Lakers Throw It Away

Where was the help? Where was the foul? Where were their heads?

The Lakers lost something big Wednesday, as big as Tim Duncan, as big as all of Texas, so now we must search.

Where was Glen Rice on defense? Where was Glen Rice on offense? Where was the communication from the Coach Kurt Rambis?

The Lakers are essentially one weekend loss from elimination after dropping a 79-76 hair-yanker to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

The Spurs lead the series, two games to none, with enough muscle and maturity to finish this thing off unless the Lakers find themselves.

As well as a bunch of other things they lost in the final crazed moments at the Alamodome.

Where was Kobe Bryant’s 91% playoff foul shooting? Where was Derek Harper’s shooting, period? And where on this great green earth was Shaquille O’Neal?

“We’re down, 2-0, and that better light a spark under us,” said Rice with a sigh.

The Lakers will settle for any sort of illumination after their front porch light inexplicably went dark during the most important 18.1 seconds of their season.

Before that, Bryant’s missed foul shots (pressure?) were unfortunate.

And Harper’s turnover and consecutive missed three-point attempts were unfortunate (weariness?).

And 10 consecutive shots by the Lakers after they took a six-point lead midway through the fourth quarter were really unfortunate (composure?).

But at least all those things were explainable.

What happened during the final 18.1 seconds, with the Lakers leading, 76-75, is not.

For a franchise that has prided itself on professionalism, it was almost inexcusable.

Those final 18.1 seconds, which could be replayed for years, went something like this:

* Coach says he told the players to foul Duncan before he could make the game-winning shot, because he had a foul to give.

Players say he told them no such thing.

* Coach says he called a last-second inbounds play that was not intended for Derek Fisher, who watched the ball bounce off his nose.

And Fisher agreed that the ball had to go to him only because Rice and Shaq were covered.

But Rice intimated that he wasn’t covered, and that the play was supposed to go to Bryant in the first place.

The entire experience was so disheveling and disheartening, Rambis looked confused long after it had ended.

“We did some stuff that was great,” he said. “But we did some stuff that was not so great.”

Start with the defense on Duncan, who lofted a perfect jump hook over J.R. Reid, and just ahead of a late and lunging Rice, with 8.9 seconds left to win the game.

Some might find it reasonable to wonder why Reid would be guarding Duncan in the first place, after the way a smaller Rick Fox battled the big guy all game.

“J.R. did just as good of a job,” Rambis said.

The next question would be, after he was stifled when the Lakers double-teamed him earlier, why leave Reid so alone?

“We did double-team him,” Rambis said.

With Rice, who was too late to be a factor.

“Yes, it was Glen,” Rambis said.

Rice acknowledged that, yes, he just didn’t get there in time.

“He made a great move toward the baseline, and he’s really hard to double in that situation,” Rice said.

Now for the foul.

Said Rambis: “We were supposed to foul him.”

Said Fisher: “I never heard anything about a foul. I heard Kurt shout ‘Go,’ which meant we were supposed to double-team him, but I never heard anything about a foul.”

Said Bryant: “We should’ve fouled him because we had a foul to give. Those are things we just learn from experience. . . . inexperience from the players and the coaching standpoint.”

Said Rambis: “I didn’t make myself clear. . . . I guess.”

Reid hurried from the locker room before he could be reached for comment, so it’s unfair for anybody to place the blame on Rambis before hearing all sides of the story.

But the bottom line doesn’t change. They could have fouled Duncan and forced the Spurs to run another inbounds play. And they didn’t.

Now for the final error by Fisher, who lost the inbounds pass from Bryant with 8.4 seconds remaining.

Said Rambis: “We didn’t execute the right play, the ball was not supposed to go to him.”

Said Fisher: “I’m no rocket scientist, I knew the ball was not supposed to go to me. I was told basically to stay out of the way. Glen and Shaq were our first two options.”

Rice paused, then laughed, when asked if he was covered.

“Let’s just say, we didn’t execute very well,” he said.

General consensus is that the final play was supposed to go to anybody but Fisher, and then back to Bryant for a shot.

Whatever.

It was such a mess, the Lakers now need to find a broom. The two games at the Forum this weekend? They must now sweep.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.