Lakers Find Two Stars Better Than Nets’ One

Now to try to tape Humpty Dumpty back together again . . .

This was the trip that launched the Lakers to a title a year ago, a six-game post-All-Star Eastern swing that they swept, although if Tuesday’s start was any indication, this one could be a little tougher.

For the Lakers, getting Shaquille O’Neal back, supposedly on a limited basis, against the 17-34 Nets, this was like their one-night warmup for the tougher teams awaiting them.

It turned out to be reminiscent of Sunday’s All-Star game, with Stephon Marbury scoring 50 points and the Nets coming from 10 down in the last 2:37 of regulation against a big Western Conference team, with Marbury scoring 19 in the fourth quarter and knocking in three three-pointers down the stretch.

Everyone flashed back to Sunday, except Marbury, who was too disappointed after the Lakers won in overtime to savor coincidences.

“All-Star game’s over, man,” he said.

For the Lakers, this was the start of their second half and their second chance. For the Nets, who were 15-34 before winning their last two before the break, it was a chance to draw a big crowd and see if they could keep something rare and precious going.

Of course, they were thrilled that O’Neal had picked their town to return in. Told O’Neal was officially in the lineup before the game, Net Coach Byron Scott snapped his fingers, as if disappointed.

Nor did Scott take any consolation from the fact that O’Neal had been gone for two weeks.

“Rusty?” Scott asked. “I don’t think he could be too rusty. All his shots are in the paint so . . . how rusty can you be?”

A year ago, the Lakers came out of the break with games in Chicago, Charlotte, Orlando, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Cleveland. Only the last was a rout but they won them all, and the next two at home . . . and then the big one in Portland’s Rose Garden that turned around the race in the West.

In all, the Lakers won 16 in a row (three before the break, then the 6-0 trip, two wins at home, the one in Portland, and then four more), taking them to a 50-11 record.

This season’s trip will continue tonight in Philadelphia and then take them to Charlotte, Indiana, Dallas and San Antonio, so, of course, they can’t expect to do the same thing . . .

“Why not?” asked Coach Phil Jackson before the game. “It’s a long trip. We’d have to play exceptionally well to win five of six and I’d be pleased with that.”

A year ago, he was reminded, he predicted only 3-3.

“That was last year,” Jackson said. “This is this year.”

He didn’t have to remind anyone. For the Lakers, this season has been different in most respects and better in few, with the first half dominated by the Shaq-Kobe Bryant situation, until no one is quite sure what to expect.

O’Neal had promised to let “bygones be bygones” before making that little joke or whatever it was that got into headlines in Orlando and subsequently many other cities.

But Tuesday, he and Bryant seemed to be going out of their way to accommodate each other. On the first play of the game, Bryant hit O’Neal going to the basket with a backhand pass. After that came two more Bryant passes to O’Neal for dunks, and several acknowledgments between them.

O’Neal wound up going 43 not-so-limited minutes, with 32 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and five blocked shots. For getting back in condition fast, it was better than a Tae-Bo session.

As a warmup, it was a long night’s work. The Nets went on a 17-4 run in the third quarter, looking as if they were going to run the Lakers out of the building. Showing how concerned he was, Jackson, who likes his teams to fight back without his having to huddle them up and calm them down, called a rare timeout.

The Lakers then went on their own 17-4 run.

They were down, 110-107, with 55 seconds left in overtime, before O’Neal, fouled intentionally, made one free throw and Tyronn Lue, who was playing because Bryant had five fouls and Jackson needed someone to guard Marbury and who had been kicking the ball all over the floor, scored his only basket on a layup to tie it.

Then Bryant won it with his layup and they were bused down to Philadelphia to see what comes next. If the past is prologue, whatever it is should be a doozy.