At 16-3, Lakers Not Pushing Panic Button

The Lakers’ eyes were not quite as dull by Wednesday morning, and for good reason.

To everyone’s huge relief, all-stars Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant were not kidnapped in the moments after Tuesday night’s loss, the Lakers’ second in a row.

They just went home, leaving Lindsey Hunter, who played a season-low 14 minutes and can barely raise his right arm without wincing, to guess what might be wrong with the Lakers, and with Bryant.

By the time reporters were allowed into Wednesday’s practice, O’Neal and Bryant sat together under a basket, shouting encouragement into a full-court scrimmage. When Jelani McCoy followed a loud dunk by falling and landing on the floor like a manhole cover, O’Neal and Bryant grabbed each other and howled until they cried.

So, they appear to have gotten over being 16-3.

On his way to the locker room, O’Neal stopped and said he was “a little bit” mad about the recent direction of the Lakers, who hadn’t played well in the games leading to Tuesday’s, and then clinched their misery by once again making the Seattle SuperSonics appear capable.

Most assumed Friday’s loss in Sacramento alerted the Lakers to any lurking deficiencies. Instead, their offense went on without direction, and their defense went on without guarding the other team’s good players, and they lost at home for the first time this season, watching Gary Payton and Vin Baker dance off their floor.

“I’m going to go ahead and blame it on ‘Just one of those nights,”’ O’Neal said. “We just have to get back on track. I don’t see us having a problem. Win some, lose some.”

Still, he said, “I don’t like losing, and I don’t like losing two in a row. I wasn’t that mad. It was one of those nights I didn’t feel like talking.”

O’Neal grinned at the idea of that.

“If I don’t feel like talking, I don’t have to talk, despite what the stinkin’ rules say,” he said.

Along came Bryant, who smiled and said he chose not to mingle with reporters again. He was pleasant enough, and gave no explanation other than a shrug and a wave. In previous days, Bryant claimed to be over the sinus infection that stifled parts of his game. But he was seven for 23 from the floor against Seattle, a fourth consecutive game without his jump shot. He has made one three-pointer since Nov. 27 and has only four assists in his last 79 minutes.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him,” Hunter said. “Being sick affected him a lot, though, because he’s a high-energy player. I’m sure he’ll be back to normal soon.”

In their consecutive losses, the Lakers missed 31 of 39 three-point attempts. Derek Fisher and Hunter are missing, as is Robert Horry. Mitch Richmond, a reputed sharpshooter, did not even play Tuesday. So by the fourth quarter, O’Neal was surrounded by defenders, and open jump shots weren’t falling, and not even Bryant could draw out the defenses.

“I really don’t see that much wrong with his game,” O’Neal said. “He didn’t shoot the ball real well last night, but he’ll be ready. He’ll be ready. When we shoot the ball well, we dominate. When we don’t shoot the ball well we’re still a good team. [Tuesday] night we didn’t do anything right.”

They are, of course, minor problems. Minor, because they come at the end of 16 wins in 17 games, and because they come in December, and because Bryant can’t keep missing.

As Rick Fox recalled, “We floundered around for 70 games last year waiting for the playoffs to come around.”

Not that anyone wants to go through that again. To that end, there was a reason O’Neal and Bryant were not involved in the final 30 minutes of practice.

“For that part of the practice, they need to see their teammates play their offense and to see how they work well inside the offense, so they encourage that,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “So they all become a vital part of the offense. When that happens, then it makes Kobe’s and Shaq’s jobs easier, to make the special, standout plays. Everybody’s got to be part of it.... And they’ve got to help those guys be a part of it.

“You know that Kobe and Shaq are going to get their 20 points a night. We just hope we carry our part of it to the principle we have as an offensive team.”

Basically, Jackson said, if perimeter players are going to miss their shots, O’Neal and Bryant have to stay with them, and leave the weeding out to him.

“That’s my choice, to take them out of the ballgame,” he said. “They’ve done what they’re supposed to do.”