OK, it’s never good to miss one of the world’s best players, but L.A. had managed to go 4-1 without him heading into their sixth game of the season Friday night against Memphis.

No Andrew Bynum?

Less good, especially since Bynum was averaging 20.0 points and 10.6 rebounds in L.A.’s first five games, making him one of only three players in the league (Chris Bosh, Chris Kaman) on that pace.

But L.A. still had Kobe Bryant (he’s pretty good). Still had Lamar Odom … Ron Artest … Derek Fisher … Josh Powell and D.J. Mbenga. Etc.

In other words, no problem.

Bryant’s blood should have been checked for warmth after another 40-plus point effort, his third in six games this season after sinking 19-of-30 shots for 41. In the process, Bryant became the youngest player to 24,000 points and vaulted him past Allen Iverson for 16th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. He was particularly effective from the low block, where the Finals MVP repeatedly caught entry passes and went to work on whomever Memphis sent at him. In fact, Bryant didn’t even attempt a single three-pointer, content to take what the Grizzlies were offering.

“What can I say,” wondered Phil Jackson. “This is a guy who sees a weakness in a team and exploits it. It was killer instinct.”

Meanwhile, Mbenga, L.A.’s third-string center who is best known around the team for being funny, owning a black belt, swatting shots and loving to pop jumpers in practice, showed a new element to the Lakers depth by grabbing nine rebounds* (a career high) and swatting two shots … in the first eight minutes. That helped the Lakers run out to a 17-10 lead, which they’d momentarily give up late in the second quarter before dominating the Grizzlies 38-24 in the third quarter to establish firm control of their fifth victory.
*Mbenga finished with a team-high 13 boards and four blocks.

“The way he started the game that strong gave us a dominant feel inside,” said Jackson. “So (Memphis) thought (they) could exploit it inside and it was the reverse.”

L.A. got a little (or a lot of) something from everyone who played, highlighted by another solid effort from Artest, who was very efficient offensively in going for 19 points on 7-of-14 shooting plus six boards and a team-high seven assists while providing his usual stanch defense. The Mbenga - Josh Powell combo combined to offer 18 points, 17 rebounds and four blocks, while Luke Walton was very effective in producing seven boards and seven assists in just 20 minutes.

Powell continued what’s been a very effective effort off the bench this season, drawing praise from his head coach.

“He has been our most reliable substitute this year off the bench,” said Jackson. “He is shooting the ball well and he is much more comfortable playing this offense, he knows the niches he can find and our players know how to use him well too.”

Should we mention again that L.A. was missing one of the league’s best players and a 20-10 center?

That, of course, doesn’t mean that every Laker won’t be more than happy if Gasol, Bynum or both are able to play on Sunday against New Orleans. We’ll have to wait until then to find out.

In the meantime, some numbers:

POSTGAME NUMBERS
24,000 Point total Kobe Bryant reached for his career in the second quarter, the youngest in NBA history to do so. He also passed Allen Iverson, who scored eight points for Memphis, for 16th on the NBA’s All-Time scoring chart.

99 Time Bryant has scored at least 40 points in his career after his third 40-plus point effort in six Lakers games.

35 Assists for the Lakers, compared to just 13 from the Grizzlies for a whopping 22-dime difference. Three Lakers had at least seven helpers: Luke Walton, Ron Artest and Derek Fisher.

14 Scoring margin in the third quarter in L.A.’s favor, spurred by 15 points from Bryant and 11 from Artest, plus five each from Josh Powell and Derek Fisher.

12 Lakers edge on the glass (49-37), which included an 18-13 advantage on the offensive boards. Mbenga led the way with five offensive boards and eight defensive.

On Andrew Bynum’s availability: “I’m still hoping that Andrew is going to walk in and say, ‘I’m OK I can play tonight,’ but we’re assuming that isn’t going to happen.”

On Pau Gasol’s potential of returning: “Pau indicated to us that he wasn’t going to be ready for us tonight.” Jackson added that he thinks Sunday is a possibility for Gasol’s return.

