A Rare Day They Can Enjoy

At the Lakers’ annual holiday party Saturday, players squared off against a group of kids in such games as video basketball, Skeeball, Foosball and Pop-a-Shot.

For the most part, the kids held their own. But then, the Lakers are having trouble beating anybody at anything these days.

The party, put on by the Lakers and the Department of Children and Family Services, was held at the HealthSouth Training Center, the Lakers’ practice facility in El Segundo.

Before joining about 50 foster kids at the party, the Lakers went through what Coach Phil Jackson called a normal practice session Saturday that lasted a little more than an hour and a half.

The only player to miss the party was Kobe Bryant, who was at practice but did not participate in order to rest his sore elbow. A team spokesperson said Bryant had a dentist’s appointment immediately after practice.

The rest of the Lakers seemed to enjoy the party. It provided a nice respite from their recent struggles.

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The Lakers made only five of 19 shots (26%) in the fourth quarter of Friday night’s 98-82 loss to the New Orleans Hornets. No Laker made more than one shot in the quarter -- Bryant was one for seven and Shaquille O’Neal, missing easy layups, was one for four.

Bryant was two for 10 in the second half.

“I don’t know if it’s fatigue or poor shot selection,” Jackson said of the shooting woes.

Bryant had his sore elbow treated during practice Saturday, and Jackson also chose to rest O’Neal.

“We need him to have fresh legs,” Jackson said. “He’s the engine that drives this team.”

Robert Horry, bothered by a pain in the back of his right hand all season, also rested Saturday.

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The Lakers have lost 15 games, which is how many they lost during the 1999-2000 season, when they won their first of three consecutive NBA championships.

It’s not Jackson’s nature to rant and rave at his players, and he didn’t Saturday. There were no closed-door meetings or anything like that.

“They’re professionals,” he said. “They know what they have to do.”

He called the lopsided loss to the Hornets embarrassing, but stopped short of calling it worse.

“It wasn’t devastating because we didn’t invest that much in the game,” he said.

He said now is the time to start investing more.

“There’s something holding us back,” he said. “It’s time to start playing with playoff intensity. We’ve got to stop the leak in the dike. There’s a lot of water running out.

“As a coaching staff, we’re beginning to ask, ‘Did we squeeze everything out of this team in winning three straight championships to where they don’t have anything left?’ ”