THE LONG, WINDING ROAD TRIP EAST COULD HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON THE LAKERS' SEASON.

Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer

For all the time the Lakers will spend on the road these next two weeks -- their eight-game trip is the longest since December 1989 -- coach Phil Jackson should have given his players two books as part of his annual rite instead of just one.

There will be plenty of time for the Lakers to read as well as help chart the course of their season. By the time they return home late on Feb. 11, the Lakers will have played a tenth of their regular-season schedule on this one trip.

The Lakers' first order of business is beating the New York Knicks tonight at Madison Square Garden to avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season. But there is a bigger picture at hand for a team that has gone just 8-11 on the road so far.

``That's when you really start growing a little bit is on the road,'' Lakers star Kobe Bryant said. ``You have a chance to bond together. It's you against everybody else. It'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it. I'm not looking forward to the cold weather, but I'm looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead.''

The Lakers have taken their place among the Western Conference's leading teams largely because of a 19-6 home record. Jackson has set a goal of not being satisfied with a 4-4 split on this trip but trying to break through with sixvictories.

To do so, the Lakers first would have to find the consistency that has eluded them in playing against the NBA's weakest teams. They will play four teams with losing records -- New York, Boston, Atlanta and Toronto -- on this trip.

The Lakers also play games against three of the Eastern Conference's top teams in Washington, Detroit and Cleveland. Jackson also noted Sunday that five of the eight teams have winning records on their home court.

The trip starts with four games in fivenights and includes a third set of back-to-back games next week against Detroit and Toronto.

``It's just human nature, people are going to want to go home,'' Lakers forward Brian Cook said. ``If we as a group focus in on what we need to do as far as taking it one game at a time and one possession at a time on offense and defense, I think we'll be fine.''

The hope is that the Lakers will welcome back forward Luke Walton and center Kwame Brown from their respective ankle sprains in the coming week. Walton was injured in Friday's loss to Charlotte; Brown has been out all of January.

This trip is the flip side of a schedule that had the Lakers playing mostly at home early in the season. But it is Jackson's belief that it only matters how well a team is playing, not whether the games are played at home or on the road.

The Lakers, however, have lost four of their past five games and are still working to reintegrate Lamar Odom, who missed 21 games with a sprained knee ligament.

Odom showed signs of being his former self in Sunday's loss to SanAntonio -- taking rebounds end-to-end for layups, lobbing alley-oop passes to Bryant for dunks -- but also missed 6 of 10 free throws.

Jackson is hoping his team can regain its shooting touch. The Lakers made just 42.3 percent of their shots in the losses to Charlotte and San Antonio despite being one of the NBA's best shooting teams.

``I think that we need to see a little better team play,'' said Jackson, whose team went 2-5 on a similar trip last season. ``I've been concerned about the fact that guys come in and they're desperate coming in off the bench.

``They want shots, they want to score, they think they're going to stay on the floor if they do some things that are scoring-wise instead of being playmakers, executing the offense.''

The featured games on the trip will come tonight in New York -- a homecoming for Odom, Smush Parker and Andrew Bynum -- and Saturday, when the Lakers play Washington in a rematch of their 147-141 overtime loss Dec. 17.

Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas scored a franchise-record 60 points while Bryant had 45 and questioned whether Arenas had a ``conscience'' in shooting. Brown's return is not certain, but he spent fourtumultuous seasons in Washington as a No. 1 overall pick.

The Lakers will play Feb. 8 against the Pistons, who confounded them with a zone defense in a November loss and finish the trip three days later against Cleveland in the first of two Bryant-LeBron James showdowns in a week.

``It can work either way,'' Jackson said of the trip. ``It can make a team come together. It can help a team fall apart.''

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CAPTION(S):

3 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Kobe Bryant and the Lakers will play eight games in 13 days on a road trip that starts tonight in New York.

Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images

(2) Lamar Odom's recent return from a knee injury is a boost for the Lakers as they embark on an eight-game, 13-day road trip.

Edna T. Simpson/Daily News

(3 -- color) no caption (Lakers)

Box:

LAKERS at NEW YORK

- Ross Siler