There is nothing wrong with the Los Angeles Lakers that the NBA all-star break next weekend won't cure.

The laughter of Kobe Bryant, the sly grin of Shaquille O'Neal and the nonchalance of Coach Phil Jackson, all after a Tuesday morning workout here, made the point obvious.

They have seen it before.

"We are a .500-playing team right now, but this isn't unusual," Jackson said. "I'm not in a situation where we're anything but fine and OK."

The Lakers (30-12) will play the Orlando Magic (23-22) tonight in their season's only appearance at TD Waterhouse Centre, fresh from a meeting in Washington with President Bush on Monday and a 127-93 victory against the Hawks on Tuesday night.

As the two-time defending NBA champions, the Lakers looked the role when the season began, winning 16 of their first 17 games -- the best start in the history of their storied franchise.

Yet lately, they have been just average, going 14-11 since the start and losing six of their past 10 games. They lost at Memphis, at Golden State and at Chicago. They lost at home to Miami. They already have lost to the worst team in each of the four divisions.

The league's best team, though, didn't grow bad. It just grew bored, needing only to refocus its attention after so much success the past two seasons. In this same span, Los Angeles pounded the rival San Antonio Spurs -- twice.

"We'll be patient and continue to improve, and things will turn around," Bryant said calmly. "We'll get a lot better. We knew it was going to be tougher this season."

With O'Neal and Bryant, the Lakers have the league's best inside-outside, one-two punch -- a balance that no other team can handle consistently.

O'Neal spent five games on the injured list in December because of an arthritic big toe. He missed three games this month serving a suspension for fighting. Yet he still ranks among the league leaders in points (26 points per game), rebounds (10.8 rpg) and blocked shots (2.42 bpg). He scored a season-high 46 points against the Dallas Mavericks, a team that riles him more than any other.

Bryant, the NBA Player of the Month in November, is averaging 26.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. "There is a certain sense of not panicking about the losses," Jackson said. "After we dispelled the notion that we weren't going to replace the Chicago Bulls [of 1995-96] with their 72 wins, we have slowed considerably and are in the mire of not playing well. But we just have to regroup."