Los Angeles Lakers Begin Nine-Game Road Trip

The Los Angeles Lakers are heading out for a long road trip, 15 days and nine games on a more than 8,500-mile journey that go through more than half the NBA's Eastern Conference.

It is the team's longest road trip since the 1960-61 season, but even that 10-game trip was interrupted by a return home for Christmas. There is no such break for Kobe Bryant and his teammates, as they open up the trip Jan. 31 against the Detroit Pistons.

The three first games are with teams that have winning records, Detroit, the Toronto Raptors, and the Washington Wizards, and ends against three teams with losing records, the Miami Heat, Charlotte Bobcats, and Minnesota Timberwolves. In between is a mix of good teams and those doing not so well. In fact, five of the games are against teams with sub-.500 records. The road trip will feature three sets of back-to-back games.

The Lakers have had some key injuries latesly, but Kobe isn't intimidated with the prospects of going on the road trip, stating that he's "not too concerned."

The currently injured include starting center Andrew Bynum and forward Trevor Ariza who won't accompany the team; Center Chris Mihm is traveling with the team, but will not play until the latter part of the trip. Forward Luke Walton is day-to-day because of a recent hip pointer. Starting forward Lamar Odom has a bruised left shin, injured during the Jan. 30 game against the New York Knicks.

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