On combating Memphis’s low post players: “It’s about foul situations, basically. We have to stay out of fouls and try to limit them so we don’t get into trouble. Lamar (Odom) has a big job because Zach Randolph is a prolific scorer. We may have to double team down in the post and try to create situations where they (have to) shoot from the outside.”

On who will start in the absence of Bynum and Gasol: “I talked to D.J. (Mbenga) about the starting role. He had a couple of starts in the preseason and I thought he did OK. I think he feels that it can be a good opportunity.”

On paper, the Memphis Grizzlies are among the most interesting of squads.

While they rank 7th in the NBA in scoring and have three players averaging at least 20 points (O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph), they are 30th (that’d be last) in the NBA in points allowed (115.2) and 29th in both opponent field goal percentage (50.5 percent), three-point percentage and assists per game. Translation: they don’t play good defense.

There’s a reason, after all, that Memphis is 1-4 on the season.

Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw put it like this: the Grizzlies play offense downhill and defense up hill.

Yet that doesn’t mean they aren’t dangerous, particularly in the likely absence of starting center Andrew Bynum (elbow) and power forward Pau Gasol (hamstring), both of whom are listed as doubtful.

For more on the matchup, check out our (above) pregame video with Shaw.

Lamar Odom was born on November 6, 1979.

Thirty years later, he has a championship ring and a wife to cap a fantastic personal year.

Happy Birthday Lamar!

Over on the main website, we took a closer look at Gasol’s hamstring and Andrew Bynum’s elbow, with video from the two seven footers, plus Phil Jackson and Lamar Odom.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK IT OUT.

Through three games, the Spurs have won two and lost one as not a single player is averaging 20 points or 30 minutes per game, making it difficult to predict how the team will play later in the season … Which is why we brought in Spurs radio man Bill Schoening, who let us know what was happening down in Texas.

And, of course, he gave us his (courtside) take on Manu Ginobili’s bat incident. Here’s the audio:

Bynum, who finished the game with 17 points, 17 rebounds, a career-high tying five assists and three blocks, will be re-evaluated in the morning.

Lakers spokesman John Black confirmed prior to L.A.’s Wednesday night contest in Houston that Gasol’s doctors in Spain agreed with the diagnosis of L.A.’s doctors and team athletic trainer Gary Vitti that the injury is healed.

Gasol has been cleared to resume basketball activities, which he commenced by running, jumping and shooting prior to the Rockets game. The All-Star forward is also expected to practice on Thursday, and if there’s no set back, he is cleared to play in games as soon as Phil Jackson thinks Gasol is ready to conditioning wise.

“Energy,” he explained in a word. “Just simply being able to recover and come out there and lay it down in a 48-minutes game.”

It’s not about recognizing Houston’s scheme - the Lakers got an extended look in the Western Conference Semis - or X’s and O’s at either end of the floor. Just effort.

The Lakers know that won’t be easy after a tough overtime game in Oklahoma City, particularly against a Houston team that is both playing very well would like nothing more than to “Beat L.A.” (as the Toyota Center crowd will frequently remind them).

Key for the Lakers will be the play of their bench, which produced just six points in limited action against the Thunder. Meanwhile, Ron Artest played 47 minutes, Lamar Odom 43, Andrew Bynum nearly 49, Kobe Bryant 46 and Derek Fisher 35.

Heavy, to quite heavy.

Of course, the absence of Pau Gasol - who is not expected to miss much more time - has a major affect on the bench with Odom stepping into his starting slot. As such, Jackson isn’t worried about the pine.

“They’ll get it back,” he said after the OKC win. “We have to dedicate some real minutes to them. Right now they are just patching it up and filling the gaps, and without Pau it’s real difficult because we don’t have someone to anchor that group out there that has the ability to be a go-to person in a situation where they need some settling down.”

Moments later, Bryant agreed with his head coach.

“It’s not a concern,” Kobe offered. “We’ll pick them up. There have been times that (the starter’s) rhythm was off and they came in and made big contributions … We just try to pick each other up so that when the playoffs come around the bench and the starters are clicking.”

