Looking ahead

With this game seemingly in hand for the Lakers, it's time to look ahead to this week's road trip, which includes games in Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and New York. Given the struggles of those teams, for the most part, it's not ridiculous to predict a 3-1 trip for the Lakers. Here's what Phil Jackson had to say about the trip:

``It depends upon what kind of momentum we can bring on the road. It's very important to go out with some energy. Chicago has notoriously had slow Novembers on the road and then come out in December after a homestand and played very well for the rest of the year. Then we'll just deal with whatever comes up from there. We're not looking past Chicago. The other three games are later in the week, and it's three (games) in four nights.''