LAKERS NOTEBOOK: MUCH-NEEDED BROWN MAKES RETURN.

Byline: ROSS SILER

Staff Writer

Kwame Brown credited the treatment he has been doing with ice and electric stimulation, the anti-inflammatories he has been taking and the walking boot he has been wearing to reduce the load on his injured ankle.

Yet the biggest reason Brown was back in the lineup Sunday, after missing six games with a bone bruise, was the Lakers' 1-5 record without him: "We're losing," Brown said. "We've got to do something."

With coach Phil Jackson again stating how much the Lakers need him, Brown made his return against Seattle. The Lakers hope Brown will be able to find his rhythm in the final two regular-season games, then be a difference-maker in the playoffs.

"I said about two weeks ago that if we don't have Kwame back, we're not going to win," Jackson said. "We're not going to go anywhere in the playoffs. We haven't really been able to do much without him since that time."

Brown said: "I'm just going to see what I can do. It may be pretty.

It may be ugly. I haven't practiced, I haven't shot, I haven't touched the ball."

All the Lakers are looking for Brown to do is rebound and play defense, using his size and strength to bring a post presence. Brown said of his role: "Right now, I'm just trying to focus on what I can do, and even that's still up in the air."

Brown would not even guarantee last week that he would return for the playoffs, which led to Jackson issuing increasingly blunt challenges for his injured center to find a way back. The coach waved a white handkerchief in mock surrender before one game.

Brown was asked if Jackson's comments made a difference and answered:

"No, because if we would have won, then I would have stayed with the idea of trying to rest it as much as possible and then coming back."

Jackson said Brown was reassured after an MRI exam last Monday confirmed he could do no further damage to his ankle by playing. The Lakers still anticipate that Brown will need the bulk of the off-season to fully heal.

Cut-rate comment: Luke Walton walked into the locker room with a buzz cut and Jackson couldn't resist borrowing from the gossip pages and making a joke at Walton's expense.

"I think it's just that he wants to kind of emulate Britney Spears," Jackson said. "It's a look-alike contest."

Walton denied last week that he's dating Spears, who had an unfortunate head-shaving episode earlier this year. The two were erroneously linked by a pair of British tabloids.