Lakers feeling golden with a No. 1 record

It was more like a ripple than a wave, but the Lakers found themselves with the league's top record Sunday night after beating the Portland Trail Blazers, 100-86, at Staples Center.

Kobe Bryant had 26 points, Pau Gasol had 19, and the Lakers moved ahead of Boston for the first time since Dec. 2.

After the Celtics and Cleveland lost to sub-.500 teams Sunday, the Lakers made sure they didn't fall to an undermanned Portland team, turning a slim one-point halftime lead into a sixth consecutive victory.

There have been only a handful of days in 2009, and there are still more than five months until mid-June, so the Lakers (27-5) weren't exactly celebrating after New York beat Boston (29-6) and Washington held off Cleveland (27-6) earlier in the day.

On the other hand, Coach Phil Jackson revealed that longtime trainer Gary Vitti had recently taped up the NBA standings in the Lakers' locker room . . . for both conferences.

In other words, the Lakers knew exactly where they stood, which is now with the league's best mark for the first time since they fell to Indiana more than a month ago.

"It's just a challenge. That's how we look at it," Bryant said. "It's obviously important to have home-court advantage [in the playoffs], but you've got to win on the road anyway. We've obviously got a long way to go."

Lakers fans gladly acknowledged the events of Sunday, offering a derisive two-word chant regarding the Celtics when that final score was announced over the public-address system by Lawrence Tanter near the end of the Lakers' game.

There wasn't much cheering in the first quarter as the Lakers fell behind, 16-7, despite the absence of Portland's All-Star guard Brandon Roy, who was sidelined by a strained hamstring. In fact, the Lakers had an unsightly eight turnovers in the quarter.

From there, though, they gradually advanced past Portland, taking a one-point halftime edge and extending it to 75-59 on Sasha Vujacic's four-point play with 2:12 left in the third quarter.

The Trail Blazers (20-14) never came closer than 11 the rest of the way, scoring only 36 second-half points and shooting 39% on the night.

"After a dismal and a very slow start, I thought we played three quarters pretty well," Jackson said.

So did Portland Coach Nate McMillan.