Three at Last?

The Lakers went ahead with their company Christmas party Thursday, a good sign they’d come out of the depression of two losses in four days, and three in one NBA season.

Before the party, Phil Jackson even let Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant practice with the rest of the men, apparently satisfied his superstars would let the other players help tonight when they play the Clippers. He had held them out for part of Wednesday, hoping they’d remember to share the basketballs.

Ever diligent, Bryant took the learn-by-observation technique another step, and for a third consecutive day watched his teammates answer questions for reporters.

Wading through the usual post-practice media gantlet, Bryant smiled brightly and said, “I’ll think about it. Let me think about it.”

Then, from the locker room, he sent word through a team official: Maybe tomorrow.

He has missed a few shots and a few open teammates in the last few games, a reason the Lakers find themselves a little misty for the old days. Like November, when Bryant was Western Conference player of the month, and Jackson was NBA coach of the month, and the engraver had “Los Ange” already on the Larry O’Brien trophy before David Stern could call and tell him to stop.

From 16-1, the Lakers have lost consecutive games, Friday in Sacramento and Tuesday, at home, to Seattle. The Clippers, at 12-10, have won three consecutive games, including Wednesday’s against Seattle by 20 points, and seven of nine. But they have yet to win a road game, and Staples Center, where they play 43 times a year, is as good a place as any for that. The SuperSonics beat the Lakers by 11, but it felt like more, causing O’Neal and Bryant to leave Staples Center together in a huff.

You know, it was always a matter of finding similar interests....

So, while the Clippers find themselves at a crossroads, perhaps, the Lakers find themselves at, well, a game against the Clippers.

The Lakers have not lost three consecutive games in the Jackson era, and Jackson has not lost three consecutive games since the Chicago Bulls lost four in mid-January 1995, when the Jordanaires lacked Michael Jordan.

Three consecutive defeats would seem unlikely for the team many believed capable of a 73-9 record, one victory better than the Bulls were in 1995-96, when they had Jordan back. Perhaps it is not impossible, however, in the same season Jordan’s team lost eight in a row.

Since then, from Jordan to O’Neal and Bryant, Jackson has possessed players with a distaste for losing and the talent to do something about it, sometimes by themselves.

“You look at all the great Laker and Celtic teams,” Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry said, “and even those guys lost three in a row.”

Asked why the Lakers have not lost three consecutively under Jackson, Laker forward Robert Horry mulled the question and said, “I don’t know. Luck?”

Part of it, apparently.

“A lot of it has to do with scheduling,” Jackson said. “A lot of it has to do with being home at the right time. For us, this team has buckled down and really taken seriously the prospect of coming back and redeeming themselves.”

Jackson wondered, in fact, how much had to do with him.

“It’s not that they’re afraid I’m going to commit suicide if we lost three in a row,” he said. “But there are coaches like that. They are ready to hang themselves when it gets going bad. There’s nothing worse than spending a night after a game after you’ve sustained some losses you don’t like. Everybody suffers from that.

“I’ve just been fortunate to have really professional teams.”

Rick Fox said the Lakers get attentive after failure.

“After losses,” he said, “we’re definitely more in tune with his words, his instruction.”

Jackson spent the last two practice days on the subjects of offensive execution and defensive effort, and of the collective attitude of a team he believed had slipped into an unproductive place.

“There’s a difference between cockiness and confidence,” Jackson said. “I had to go back through those two things, those two definitions, this past week. Our practices sometimes got a little too jocular, or we were too cocky about our game.”

Another loss or two might solve that, but the Lakers believe their issues are more mechanical in nature.

“We’re a rhythm team and we haven’t been playing a lot,” Horry said of the Lakers’ airy early schedule. “We’ve had long layoffs and only a few practices. You get rusty. You gotta shoot your pistol every once in a while or you’re going to mess up.”

The fact is, Laker minds wander in the regular season, which is why they are a longshot to win 73 but have every chance to three-peat.

Try not to think of it as boredom, though. Think of it as burnout protection.

TONIGHT

CLIPPERS VS. LAKERS

7:30 p.m. at Staples Center

TV: Fox Sports Net

*

* Lakers: Phil Jackson hasn’t lost three consecutive games since January 1995 with the Bulls, without Michael Jordan.

* Clippers: They have won three in a row and seven of nine and have the seventh-best record in the Western Conference.