Walton says he's ready to go

Luke Walton spent about a half hour after practice putting himself through a grueling workout to make sure he really was ready to return to action after missing the last two games with an ankle injury.

Afterwards, he said he would play in Game 2 tommorrow night against the Rockets.

``It's good enough to play,'' he said. ``It felt good in practice today.''

Luke said it was tortuous to be in street clothes last night as the Lakers dropped Game 1 of the series 100-92, especially since his ability to move the ball was one of the things the Lakers were sorely lacking.

``It was really hard to watch. It's always hard to sit out, then you make it a playoff game and your team loses, and it's really really tough.

For now though, he's just happy to be getting back on the court after what initially sounded like a scary injury.

``To be honest I really didn't know what it was,'' he said. ``It was scary what they told me. I don't have any experience with an injury on the inside of my ankle, but the whole time my mindset was to come back.''

Walton said he hadn't spoken with Lakers coach Phil Jackson just yet, but based on their conversation Monday night, he expected to be in uniform Wednesday.