No. 13 Nearly Is Fouled Up

What goes up, must let down.

A day after their unforgettable victory in Portland, the Lakers faced a decidedly less energizing challenge Wednesday, and were, well, decidedly less energized about it.

Decidedly less interested too.

It was inevitable, forgivable, and, on this night against this opponent, survivable.

After almost three quarters of sputtering play, the gears meshed, the Laker bench rode to the rescue, and the Vancouver Grizzlies were put away, 103-91, before 18,912 at Staples Center.

The Lakers (47-11) won for the 13th consecutive time, lifting them 1 1/2 games ahead of idle Portland in the race for the Pacific Division title and the NBA’s best record.

Shaquille O’Neal had 25 points and led all rebounders with 17 in 39 minutes, but the key stretch of the game came when he was forced to the bench because of five fouls.

That’s when reserves Brian Shaw, Robert Horry and Rick Fox and a non-reserve named Kobe Bryant fired in consecutive three-pointers to finish out the third quarter and give the Lakers an eight-point cushion heading into the fourth.

O’Neal eventually fouled out with 2:43 left in the game.

Bryant had 27 points and six rebounds, and the bench combined to score 32 points, including 10 from Horry and eight from Fox.

And while the other Laker reserves kick-started the offense, Derek Fisher accidentally kicked comedian Jon Lovitz’s head in the fourth quarter while scrambling over the front row for a loose ball.

“After playing a game to an excited crowd last night, we were somnambulant out there in this game--we were walking wounded in their sleep,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said.

But Jackson didn’t jump up and down during the Grizzly runs, didn’t call a stream of timeouts, and later said he knew what his team was going through after such a high-peak game the night before.

“That’s natural,” Jackson said of having a letdown. “You have a workmanlike game, you have to do it . . . and measure it out and find a way to win it. . . .

“It’s good for them to adjust to that. I think they’re really learning and growing.”

Said O’Neal: “We knew not to get worried. We knew we had to pick it up at some point in the game, and we did that--a couple guys hit a couple shots.”

But this was a struggle, almost all the way.

Vancouver grabbed a four-point lead, 58-54, after Michael Dickerson’s three-pointer with just under eight minutes left in the third quarter.

After the Lakers stabilized with a couple of O’Neal inside baskets, another crisis hit:

With 2:25 left in the third, O’Neal, who had played every second up until then, picked up his fifth foul.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s ensuing free throws gave the Grizzlies a 66-65 lead, and Travis Knight checked in for O’Neal.

But that’s when the long-distance barrage began, started by Shaw, then followed swiftly by Horry, Fox and Bryant on consecutive Laker possessions, closing the fourth on a 12-3 run (to give them a 77-69 lead), with all of the points supplied by three-pointers.

By the time O’Neal got back into the game, with 8:33 left in the fourth, the Lakers had bounced out to an 82-73 lead, and never were seriously threatened after that.

Fisher said he sensed that Jackson wanted to see how the team would respond to trouble with O’Neal on the bench.

“I think Phil, he wanted that to happen,” Fisher said. “Because he wouldn’t have left him in in that situation with four fouls, if he didn’t want to put us in that situation.

“He wanted to see how we would respond. And we kind of toned up our defense and everybody got involved. . . . That’s kind of the same thing we did last night. Nobody really had a monster night, but everybody clicked on the floor and gave us effort and contributed.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

LAKER STREAKS

BEST OF SEASON

* 16--Dec.11-Jan. 12

* 13--Feb. 4-March 1

* 7--Nov. 24-Dec. 7

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CURRENT STREAK

The Lakers have won 13 in a row. A look at the score and the opponent’s field-goal percentage in each game:

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Opponent Score (Pct.) 1. Utah 113-67 (.296) 2. Denver 106-98 (.419) 3. Minnesota 114-81 (.341) 4. at Chicago 88-76 (.377) 5. at Charlotte 92-85 (.416) 6. at Orlando 107-99, OT (.454) 7. at Philadelphia 87-84 (.388) 8. at New Jersey 97-89 (.436) 9. at Cleveland 116-98 (.468) 10. Boston 109-96 (.416) 11. Houston 101-85 (.358) 12. at Portland 90-87 (.404) 13. Vancouver 103-91 (.447)

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