"I got a little more sleep than I normally do," said Lamar Odom. "I made an effort to spend less time talking on the telephone. I also changed my eating routine some, eating several small meals but having more food than normal."

Here's how Cleamons summed up the balance sheet:

On the plus side, the corner-coverage was good — except for giving Hayes too much room late in the game. The Lakers also recognized and totally foiled the Nets' fronting of Gasol.

"In the fourth quarter," said Cleamons, "instead of settling for jumpers we went down the gut. But the best thing we did was to go to Lamar in the low post against Carter late in the game. This wasn't something that was called from the bench. It was strictly an on-the-spot read by the players on the court."

On the other side of the ledger, Cleamons was unhappy with L.A.'s failure to control their defensive boards. "Three or four of them came when the Nets were shooting free throws," said Cleamons. "That's terrible."

When the Nets showed zone in the first half, the Lakers settled for jumpers — but a halftime adjustment led to Gasol springing free for dunks when N.J. went back to their zone.

Cleamons was also upset with the Lakers' perimeter defense in the first half. But most distressing was L.A.'s once again blowing a sizable lead. Does this team lack a killer instinct? Cleamons shrugged and refused to commit himself, saying, "That's something the coaching staff always talks about."

Two wins in two games on two nights in two different cities is certainly an accomplishment. But Cleamons wasn't impressed with the Lakers' performance against the Nets.

"I'm looking for our on-court decision-making to range from good to excellent," he said. "Tonight it was poor to OK. I'm also looking for the team to show some degree of improvement from game to game, but tonight all we did was to run in place."

The overall impression gleaned from the coaching staff is that while too many games that feature plenty-of-pain-but-not-enough-gain has produced a glittering 58-14 record, the Lakers will have to greatly improve their concentration to make a successful sprint to a championship.