On the other hand, boding well for L.A.’s bench is that two players - Jordan Farmar and Josh Powell - had their respective best games against the Rockets last year; Jackson and his staff are hoping that one or both are able to channel that towards Wednesday’s game, which could change the game’s story entirely.

“They turned up the heat, he said. “They are a physical team. They don’t get enough credit for being a physical ball club but they are physical at a lot of positions. Derek is as strong and as tough as a point guard gets and Artest, Byum, Kobe and even Lamar.”

You can read about the game by linking to our running diary, and check out the rest of the quotes below:

LAKERS HEAD COACH PHIL JACKSON:
On tonight’s win:
“They hit some tough shots. Many things happened that kept the complexity of that game tight. They brought in (Etan) Thomas and he did a better job of high-siding and making it difficult to get the passes in. We didn’t go back in again until overtime. We just didn’t get back in the post very often and we needed to.”

On Kobe Bryant’s performance:
“I liked him sometimes and sometimes I didn’t like him. I think he was a little dehydrated when he ran off at the end and let (Thabo) Sefalosha have a wide open three. He made plays that he makes in ballgames. He got to the free-throw line and made some free-throws. He was able to control the game at the end.”

LAKERS CENTER ANDREW BYNUM:
On winning in overtime:
“We were able to get a couple of stops at the end of the game. After the first quarter we slowed down and didn’t stop them. They did a much better job defensively (after the first quarter). Etan (Thomas) did a great job tonight. We had a lot of turnovers tonight, especially down the stretch.”

On Kobe Bryant’s performance while playing sick:
“It doesn’t surprise me. That’s what he does. He does it all the time.”

LAKERS FORWARD LAMAR ODOM:
On air balling a free throw:
“I shot the first one a little too long and I told myself do everything I can not to shoot the second one long. It was a lack of concentration. There was no excuse for that. It has to at least touch the rim.”

On his clutch three-pointer in overtime:
“They were playing off of me in the corner to not allow Kobe to catch the ball in the post. That’s what got me open.”

On how they were able to come with a win:
“Persistence and just staying after it. We weren’t worrying about calls and things that didn’t go our way. We just make the game our way as the game went along.”

OKLAHOMA CITY’S HEAD COACH SCOTT BROOKS:
Opening statement:
“Well that was a heck of a ball game. Our guys really showed a lot of enthusiasm during the game and we fought back early when we were down and competed. You have to give the Lakers a lot of credit, they made a lot of great plays when they needed to and obviously we all know what Kobe is about, he makes great plays, winning basketball plays constantly.

On message to the team:
“I said we had a good effort. That’s four games in a row of good effort. I’m proud of the way our guys played. I’m not into close games, I understand we played against the defending champs but we are a good enough team because we battle, we fight and we are a team I am proud of. It’s fun to coach when we play with this type of heart and desire.”

On offense becoming stagnant in the last five minutes:
“They turned up the heat. They are a physical team. They don’t get enough credit for being a physical ball club but they are physical at a lot of positions. Derek is as strong and as tough as a point guard gets and Artest, Byum, Kobe and even Lamar. They turned it up and really put a lot of pressure on us. In the last six or seven minutes we really have to buckle down. We still have to figure that part of our game out.”

FORWARD KEVIN DURANT:
“They just made more shots than we did. It was poor offense. We just missed our shots. (Etan Thomas) came in and gave us a boost. He played some defense, blocked shots, rebounded and he just played a great game.”

FORWARD JEFF GREEN:
“We made plays when it counted. We continued to get great shots; they just didn’t fall at times. We’ll continue to get better. We fought. We were scrappy. We didn’t put our heads down and let the Lakers run us over. We just kept battling. We talked and communicated which led to us having the final possession.”

GUARD JAMES HARDEN:
“The last two games didn’t go our way but we still looked good out there. We’re still competing and getting after it on the defensive end which is a good thing. (Sefolosha) is a great defender. That’s why he’s starting and why he’s one of the best ‘2’ guards in the league.”