They’re Kings for a Day

The cowbells were ringing for him. The Laker jersey was set ablaze at midcourt for him.

The 17,317 fans crammed into a barn here Sunday were screaming about everything, but talking to him.

What about it, Shaquille O’Neal?

You carried your team during the darkness of winter, but can you do it under the glare of spring?

When the stakes are raised and the burden is doubled? When that shiny MVP award is less a trophy than a target?

In the first real test of all-grown-up Shaq’s ability to stake out a championship Sunday, he was pushed and pounded with questions.

We, um, assume this is not going to be his final answer.

A surprisingly bad 99-91 loss to the Sacramento Kings in Game 3 of the first round of the NBA playoffs.

Eight successful shots in 22 tries.

Five successful free throws in 14 tries.

Two points in the fourth quarter, none after the Kings took the lead for good with seven minutes remaining.

For a couple of chilling hours in the heat of Arco Arena, the Shaq on the verge of postseason greatness reverted to the Shaq who has been swept out of five of his six final playoff series.

He looked tired. He played tentative. He was knocked backward when called for two fouls in the game’s first 11 minutes. He never found his balance.

Certainly, he pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds, had three nice assists and added the mandatory blocked shot, all with half the town hanging on him.

But after watching him dominate this NBA season like few players have ever dominated anything, we know Shaq. And this was not Shaq.

With respect to the lawmakers in attendance, Shaq essentially engaged in a 41-minute filibuster.

To sweep this series and get a few extra days off before the second round, the Lakers needed more.

What do you mean, you can’t tug on Superman’s cape?

“I don’t know whether he didn’t have that pop in his shot . . . he didn’t get off the floor well,” Phil Jackson said of O’Neal. “He just couldn’t get off the floor with a body on him.”

Translate.

“He had a real struggle of a game today,” Jackson said.

That’s what we thought.

It is unfair to say the 12-man Lakers must have a consistently solid performance from one particular person to survive these playoffs.

But it is also the absolute truth.

This is Shaq’s team, Shaq’s town, Shaq’s season.

Which also means that trying to close out a furious team in its frantic gym can be Shaq’s responsibility.

When he stumbles as he did Sunday, the Lakers have no choice but to hang on and hope they all don’t come crashing down together.

“We’ve been relying on [Shaq] all season long,” Ron Harper said afterward. “How are we going to change now?”

It’s tough to pin Sunday’s stunner on Shaq, of course, when the leading scorer on the Laker bench was Devean George, who played all of four minutes.

It’s unseemly to look only at the big guy when the middle-sized guy, Glen Rice, also scored only two points in the fourth quarter and had only two rebounds in the game.

Indeed, after all he has done for this team, hoisting it over the current at every dangerous bend in the season, Shaquille O’Neal is certainly allowed a bad playoff game or two.

So this is one.

That means he has one left.

OK?

“I was just missing some chippies that I don’t normally miss,” O’Neal said in a brief postgame interview. “We just didn’t play well at all. We just gave it to them.”

He was asked if he was tired. He said no.

He was asked if the early fouls bothered him. He said no.

There was little to be said about this one, and he knew it.

His game had already been illustrated early in the fourth quarter, with the Lakers leading by two.

O’Neal missed a short jump shot over Vlade Divac, who outscored him, 5-2, in the quarter.

The Kings brought the ball downcourt and Chris Webber missed a shot.

But teammate Tony Delk grabbed the rebound and threw it back to Webber, who missed another jump shot.

Then Delk ran inside and stole another rebound and threw it to Predrag Stojakovic, who made a three-point shot to give the Kings their first lead and the belief that this was possible.

“The biggest shot of the game,” Webber said.

It was soon thereafter, during a timeout with the Lakers trailing by four, that Harper called everyone together on the bench to make a screaming point.

“I told them, this is the place we grow, this is where we learn,” Harper said. “I told them this is where we learn how to get it done late in a game like this.”

The lesson continues Tuesday here in Game 4, with the Lakers leading two games to one and certainly not wanting to delay the seeming inevitable until the end of the week.

Surely many King fans will show up wearing the same white shirts they were issued Sunday.

“Mission Possible,” the shirts read.

From now until the end of June, Shaquille O’Neal must realize, that mission is him.

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