Ailing, Reeling With Nowhere to Go but ...

OAKLAND —  Kobe Bryant left Thursday’s film session with his head down, a box of tissues in his right hand and the hood of his gray sweatshirt pulled over his head, the picture of an ailing player on a similarly hurting team.

Battling a sinus infection and an earache, Bryant is expected to play tonight against Golden State, and the Lakers are also expected to show up, presumably, although not much can be taken for granted after losses to Atlanta, Boston and Portland in the last couple of weeks.

The Lakers are still 1 1/2 games ahead of Utah and Sacramento for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference, but there are few guarantees with a game against Detroit and two against San Antonio in the next seven days.

“The way we’re playing, we don’t have a shot in hell to beat a team like Detroit or San Antonio, the Utahs, the guys that’s going to make it hard,” Lamar Odom said.

The good news for the Lakers is they won’t see Portland Trail Blazer guard Steve Blake again for another six weeks. The bad news is the losses keep coming, with Coach Phil Jackson sore enough from a 99-93 loss to Portland to remind players during Thursday’s session what was wrong with them.

“They stink,” Jackson said. “They know that they were all bad and they have to pick it up another level. They have to assume responsibilities about being professional.”

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Jackson, never one to look too far ahead, has not mentioned to players the remaining schedule, which shows 14 of the final 24 games are at Staples Center but an overall degree of difficulty that includes three games against San Antonio, two against Phoenix and one against Detroit.

“It doesn’t do any good to bring that up,” Jackson said. “They’ll realize that when they’re in the midst of a game against San Antonio or Detroit and say, ‘Gee, these guys are a little bit different than what we had last week.’ ”

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The Lakers were interested in Tony Delk but the guard had his reasons for signing with Detroit after being waived by Atlanta last week.

“The last two years were tough, being in a rebuilding situation,” Delk told reporters in Detroit. “I want to be back in the playoffs and I want a chance to help this team win a championship.”

TONIGHT

at Golden State, 7:30, Channel 9

Site -- The Arena in Oakland.

Radio -- 570; 1330.

Records -- Lakers 29-29, Warriors 25-32.

Record vs. Warriors -- 2-0.

Update -- Warrior point guard Baron Davis practiced Thursday and could play tonight after missing seven games because of a sprained right ankle.