by Noah Graham - NBAE/Getty Images

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Welcome back, Pau Gasol.

Thanks for stopping by, Pau Gasol.

So glad you're back, Pau Gasol.

It's true; sometimes, this Lakers team can be so ridiculously talented that when a guy like Gasol sits out the first eleven games of the season, you can almost forget just how much you miss him. Almost.

When things don't quite seem to fit, you think to yourself that this team is far, far too talented not to be destroying everybody they meet. But things look awkward, not quite right. Something is wrong; what's the problem?

And then he comes back, and life is easy and grand and beautiful, with everything in its right place, and you remember. Not that he's good — you were never that forgetful. But you remember just how good he is, and everything he does for this team.

Thank you, Pau Gasol.

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More photos » by Jeff Gross - Getty Images

Back to his old tricks, but with some new ones to boot.

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Lakers fans understand what I mean when I say that sometimes, watching Kobe Bryant play, it's almost as though the game in progress becomes secondary. The greatness of Kobe Bryant simply transcends the moment, and you could almost forget that there is an event taking place, the outcome of which matters quite a bit to the players, coaches, and indeed, Kobe Bryant himself. You could almost forget that anything bigger was happening than you, sitting transfixed, watching Kobe be Kobe. This was one of those nights — not quite to the extent of 81 points, or 62 in three quarters, but nonetheless.

And yet, even as Kobe Bryant finished with 40 points for the 100th time in his career — only the third player in history to reach that mark — there was a game taking place. And it just so happens that it was a game that mattered just a little bit more than your average November NBA game against middling competition. The Lakers were on their first "losing streak" of the season, having lost their last two games, and those two losses had been bad ones. Too soon to be freaking out? Yes, of course. Important to right the ship? Also, yes.

So while it would be so tempting to simply bask in the beauty of Kobe's one hundredth 40-point game, and the way in which he scored those 40 points, we're going to resist that urge and get into some other observations about this mostly encouraging game.

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More photos » by Lori Shepler - AP

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Just before the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets took the court for last night's NBA contest, we were all reminded of a glorious truth:  The Lakers are the NBA Champions.  Our reminder was the joy of getting to watch the final piece to that championship puzzle being given the bounty such an endeavor deserves.  Trevor Ariza received his championship ring, delivered by Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, and a standing ovation from the Staples Center faithful, a fitting end to Ariza's time in LA, which nobody wanted to see end so quickly.

There should have been one more person as part of that presentation, Phil Jackson.  Then, the triangle of veteran leadership credited with bringing the championship back to Los Angeles would have been complete.  These three people played an extremely influential role on last year's championship.  PJ was the brains, Kobe was the will, and Fisher was the voice, the inspiration, and finally, the wedge that broke through the last remaining obstacles.  All three have varying degrees of a legacy that will last forever. 

I bring this up because a team usually counts on their veterans to do the right thing.  These are the guys who have been there before.  These are the guys who know exactly what to do, who shouldn't be flummoxed by anything.  These three are the reasons why LA raised a banner this season.  They are also the reasons why the Lakers lost last night's game against Houston.  Our veterans ruined any chance the Lakers had to win. 

I've been down this road before.  I've criticized PJ in the past for many, many things, only to see him lead the team to success in the end.  I've gotten on Kobe for poor shot selection, only to see him make all the right moves when it counts.  I've killed Fisher for every aspect of his game, only to see him come through in the clutch time and time again.  Only a foolish man continues to give credence to arguments which have been proven false in the past.  I'm not a fool, so I won't be traveling that road again.  You'll find no criticisms from me.  But I can't analyze the game without looking at the decisions made by these legends, by our veterans.  I may not be a fool, but I sure am confused.

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Things aren't going that well right now.

The pregame ring ceremony for Trevor Ariza was nice. Classy. The 16-2 run to open tonight's game against the Houston Rockets was even nicer. From there the Rockets outscored the Lakers by 24 points, which I don't recall seeing in the script.

L.A. got shredded by David Andersen (wait, who) and Aaron Brooks. I'm sure those two are nice guys, but when they're lighting your D up for Stockton-Malone numbers, something isn't right. Not helping the situayshe was the Lakers' second straight ghastly shooting performance. Laker guards not named Shannon Brown shot 10 for 42. Here's the box score if you don't believe me.

The best part? Kobe Bryant limped off the floor late in the game. According to beat reporter Mike Trudell, he was playing with a hurt groin that was injured last Sunday against New Orleans. We're just finding out about this now?

After the jump, see Ron Artest toss Ariza's shoe into the courtside seats. The Lakers are 7-3. Hmph.

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by Garrett Ellwood - NBAE/Getty Images

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We can draw a pretty straight line between the Los Angeles Lakers' Thursday night rout of the Phoenix Suns and their Friday night rout by the Denver Nuggets. The two games are diagnostic equivalents. Both contests pitted Western Conference contenders against each other. In both games the visiting team was on the tail end of a back-to-back, having played at home the night before. In both games the host team treated its guests as disposable chew-toys.

So if you want to enshrine the Lakers' performance on Thursday night as a show of dominance, you have to do the same for the Nuggets. Or, if you want to write off the Lakers' faceplant in Denver as a forgivable sign of fatigue and ultimately sans meaning, you have to give Phoenix the same benefit of the doubt. There's no having it both ways ‘round here.

Me, I'm checking the box next to "meaningless." Playing on the road having traveled the night before is a tough gig that made both the Suns and Lakers look worse than they are. Almost as tough a gig, in fact, as writing about all the ways the Lakers sucked yesterday!

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More photos » by Noah Graham - NBAE/Getty Images

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What's not to like, right? Well, actually a few things, if you want to nit-pick. And it doesn't even matter.

