<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Is this deja vu all over again for the Lakers? They hope not. But they're facing a situation eerily familiar to the start of last season's misfortunes. Last season the Lakers were a season-high 13 games above .500, at 26-13, on Jan. 17. Then they were struck by injuries to Kwame Brown, Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Vladimir Radmanovic, while Chris Mihm already was out for the season, and they tumbled to a 42-40 finish and another first-round playoff exit. These Lakers are a season-high 15 games above .500 right now at 26-11. And they've been struck by injuries again. And while they've been able to play at a high level in the absence of Mihm (bursitis, right ankle), Sasha Vujacic (sore left ankle, back spasms) and Radmanovic (sore right ankle), the latest injury, to Andrew Bynum (partially dislocated kneecap), could be significant enough to shake their foundation. In the first game since Bynum's injury, the Lakers struggled to beat lowly Seattle for their seventh straight win. "We need to accept this as a challenge at this point and not really look at it as negativity or a setback, even though it is," Derek Fisher said. "But we need to, as a team, collectively decide we're not going to allow one member of our team and his absence to take away from what we've accomplished so far, and what we want to accomplish." Bynum was a big part of what the Lakers did. He was an inside presence, offensively and defensively. But this team is much deeper than last year's and may be able to hold the fort while he's out at least the next eight weeks. "We're trying to focus on what we can do and the opportunities," Coach Phil Jackson said. "These are opportunities for people, and you have to make the most of it when that happens. And that's why we have a bench, and that's why we have a roster as deep as it is, so you hopefully have guys that can step up and play. "Andrew is going to be back, we hope, sometime in March, and that's going to give us ample opportunity to get ready for the playoffs, if we can contain and sustain the effort and have a playoff spot. But we can't fall apart."</div> Source: Riverside PE
