Lakers 121, Blazers 96

Pau Gasol recorded his fourth career triple-double tonight, scoring 20 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and adding 10 assists during the Lakers’ seventh consecutive victory to start the season. He was simply too much for the Trail Blazers to handle in the paint.

Or as Kobe Bryant put it after the game: “He made incredible plays out of the double teams. He made all the right plays, depending on what the defense was doing. You’ve got pick your poison with us, and you’ve got to make a choice. We have so many weapons.”

Said Portland guard Brandon Roy: “Pau is a monster. I think he almost had a triple-double at halftime. He’s catching that ball, he’s passing it, and they basically gel and hit the open man. They’re hitting the open man every time, Kobe does not have to spend much energy and they don’t even have (injured center Andrew) Bynum, so they’re loaded.”

Lakers 108, Raptors 103

Let’s face it, the Lakers are going to lose one of these days. They had to scramble to beat the Chris Bosh-less Toronto Raptors tonight at Staples Center to improve to 6-0 to start the new season, and the good times won’t continue unless they start playing better defense. Defense and rebounding go hand-in-hand, and the Lakers didn’t stay in front of anyone tonight and got hammered on the boards, 49-31. Pau Gasol, who averages 11 rebounds, didn’t get his first until midway through the third quarter. He finished with seven rebounds to go with 30 points. Next: the Portland Trail Blazers visit Staples Center on Sunday night.

“We always got to work on stuff,” Kobe Bryant said after he had 23 points. “You can’t go through a year playing perfect basketball. You still got to work on things. It’s just about geting a win and just moving on, and just continuing to get better.”

Half: Raptors 58, Lakers 55

The Lakers scored at will tonight at Staples Center. So did the Toronto Raptors, which probably had Lakers coach Phil Jackson peeling the paint off the walls in the locker room at halftime. He hasn’t been satisfied by the Lakers’ defense so far this season, and their latest effort was as bad as they have played in 5 1/2 games. Pau Gasol had 14 points in the first half, Steve Blake had 12 and Kobe Bryant had 10. Leandro Barbosa had 15 for Toronto.

Triple-double for Bryant

SACRAMENTO — Kobe Bryant scored 27 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists for his first triple-double since Jan. 21, 2009 against the Clippers and the 17th of his career. He had 25 points, nine rebounds and 12 assists going into the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 112-100 victory over the Kings tonight. He then got a rebound in his first minute or so after returning from a rest on the bench to start the final period. He said he doesn’t care about easing fears that he’s not 100 percent after undergoing offseason knee surgery. “I don’t give a (bleep) if it settles it or now,” he said. “I’m 100 percent.”

Half: Lakers 62, Kings 53

SACRAMENTO — Kobe Bryant continued to put any concerns about his offseason right knee surgery to rest, scoring 20-plus points in the first half for the second consecutive night. He had 21 points in the opening half tonight against the Kings, one night after he scored all of his 23 points in the first half against the Memphis Grizzlies. Bryant made 6 of 10 shots and also had six rebounds and eight assists in only 20 minutes.

Bynum update

SACRAMENTO — Andrew Bynum has graduated from running on a treadmill to running on a track, but he’s still not ready to run on a basketball court, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before tonight’s game against the Kings. “So he’s getting ready for the next season, track and field season,” Jackson joked. Jackson couldn’t say when Bynum, who had offseason surgery on his right knee, could be fit enough to return to the court, however.

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Kobe set to break mark

SACRAMENTO — Nobody in Lakers history played as many minutes as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who logged 37,492 during his Hall of Fame career in purple and gold. Until tonight, that was. Kobe Bryant needed to play two minutes against the Sacramento Kings to pass Abdul-Jabbar to become the franchise’s all-time leader in minutes. In addition, Bryant began the night 12 field goals shy of Jerry West’s club record of 9,016 in his Hall of Fame career. Bryant is first or second on the Lakers’ all-time list of games (second), minutes (second), steals (second), field goal attempts (second), free throws made and attempted (second), 3-pointers made and attempted (first) and free throw percentage (second).

Bryant has played a team-record 15 seasons with the Lakers, one more than Abdul-Jabbar, West and Elgin Baylor spent with the franchise. Magic Johnson played 13 seasons with the Lakers. Derek Fisher is in his 12th season with the team, joining Michael Cooper and James Worthy. Byron Scott is next with 10 seasons.

Research courtesy the Lakers’ crack media relations department.

Lakers 124, Grizzlies 105

Kobe Bryant scored all 23 of his points in the first half and played only 25 minutes, 46 seconds. Pau Gasol had 21 points and 13 rebounds and played only 28:57. Lamar Odom had 17 points and eight rebounds and played a team-leading 34:14. Derek Fisher scored eight points in 23:24. Ron Artest had five points in 23:38. Winning tonight at Staples Center, defeating Memphis and improving to 4-0 was all well and good, but the big story was the fact that the Lakers’ starters played only limited minutes. They should be well-rested when they face the Kings in Sacramento on Wednesday night.

Halftime: Lakers 73, Grizzlies 46

Based on the early returns, this reporter is projecting the Lakers will beat Memphis handily and maintain their unbeaten record after four games. The Lakers matched their season high for points in a half from last season while shooting 58.1 percent. Kobe Bryant went off in the first half, scoring 23 points on 7-for-10 shooting. Pau Gasol had 15 points and eight rebounds and Lamar Odom had 11 points, four rebounds and four assists. The Lakers led by as many as 29 points in the first half. The Grizzlies missed their first nine shots.

London calling to Bryant

Kobe Bryant said today he would like to join Team USA for the 2012 London Olympics. He was a guest with United States coach Mike Krzyzewski on Coach K’s radio show and said, “You guys want me there, I am there and I’m ready to defend. And then when you guys need me to put some points on the board, I’ll do that too.”

Bryant was part of the Redeem Team that won gold in the 2008 Beijing Games.