Lakers 116, Bulls 109

No, the damage wasn't permanent. The dent the Detroit Pistons left in the Lakers theretofore perfect record last Friday night was merely superficial.

Another Eastern Conference foe, this time the young Chicago Bulls, came to Staples Center Tuesday night hoping its rugged brand of basketball would be enough to knock the Lakers out of their early-season flow.

Not this time.

Pau Gasol scored a season-high 34 points and Kobe Bryant had 21 as the Lakers cruised to a 116-109 victory.

Gasol's career high is 44 points, which he recorded in March of 2006 against the Seattle Super Sonics.

After a back-and-forth first quarter, the Lakers went on a 19-2 run midway through the second quarter that turned a 38-38 game into a 57-40 Lakers lead with 3:57 remaining in the first half.

The Bulls cut into the lead at various points throughout the game, but never seriously threatened, though their newest star, point guard Derrick Rose, more than impressed with 25 points and nine assists.

Rose, the No. 1 pick in last season's NBA Draft, seemed to find his way to the basket easily and often with an explosive first step, then flashed impressive body control while finishing several acrobatic drives.

Outside of Rose and shooting guard Ben Gordon --who needed 22 shots to get his 23 points-- the rest of the Bulls roster had trouble finding room to operate amongst the Lakers bevy of long, tall forwards.

Things cleared out for the Bulls a little bit when Lamar Odom fouled out with 8:30 to go in the fourth quarter.

With four games on the schedule this week --Thursday in Phoenix, Friday against Denver and Sunday against Sacramento -- Lakers coach Phil Jackson had hoped to get his starters some rest down the stretch, but was forced to put Kobe Bryant back into the game late in the fourth quarter after Chicago made a run.

The Lakers led 99-84 when Odom went out, but Chicago trimmed the lead down to 105-95 on Rose's 17-footer with 4:09 remaining. Jackson sent Bryant back into the game and he promptly hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead back out to 110-97.