Panic? Not the 3-3 Lakers

The Lakers have won half of their games, a total disaster if there weren’t 76 games left in the season. As it is, it is at least perplexing.

You would assume, then, that Coach Phil Jackson was alternating between preaching triangulation and mulling strangulation, particularly in light of consecutive defeats in Texas on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.

A Jackson ally, shooting guard Steve Kerr, peered out from San Antonio’s bench, saw this thing the Lakers have been calling a triangle, and noted, “It was a rhombus.”

Laker assistant Tex Winter, by all accounts, has created nothing called a rhombus. His offense has no offshoot shapes.

“Phil,” Kerr told San Antonio newspapers after the Spurs beat the Lakers by 10, “is not happy with this.”

Maybe. But, by the looks of him, he’s not entirely unhappy, either. He has not heaved a Gatorade bottle across the locker room, as he did at least once in a fit of Zen-lessness last season. He has not publicly scolded his players. As his offense has come apart, he has most often sat serenely in his sideline chair, watching from behind purple-rimmed glasses, almost bemused.

What this is is a nice challenge. And, really, how daunting could it possibly be? “The best big man on the planet”--Shaquille O’Neal’s words--stands in the middle of the lane for him three or four nights a week.

For the time being, this is a tweak. In that vein, Jackson is reestablishing the boundaries of the triangle, which then reframes the Laker approach.

“It’s an economical, useful application of logic to beat a basketball team off the pass or occasionally off the dribble,” he said.

“It’s very difficult for players to corral their own personal interest at times. That’s why we try to teach some selflessness in this process, because it gets along with our interests, basketball-wise. . . . That remains a constant in what I teach. We know that if you do that correctly you get back on defense and you get offensive rebound situations, you get shots where a lot of people get opportunities to touch the ball. It makes for a better community. This is the thing I promote. We keep working at it until people kind of band together.”

The Lakers have regressed, in part because of the addition of new players. Jackson is trying to integrate Isaiah Rider into a system Rider does not yet comprehend. Given Kobe Bryant’s recent admission that the Lakers often faked the triangle last season, Rider might not be that far behind.

They have averaged 91.5 points in six games, nine points fewer than last season. There have been few easy baskets, even fewer fastbreak points.

Then, as happens whenever the Lakers do not play well, the dynamics of the relationship between O’Neal and Bryant have arisen again.

“The same,” O’Neal answered.

“Bling-bling, brother,” Bryant said, suggesting the ring is the common goal that sustains them.

A better explanation is that O’Neal has missed shots he ordinarily makes and Bryant is searching for the proper mix of creativity and subordination.

Jackson said he is not disappointed that one season does not simply grow into the next, that a group of ballplayers does not simply come together and become best friends and play well, that one championship does not beget another, that that is not the natural order of things.

“This is really why I’m here, to do this,” he said. “To fix the tussles with the wills of these guys. That’s what coaches do.”

The other way, Jackson said, “is fun. But it’s not as challenging. I’ve had teams that were like that too, that fell in line, that were capable of exactly what my mind-set was. Without even talking about it, they just did what I wanted.”

This Laker team is not quite so perceptive. Maybe the wills are stronger. Maybe it just needs more consistency from its small forward, or it requires a more viable three-point threat. That’s not as romantic as will-fixing, though, and perhaps not as challenging.

“We have to find a way to play together,” Jackson said.

It is a process. The Lakers hope they don’t spend the Pacific Division title on it, or fail to gain home-court advantage. But, they were a rather ratty 8-4 last season, then lost once between Nov. 22 and Jan. 14.

“They are going to get a lot better,” Kerr said.

They’d have to, of course, no matter the shape they’re in.

Notes

The Lakers didn’t practice Thursday, the first of three days off before they play Houston at Staples Center on Sunday night. . . . At least part of the emphasis in workouts will be defending the pick-and-roll, a sore spot against San Antonio and Utah, in particular. . . . Forward Rick Fox is shooting 31.4% from the floor, 23.5% on three-pointers.

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APPEAL DENIED

Joe Smith is probably headed out of Minnesota after an arbitrator upheld the NBA penalties against the forward. D2