night, the Lakers would host the formidable Spurs, still without point guard Steve Nash and in their first game without superstar Kobe Bryant. Coming off of a win Friday that practically defines the term Pyrrhic victory, L.A. will be without Kobe for the remainder of the season. Bryant, who led the Lakers in many categories and has been practically willing his team into the playoffs, suffered a torn Achilles against the Warriors and will be greatly missed in the playoff push. Meanwhile, the Lakers still nurse a one game lead over the Utah Jazz for the final playoff spot, but must win because the Jazz have the tiebreak. With Bryant gone, all eyes shift to Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol, fellow stars who absolutely need to step up.

We’re truly in the end-game now. Three frames left in the regular season, tonight’s match against the Golden State Warriors being one. The Lakers will be without Steve Nash again, the Warriors will be without Andrew Bogut who sprained his surgically-repaired left ankle against OKC last night. This post is late getting out and there will be a preview coming up so let’s just go straight to the links – some choice reading on tap today:

JM. Poulard who writes for both Warriors World and Forum Blue and Gold, offers a great 3-on-3 with the Lakers side being repped by Darius and Rey.

Dave McMenamin at ESPNLA reports that Jordan Hill has been cleared to ramp up workouts with a possible return if the Lakers go deep into the playoffs.

Ben Rosales at Silver Screen and Roll offers another great Beast or Burden post, looking at the recent play of the current big three.

Andy Kamenetzky at the Land O’Lakers embeds a Bee Gees video into his latest post/podkast thereby covering all the bases including Kobe and Pau.

Ben Bolch for the LATimes takes a close look at Kobe Bryant, defying age and logic as the finish line nears.

Eric Pincus for the LATimes has the preview for tonight’s game against the Golden State Warriors.

Brett Pollakoff for ProBasketballTalk has a great podcast on the Lakers, Warriors, Jazz and Bulls.

Serena Winters for Lakers Nation has tonight’s shoot around report.

Marc J. Spears for Yahoo writes about the Lakers and the playoff possibilities including a memorable line from OKC guard Kevin Martin, “They would be the scariest eighth seed team in history.”

Adrian Wojnarowski for Yahoo reports on talks between Rutgers and Lakers assistant Eddie Jordan. It’s hard to imagine a better choice.

And finally, Thomas Gollanopoulos at Grantland writes about a rap career that didn’t pan out for Kobe Bryant. It’s easy to laugh about the idea, but this is an intriguing in-depth piece – well worth the read.

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The Lakers are currently a game ahead of Utah but the Jazz hold the tie-breaker and are playing a very winnable match tonight – hosting the Timberwolves. The Lakers will stay in town after tonight’s Warriors’ face-off, welcoming the Spurs on Sunday and Houston on Wednesday for the final game of the regular season.  The Jazz on the other hand will travel to play the T-Wolves again on Monday and close out their regular season in Memphis on Wednesday. This is it. Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.

From Brett Polakoff, Pro Basketball Talk: The criticism for this Lakers team, which has struggled mightily in consecutive nights against teams that have long since been out of the playoff picture, is both real and well-justified. But regardless of the poor starts, even worse team defense, and a propensity to play down to their level of competition, the reality is that L.A. is being dragged to victory by one of the league’s best players, and that’s been pretty exciting to watch.Kobe Bryant followed up his 23 point fourth quarter on Tuesday with a 47 point effort in Portland, which was enough to lead his team to a 113-106 victory that pushed the Lakers a full game ahead of the Utah Jazz for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference standings.

From C.A. Clark, Silver Screen & Roll: Fifteen times, the Los Angeles Lakers have dealt with the difficulty of playing professional basketball contests on back to back nights. Fifteen times, they have failed to win both games. Tonight was their 16th and last opportunity, and they needed badly to be successful to keep Utah at bay in the race for the last playoff spot left. You knew, even against an under-manned and unimpressive Portland team with nothing to play for, it would take a special effort to get the job done. You just couldn’t have known how special it would be. Kobe Bean Black Mamba Vino Bryant. Take a bow.

From Dave McMenamin, ESPN LA:  Kobe Bryant emerged from the showers late Wednesday night and limped through the nearly empty visitors locker room at the Rose Garden, stopping briefly on his way to the training room to change so he could acknowledge Metta World Peace.”You always backed me,” Bryant said with intense appreciation. Bryant was winding down from what can only be described as an epic performance by the 17-year veteran — a season-high 47 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 3 steals with only 1 turnover, a statistical line never before recorded in the league, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.And all those stats paled in comparison to Bryant’s playing all 48 minutes, each and every second of the game, to help L.A. sweep a back-to-back for the first time in 16 tries this season and beat the Trail Blazers 113-106 in Portland, where the Lakers had lost 12 of their previous 14 games.

From Ben Bolch, LA Times: Kobe Bryant pumped his fist as he raced down the court in the final minutes, allowing himself a moment to celebrate a performance that was implausible even by his standards. His Lakers teammates extended high-fives on the way to the timeout huddle, about the only way Bryant was leaving the court in a game his team had to have.

From Eric Freeman, Yahoo Sports: The Los Angeles Lakers are fighting to grab the West’s last spot in the playoffs and rescue their season from utter disaster. After Kobe Bryant’s fourth-quarter heroics in Tuesday night’s win over theNew Orleans Hornets, the Lakers were faced with a road game against the Portland Trail Blazers on the second night of a back-to-back. A win would push them a game ahead of the Utah Jazz — a loss would drop them back into a tie for eighth place (which means missing out on the playoffs, because the Jazz hold the tiebreaker advantage). That’s a stiff challenge for an aging team, particularly given the heavy minutes logged by Bryant and others in this final push towards the postseason.

