Playoff Ready Is Latest Theme

It’s a familiar, but logical, theme: The Lakers, 12-11 since May 10, are focusing on getting beyond the controversies of the recent past and into decent playoff shape.

After Wednesday’s six-point loss in Portland, the Lakers took Thursday off and will fly to San Antonio after Friday’s workout for a game Saturday.

“Our record isn’t necessarily where we’d like it to be, but the reality is we’ve got a lot of stuff going on around here--a lot of stuff, on and off the court,” point guard Derek Fisher said.

“For us to continue to fight through that and still be one of the better teams in the league, I think, is a feather in our cap as players and as coaches.

“We feel like we’ve done a wonderful job of staying together and fighting through this thing. We haven’t gotten over the hump yet, but we’re working to get there, and we still feel like we’re going to get there.”

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Forward Rick Fox, who has sat out the last three games nursing a sore right knee, said he feels much better and hopes to be back in uniform in San Antonio. . . . Point guard Derek Harper, held out of the last four games, said that, despite a sore foot, he could have played during the Lakers’ just-completed series of three games in three nights but understands that Coach Kurt Rambis wants to keep him fresh for the stretch run.

After a four-for-14 performance Wednesday, Glen Rice, acquired to be the Lakers’ dominating shooting presence, has made only 18 of 58 shots (31%) in the last four games. Overall, Rice has not made 50% or more of his shots in a game since March 2 at Phoenix and is shooting 41.2% in the 21 games he has played since he was acquired from the Charlotte Hornets.