Lakers find right trail mix

The Lakers found themselves in an all-too-familiar position, flailing on defense and trailing the Golden State Warriors by double figures in the third quarter, but they managed to win this time, a scintillating 123-119 overtime victory Monday night at Oracle Arena.

Sasha Vujacic made a key three-pointer, Lamar Odom continued to put up video-game numbers (23 points, 21 rebounds), and the Lakers (49-22) regained a half-game lead over New Orleans at the top of the Western Conference standings, after a typically frenetic game against the Warriors.

And, imagine this, the play of the game came when the Lakers were on defense, Derek Fisher drawing a foul after Monta Ellis bulldozed him on an inbounds play with four seconds left in overtime.

The Lakers led by two at the time, Kobe Bryant made a pair of free throws, and the Lakers escaped unscathed.

Well, relatively speaking.

Fisher's left knee was sore from the Ellis foul, Ronny Turiaf sprained an ankle in the first quarter, and Bryant had a large gash under his left eye, courtesy of a Baron Davis drive in the fourth quarter.

"It's a huge win, especially for us," Bryant said. "You have to remember we're still not playing with two starters [Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum] and two other key members of our ballclub [Trevor Ariza and Chris Mihm]. We're severely undermanned and we're still playing really well."

The pregame scribble on the whiteboard encouraged the Lakers to communicate on pick-and-roll defense, watch out for weak-side cutters and hang on to the ball

And, oh yeah, one last thing: "Have fun."

They certainly had a better time than in their 115-111 loss Sunday to the Warriors, when a comeback from a 26-point deficit fell just shy after two late 26-foot three-pointers by Stephen Jackson.

Jackson tore at them again, finishing with 29 points, but the Lakers had an answer this time. Several, actually.

The Lakers trailed, 117-113, until Fisher made a three-pointer with 1:26 left in overtime and Vujacic had a three-pointer with 43.7 seconds left, providing a 119-117 lead.

Odom's layup gave the Lakers a 121-119 lead with 9.1 seconds left in overtime. Then came Fisher's play.

"I didn't try to set it up to get an offensive foul," Fisher said. "I thought it was going to be a no-call. When the whistle blew, it caught me off-guard as well."