Tough test ahead

I know, Lakers fans. Things are going great, right? Fantastic, really.

But how good are the Lakers?

Looks like we're going to find over the next two weeks or so.

Once Kobe and Co. get through Sacramento (tomorrow), the Clippers (Friday) Sacramento (Sunday) and Toronto (Tue, Mar. 11), they'll face the toughest stretch of the season.

Road games at New Orleans (Mar. 14), Houston (Mar. 16), Dallas (Mar. 18) and Utah (Mar. 20) will tell the story.

It's not make or break - and we all know we can't truly assess this team until Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza return - but it sure will be interesting to see how the Lakers fare on the road against teams with a combined 155-82 record.

By the way, while yesterday's 52-point performance by Kobe was reminiscent of a number of scoring explosions he's had in the Post Shaq era - and that wasn't always a good thing. But Lakers fans can take comfort in this observation:

Prior to this season - and specifically the arrival of Pau Gasol - it was almost required that Kobe carry that sort of load for the Lakers to be successful. Even when he did, there was no guarantee the Lakers would prevail.

Now, it's almost a luxury.

When the Lakers are getting production throughout the lineup, as they have pretty much the whole year, they don't need Kobe to go off.

But it sure is nice to know Kobe can still dial it up a notch when the rest of the team is struggling - as was the case yesterday.