Lakers Taking the Wrong Rout

If it weren’t so farfetched, you’d believe the Lakers were sabotaging their own regular season, just to heighten the drama of their playoff run and repeat championship. Nobody’d believe that.

But there the Lakers were Wednesday night at Staples Center, losing 108-84 to the Sacramento Kings, to whom they almost never lose, as the crowd chanted “Kobe! Kobe!” in the final seconds of the blowout. Chris Webber returned to the series and scored 25 points and Peja Stojakovic scored 22 as the Kings outscored the Lakers, 51-31, in the second half.

Shaquille O’Neal scored 33 points and no other Laker scored more than 12.

Kobe Bryant sat out his fourth consecutive game because of a strained left ankle, and he is doubtful for Friday’s game against Dallas.

They lost by 21 points in Phoenix on Monday and it appears that without Bryant they are sagging further by the game.

They have lost two games in a row and four times in six games. This doesn’t look like the momentum they’d been talking about.

“I don’t want to speculate about Kobe being out,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson snapped. “I just want to talk about the game we played tonight and how we played it. We miss Kobe and it’s too bad he’s not here for this game, but, you know, it’s what we got. We’ve got [Ron] Harper out and we’ve got other guys out. We know what we’re missing as far as people we don’t have.”

The Lakers lost by 20 or more points in consecutive games for the first time in nearly two years. They were similarly routed back to back on April 24 and 26, 1999, in San Antonio and in Houston.

For many reasons--keeping their feet on the necks of the Kings, among them--the Lakers desperately had hoped to complete a four-game sweep of Sacramento. With the playoffs three weeks off, the Lakers haven’t intimidated many this season, so they had a special appreciation for the Kings and their town’s inferiority complex.

With 10 games left, the Lakers are two games behind the Kings in the Pacific Division, three games in the loss column. In the race for home-court advantage in the first round only--the fourth seed--the Lakers stand a mere half-a-game ahead of Portland and Dallas, with games against Dallas, New York, Utah, Phoenix, Portland and two against Minnesota ahead.

Surprisingly, it was the Kings, who beat the Knicks in overtime Tuesday night, who had the energy. They shot 50.6% from the floor to the Lakers 35.5%. O’Neal made 13 of 25 field goals, and the rest of the Lakers made 20 of 68.

“I think it was more our effort,” said Brian Shaw, who had early foul trouble and missed the only shot he took. “It was a real lackluster performance. It’s sad because we had a lot to play for.

“They should have been the team that looked like we did.”

It appears the Lakers will take their inconsistent persona straight into the playoffs.

“Psychologically [a four-game sweep would have meant] a lot to us,” Jackson had said. “But it doesn’t mean you’re going to win the series, obviously. You’ve got to go play the games. It does mean there’s some kind of a matchup or situation going on. To be honest with you, we haven’t had a full force, complementary game of all players and coaches in this series yet. So, I can’t draw a lot of conclusions from that part. L.A. versus Sacramento is what it is.”

Probably, he expected more of an effort. For all of their shortcomings, the Lakers have played reasonably well in important games. Wednesday’s was important. The playoffs, you’d assume, they’d find important.

“There is something to that.” Jackson said. “But that tells me they’re not playing with a full energy, a full deck, every night. That also has a danger factor, because the playoffs also get mundane, those middle games--three, four, five in a seven-game series--can get to be a mundane thing too, if you’re not careful. If all you play for is the competition, excitement, television crew, whatever it is, it says something about your effort toward the game, and that disturbs me.”

Webber was six for 13 from the floor and scored 14 points before halftime, and the Kings led, 57-53.

Rick Fox made a three-pointer two minutes into the second half, then jawed at Stojakovic down the floor, loud and hard. Fox took a technical foul, which Stojakovic applauded, and Doug Christie made the free throw as Stojakovic nodded. Webber then scored to give the Kings a 64-58 lead.

It grew from there, to 85-70 at the conclusion of the third quarter, by which time the crowd was groaning with every Webber finger roll, with every Stojakovic jumper, with every basket by Hidayet Turkoglu.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

The Lakers in four games against Sacramento:

Nov. 16 W, 112-110 (OT)

Feb. 4 W, 100-94

March 25 W, 84-72

March 28 L, 108-84

Laker Avg. Points 95

King Avg. Points 96

Laker Avg. Rebs. 46

King Avg. Rebs. 46

Laker Avg. FG % .427

King Avg. FG % .418

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