Vujacic returns to practice

Apparently, the repairman was able to fix things on the Lakers ``Machine'' a bit ahead of schedule. Sasha Vujacic (ankle) returned to practice Monday morning, a bit ahead of schedule and was able to complete almost the entire practice.

``I did take a little break, I don't want to go too crazy,'' Vujacic said. ``But I didn't feel any sharp pain, so that's good. There was a little discomfort, which is normal. We'll just have to see if it swells up. If it does, we have to slow it down. But it feels good now.''

Vujacic has been out most of training camp with a sprained ankle, which he suffered on the first day of camp. After the ankle was slow to heal, he was re-examined and an avulsion fracture --where a thin piece of bone is peeled away by a ligament or tendon --was discovered. At that point, he was projected to miss 10-14 days. That was just six days ago.

``My goal is to be ready for the first game (on October 28),'' he said. ``And it's going to take me two or three days of practice to come back into shape.''