You might be surprised by the number of key statistical categories that the Suns won last night. Turnovers, free throws, rebounding, all categories in which the Suns had an advantage — and they really shouldn't have. Not that it did them much good, of course, and we'll forgive the Lakers some minor lapses in what was, overall, an absolutely dominant performance. To sum it up, the Lakers simply scored better and defended better, and the game was never close. Period.

Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum dominated in the paint, and the Lakers effectively contained Steve Nash while thoroughly thwarting the Suns' scorers. All of them. The leading scorer for the high-scoring Suns? Jared Dudley with 14 points, most of which were scored after the game was already decided.

The Lakers shot 57.6% from the field and 50% on threes, while holding the Suns to 36.5% from the field and 34.8% on threes. Game over.

Hey Boston, did we mention Pau Gasol hasn't played yet?

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More photos » by Francis Specker - AP

11 days ago: The injured Los Angeles Lakers' Paul Gasol, left, talks to teammate Ron Artest during an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Hornets in Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009. The Lakers won 104-88. (AP Photo/Francis Specker)

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I've said it before but it bears repeating.  More than a few NBA teams don't have one 7 footer to play with, and most have no more than one.  So, for the Lakers to play again missing two 7 foot players in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum should be considered a tough task akin to Boston playing a game without defense or Phoenix playing a game without quick shots.  The Lakers are taller than your NBA team, and they use that height to beat you.  And yet,  the Lakers were forced once again to find another way to win, as Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol missed their 2nd consecutive game together (Pau has yet to play this young season).  The result?  Their 2nd consecutive annihilation of an opponent, this time the New Orleans Hornets, 104-88.    Anybody telling you the last two Laker wins aren't impressive needs to check their bias or their ego at the door.  The Lakers often beat people with superior height, because their normal starting unit is just so much taller than yours.  To not be able to play that way, through injury, is to have your biggest advantage taken away from you, and most teams would not respond well to it.  Through Kobe Bryant and some pleasantly surprising bench play, the Lakers have managed to look even better without Gasol and Bynum.  And if Phil Jackson is to be believed, the Lakers playing short (handed) might be a thing of the past.  All in all, not a bad night for Purple and Gold lovers.

Let's start, as this team does, with Kobe Bryant.  His play in the first half of last night's game was as spectacular as I've ever seen him.  Josh wrote about how wonderful Kobe has been playing, especially in the post.  When I initially read the piece, I have to admit I was skeptical.  Too small of a sample size, yes, but also the wrong sample size.  "Of course Kobe is going to look to work teams in the post if nobody else is in there", I said.  Well, last night's game converted me both to Josh's way of thinking, and to Kobe's.  See, Kobe isn't interested in ceding the post to his taller compatriots.  Turns out he likes it down there.  And when it allows him to have lines like 10-16 for 26 pts in 19 minutes, as he did in the first half against the Hornets, who can blame him?  I've seen Kobe play in the post before,  I've seen him play well in the post before, but I've never before seen him be so automatic from the post that it forced the other team to completely change the way they play defense to avoid Kobe scoring 50.  But the Hornets were forced to double team Kobe AS the ball was being floated down to him in the post.  If they responded any less quickly, Kobe would already have a (made) shot going up before the double team could get there.  Surprising absolutely no one, this extremely quick double team allowed Kobe to simply feed his 'mates for a ton of open shots in the 2nd half, and the Lakers won going away.  If those double teams hadn't have come, Kobe would have scored 50, on 60% shooting, and the Lakers would have won going away.  That's the conundrum that posting Kobe puts teams in, and its not a riddle that can be easily solved.  Which is why, even when Bynum and Gasol come back, Kobe will still go down to the block a fair amount of the time.  You don't stop using the goose that lays the biggest golden eggs, just because you've got other geese who lay golden eggs as well.  What you do is have golden eggs.  Kobe Bryant eats 6 golden eggs for breakfast, raw, just because he can.

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This one's for you, DJ!

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When Phil Jackson decides to retire as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, someone, somewhere will float the idea that Byron Scott should get the gig. Whether emanating from those feeling nostalgic for the Showtime years or (much more likely) from his agent, Byron's name is sure to come up. And when it does, I want Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak to break out the tape from tonight's game.

The Lakers hammered Scott's New Orleans Hornets for a 104-88 victory whose outcome was assured two minutes into the third quarter. Looking even worse than their now 2-5 record, the Hornets were a toxic mess. Their offense couldn't manage even a point per possession against a Lakers team playing without Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Their defense allowed 1.17 points per possession even though the oft-maligned Laker reserves played 43% of the available minutes. At the end of the first and beginning of the second periods, Chris Paul moldered on the bench for over six minutes while the Lakers built a double-digit lead. And Scott insisted on playing guards Bobby Brown and Devin Brown, total zeroes who were completely overmatched in this game and probably shouldn't be in the league, ahead of demonstrably superior rookies Marcus Thornton and Darren Collison.

I'm not even a Hornets fan and I'm outraged by this. It's unacceptable that a magnificent talent like Paul has to spend the next three seasons with this turd of a team. I just hope Coach Byron Scott forever remains someone else's problem.

As for the Lake Show tonight, it was an awesome first half by Kobe Bryant, followed by a very solid mop-up performance from the bench. DJ Mbenga had a double-double [Ed.: mmm... double-double... I'll take two please], Shannon Brown tossed in 15 and Ron Artest and Lamar Odom both had strong overall stat lines in limited minutes.

More to come about this one in the morning. In the meantime, here's your box score, and the tempo-free numbers are below. The Lakers are 6-1.

P.S. - If you haven't done so, please also read commenter Justin N's Fanpost with his thoughts on the season so far, available here. It's good stuff and worth your time.