Let’s all breathe a sigh of relief. Let’s breathe a collective sigh of relief, Los Angeles Lakers fans.

The Lakers just concluded their 4-game West road swing, going to New Orleans, Houston, Dallas and Utah, in what has been the bigggest road trip of the Lakers this season. In the process, Pau Gasol was injured but the good thing is he is expected to come back next week, maybe vs. Charlotte.

Andrew Bynum also already has a timetable to return, which is 2 and a half weeks from now. Trevor Ariza’s timeline is still questionable so the Lakers signed SF Ira Newble as a back-up for Ariza. Now we could see less of Luke “Fluke/Puke” Walton.

11 of the final 14 games of the Lakers for the regular season will be in Staples Center and their key pieces are coming back in a matter of weeks - just what the team needs to build a final push for the playoffs.

Anyway, back to the ’satisfactory’ roadtrip.

Here is a mini-recap of the four-game road trip, a sort of a field report:

03-14, at New Orleans: Pau Gasol gets injured three minutes deep in the first quarter and reports tell that it is a sprained ankle. He didn’t return for the game. It didn’t matter for the Lakers at the moment because they led for most of the way in the first half. They led by 2 at the end of the first quarter and they led by 3 at the end of the half. The second half though was a different story. The Hornets jumped right on the Lakers and the Lakers had a hard time keeping up with the Hornets. But they stayed with the Hornets until the closing minutes of the third. By the time the fourth quarter started, it was already an 8-point lead for the Hornets and they just started blowing the Lakers away. Kobe and Co. tried several instances to rally but a bad second half coupled with the absence of Pau Gasol surely is not going to get it done. The Hornets were big-time in thwarting the rally efforts of the Lakers, especially Peja Stojakovic who racked off three pointers to kill the Lakers’ chances. The Hornets win this one, 108-98. 0-1 and less 1 superstar to start off the roadtrip. Just about what the Lakers wanted to happen last.

03-16, at Houston: Houston has reeled off 21 straight wins heading to this match-up. The Lakers are still reeling from the loss of another star big man coming into this marquee match-up. The winner would take the first place in the West. So much was at stake in this game that even American network giant ABC got this game to be rescheduled from Sunday night to Sunday afternoon - the usual time that ABC broadcasts games on national TV. The first quarter for the Lakers were good as they kept in step with the surging Rockets. The second quarter was atrocious. The Lakers let the Rockets score 35 with porous defense and the team got completely served in the second quarter as they trailed by 15 at the end of the first half. The third quarter was better as the Lakers limited the Rockets to 12 points while scoring 22 themselves to help down the once double-digit lead to a manageable 5-point lead going into the final canto. They let the game slip away though, as they made mistake after mistake and their shots were like miss after miss. Shane Battier also locked down on Kobe Bryant, forcing him to hit just 11 of his 33 shots. Rafer Alston had his game going en route to scoring his career-high 31 points. Rockets win, 104-92. 0-2 on the roadtrip.

03-18, at Dallas: Facing a prospect of losing three straight and losing a significant amount of grip on the Western Conference race, the Lakers were faced with a tough challenge to win in one of the most hostile places to play which is in Dallas. They responded nicely though, as they took a 7-point lead to end the first quarter behind some hot shooting from the starters. The hot-shooting continued as Dallas struggled to keep up with the Lakers in the second quarter. Kobe and Co. blew the game wide open in the second quarter, outscoring the Mavericks by 14 in the period and ending the first half with a 21-point lead. The third quarter resumes and the Lakers continue their happy business until Luke Walton comes into the game. He makes a couple of bad decisions and throws up a couple of bricks and suddenly the Dallas Mavericks stage a 16-1 run. Vladimir Radmanovic was there to try to thwart the Mavericks’ rally with timely three-pointers and as the smoke from the third quarter smoke cleared, the Lakers still led by 12 points. The fourth quarter was a near-disaster for the Lakers. The team let the Mavericks back all the way from 25 points down. They almost lost the game with one bad play after another. But the Lakers just won’t lose this game. Lamar Odom showed up in a must-win game for the Lakers. He was their savior of the moment during the endgame stretch. The Mavericks came close and they almost won the game but the Lakers literally escaped with the win, 105-103. First win in the biggest roadtrip of the season. 1-2.

03-20, at Utah: The Lakers are in their last game of the killer road swing and they played in the hardest and most hostile place to play this season which is in the Energy Solutions Arena of the Utah Jazz. The Jazz fans have a lot to be hostile about, well, just according to them because of Derek Fisher and the way Jazz fans continually to misunderstand him because he signed with the Lakers for his daughter’s treatment. It really sucks for them to take in that they don’t have the best medical facilities so one of their key players go to a rival team. But anyway, enough of personal stuff. Obviously a big game for the Lakers, and they meant business right from the tip-off. They hit 15 of 20 shots in the first quarter en route to a 38-18 lead against a Jazz team which has racked off 19 straight at home. The Lakers played steady basketball in the second quarter - just about enough to ward off any Jazz spurt and they led by 15 at the half. The third quarter featured the same story - the Jazz would try to make a run and the Lakers would just answer them with three-point hits. The Jazz chipped on the lead some more, but the Lakers still led by 12 to start the fourth. Again and again and again, the same thing happened. A rally happens, but then a Laker comes and douses off the rally with cold-blooded shooting. The closest that Utah got was 8 points via Deron Williams’ four-point play off Kobe’s ticky-tack foul. But that got Kobe enough motivation to go off and on the next possession, he drove the lane and threw down the ball amidst the presence of Jazz defenders, followed by the ferocious scream that basically sums up this hell of a ride for the Lakers. On the next possession, he grabs the ball on the fastbreak and dishes out a super assist to Luke Walton who converts the play to pad up the lead back to 12. After that play, the Lakers were never threatened. What a difference a Kobe Bryant makes. Lakers win, 106-95 and a 2-2 record on the trip. A split on the last and hardest road-trip of the Lakers in this season. Not bad at all.

Their record after the road swing is 47-21 and they still are in control of the lead of in the West after all of the mishaps and injuries. I love this team. They have gone .500 without their 3 players and they have kept the leadership of the West without them. That speaks volumes about the resilience of the team this season. They would have just died down if they were in this hole last season. But now, they are standing up and holding their own. Their reward? 7 of the next 8 games will be played at Staples Center, with the lone road game being against the Golden State Warriors - a team that they could probably face should they keep the number 1 spot in the West.

My personal awards:

Hero of the roadtrip: Ronny Turiaf - The guy has to be given credit for holding his own against the big men of the opponents in this roadtrip, most notably versus Utah. He punished the Utah Jazz with 9 points, a stash of rebounds and 6 dimes - which speaks well of his passing ability. He also provided the hustle, energy (as always) and the defense in this key stretch of games.

Lamar Odom gets a very close second place for showing up and playing very, very well in this important stretch. He has accepted the role of second-option with Pau and AB out and he’s doing very fine.

Zero of the roadtrip: Luke “Fluke/Puke” Walton - Well, what can we Laker Fans expect? He’s just being Luke Walton - being himself. Need I say more?

I might have put Derek Fisher as second place but, um, no. He burned the Jazz and their classless fans in their home court and he helped stabilize the offense when the Jazz were threatening to come back with timely plays and makes.

Bench player of the roadtrip: Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic - He shoots well and annoys opposing players like Jason Kidd. Is there anything not to love with the guy? Well maybe you’d really vilify him if you’re not a Laker fan. I would have hated him myself if I was not a Laker fan, just next to Kobe Bryant.

Next game: vs Seattle @ Staples Center. Should be a relatively easy win for the Lakers.