Last night’s game had it all, some good, some not. It was solid in spots and completely rudderless in others and in the end, there were even moments of brilliance. Kobe caught fire in the fourth quarter, Pau found his assertiveness and in the end, a victory over New Orleans on a night when Utah lost to Oklahoma City. This was a much needed win. The Lakers are up in Portland tonight – the second half of a two-game back-to-back plus the fact that they’re 6 & 25 in the Rose Garden is just a bit worrisome.

Sam Amick for USA Today on a resurgent Pau Gasol.

Brian Kamenetzky at the Land O’Lakers has a podkast and transcript, the zen of Pau.

Drew Garrison at Silver Screen and Roll writes about last night’s two-man give and go with Kobe and Pau.

Mike Bresnahan at the L.A. Times looks towards the challenges posed by tonight’s game. Also Mike plus Eric Pincus from the Times on Metta’s fast return.

Mark Medina for Inside the Lakers writes about the load Kobe’s carrying, trying to will the team into the playoffs.

Anybody who knows me knows that Craig Sager and Phil Jackson are two of my favorite fictional characters. Here, Aaron McGuire from Gothic Ginobili does it up right.

Dave McMenamin at ESPN has an injury update for Steve Nash and Jordan Hill.

This just had to be included – Eric Freeman from Ball Don’t Lie supplies video from MWP’s ‘too sexy for my cat’ speech last night.

Ross Gasmer from Lakers Nation has some Mike D’Antoni quotes from last night.

One of the things I miss most about Phil Jackson is the two-finger whistle. There were times when his bemused refusal to call a time out could frustrate and in all honesty, he seemed to lose his team’s dedication at the end of his last run. Still, he had the ability to focus and organize his teams. There’s something to be said for system basketball. The Lakers increasingly strayed from classic triple-post principles in the later-model Phil lineups but they still operated out of certain fundamental concepts. The injury factor has been joined at the hip with a lack of framework this season and while there are reasons offered, it doesn’t change the fact that a central tenet of coaching is unity. Tonight, the Lakers bring their chances to the Rose Garden – four games to go, four games for the right to continue playing.

From C.A. Clark, Silver Screen & Roll: For the briefest of moments, it was there: Hope. The belief that the Lakers had tricks up their sleeve that had not yet been revealed. For 9 glorious minutes, as the Lakers took the court against the Los Angeles Clippers, they did something previously thought to be impossible. They defended well, as a team, together. Not Dwight Howard changing shots. Not getting a couple of missed shots that lead to a big run. Just good, solid, team defense, with rotations at the proper time and to the proper place. It was a sight to behold. It was also short-lived. By the end of the first quarter, the Lakers had 6 turnovers and the Clippers were in the midst of hitting 10 straight shots, including a few threes, and the game was all but over. In the 2nd half, the 7 man rotation the Lakers have been working with of late ensured that there was little hope of any kind of grand comeback, and the Clippers kept the Lakers at arm’s length the rest of the way.

From Mark Heisler, Lakers Nation: Was this the Lakers’ playoffs? Or what if the Clippers drilled the Lakes—again–this time by 109-95—to record their first sweep over you… and they barely noticed? “For the first time ever you’ve been swept by the Clippers,” someone said to Kobe Bryant. “How frustrating is that?” Apparently not very much. Bryant paused, grinned, said wearily, “Man, we we got a bigger challenge to worry about than beating the Clippers one game.” And those were the good, old days, so to speak, around 4 p.m. Sunday with the Lakers still No. 8 in the West. About three hours later, the Jazz upset the Warriors in Oakland and the Lakers’ challenge was even bigger, going from a half-game ahead of Utah to a half-game behind… which is effectively 1.5 games with the Jazz having won the season series.

From Arash Markaz, ESPN LA: Los Angeles Lakers forward Metta World Peace said he will start Tuesday night when the Lakers play the New Orleans Hornets, just 12 days after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee that was supposed to sideline him at least six weeks. World Peace participated in a three-on-three scrimmage at practice Monday, and Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said there was a 90 percent chance World Peace would play Tuesday. “He’s good,” D’Antoni said. “It’s probably a game-time decision, but he looks good. He’s raring to go. The medical staff will make a decision tomorrow. It’s unbelievable. He’s different. … I’ve never seen this before.”

From Mike Bresnahan, LA Times: If ever there’s a time for the Lakers to sweep a back-to-back set, it’s now. Age and injuries could always be blamed, but inconsistency would be the biggest, saddest mark of a team that hasn’t won on back-to-back days this season. “It’s a good time to start,” Kobe Bryant said Monday. The Lakers have never gone a whole season without sweeping a back-to-back series in their 64-year history. Even their worst team, the 1957-58 Minneapolis Lakers who finished 19-53, managed to nail a back-to-back. The maligned present-day Lakers (40-37) play host to New Orleans on Tuesday and then are at Portland, their personal haunted mansion, on Wednesday. In the mess that this season has become, a surprising bit of positive injury news trickled out of the Lakers’ medical flies Monday.

From Kurt Helin, Pro Basketball Talk: Such is the depth of the hole the Lakers have dug themselves — even in the sprint to the finish to get the eighth and final playoff spot in the West Los Angeles does not control its own destiny. Utah is the team in the driver’s seat. Win out their remaining four games and the Jazz head to the playoffs. It doesn’t matter how many points Kobe Bryant scores or how fast Metta World Peace comes back from injury, if the Jazz win out the Lakers can do no better than tie and Utah has the tie breaker (they won the season series). The Lakers still have a chance, but they likely need to go at least 4-1 in their last five to get there. They may need to win out. And their schedule is anything but easy.