Adversity is officially here to face the Indiana Pacers this season.

After a gut-wrenching, OT loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday, the Pacers are left coastin' this week starting tonight when they take on the Los Angeles Lakers.

You may have heard, but the Lakers are REALLY good and unfortunately in a sour mood after dropping their last game against the Utah Jazz. to put them at 13-3 for the season.

As much as the Lakers appear to be the same ol' Lakers this season with Kobe Bryant, Derek Fisher, Pau Gasol and old friend, Ronnie Artest, they're actually relying on quite a few new faces off the bench to supplement the superstars. In fact, that bench threw up a clunker against Utah which was a big factor in the L.A. loss.

This fabulous piece on Kobe Bryant from a few days ago by Adrian Wojnarowski won't bolster your confidence any heading into the game tonight, but it does have plenty of interesting comments from Kobe. One is that he's learned to give more responsibility to his teammates in order to make the team stronger as a whole. I for one, hope he decides to defer to his teammates plenty tonight to give the Pacers a chance to start this roadie on a positive note.

After the jump, a few links of interest heading into tonight's game.

• Tough road trip a big opportunity for Pacers
  Bruno's latest Caught in the Web highlights the importance of the Pacers roadie this week.

• Pacers Paul George waiting his turn at wing
  Mike Wells reports that Paul George is happy to go home to SoCal as an NBA player but wishes he was going to play tonight.
• Lakers try to bounce back from tough road loss
  Indiana Pacers vs. Los Angeles Lakers - Preview

• Los Angeles Lakers Host the Indiana Pacers
  Jared Wade previews the Pacers' game tonight revealing some impressive numbers from the blue and gold so far this season.

• A poor performance should remind you how good the Lakers bench has been - Silver Screen and Roll
  In their worst performance of the season, you can still see just how improved the Lakers bench is over last year's version.
• Jackson thinks Pacers have playoff potential
  Lakers coach, Phil Jackson offers his respect for the improved Pacers although he doesn't sound too concerned about tonight's game.
• LAKERS FYI: Andrew Bynum wants to play in three weeks - latimes.com
  Broderick Turner reports on the Lakers getting closer to adding big man Andrew Bynum.