Last Drop Isn’t Good

Their chance -- at the end of 53 minutes, of 28 games, of two months misspent -- fell out of bounds and the crowd that breathed down their necks for three hours went hysterical and Rick Fox let his head fall lightly to Robert Horry’s shoulder.

The Lakers had played hard enough Friday night to see glimpses of what they had intended all along, well enough to beat the Philadelphia 76ers despite some old familiar flaws, which, it turns out, were preferable to the new ones.

They didn’t win. The play that was to free Fox for a layup in fact, raised their hopes but not their standing, and concluded in victory for the 76ers, 107-104, in overtime at First Union Center.

At the end of Kobe Bryant’s 44 points and 10 assists, of Allen Iverson’s 32 points, of Shaquille O’Neal’s 26 points and 14 rebounds and six missed free throws in the fourth quarter, two that might have won it with 31.1 seconds left, Fox was open and Horry saw him. The Lakers trailed, 105-104, Iverson had missed two free throws to give them the break they’d sought since that fourth quarter against Dallas, and now Fox was running through the lane, the ball rushing to him.

“It was here,” Fox said, holding his hands to his right ear, “then I had to try and catch it quick, and it was hard.”

A little too hard, maybe. A little behind him, maybe. There to be caught, for sure, and turned into the layup that might not have ended the struggle, but give them a moment’s rest from it.

“It’s 50-50,” Horry said. “Hopefully, he could have batted it down and laid it up. That’s the only way I could get it to him.”

It did not matter which, because Fox could not hold it. He closed his eyes and Horry turned and screamed at the ceiling and the 76ers celebrated. Something close to the real Lakers had shown up, for the first time in weeks, longer, and the 76ers had sent them off to Toronto, for the last of a four-game trip, with a 10-18 record, 2-13 on the road, losing still, no matter how close.

“It felt like a big playoff game,” Iverson said. “I’m talking about a playoff game where the series was tied or something. It was nice.”

While the 76ers moved into first place alone in the Atlantic Division, past the New Jersey Nets who defeated the Lakers the night before, the Lakers scrounged again for less material wonders, having fallen into last in the Pacific Division.

They played with ferocity, only to have O’Neal miss those free throws, then foul out 59 seconds into the overtime. O’Neal’s new open-door policy -- he spoke to reporters before the game -- did not extend to the postgame explanation.

They played with tautness, only to have four turnovers in overtime, the critical one off Fox, only to have the 76ers score 37 points in the third quarter, and only to have their bench score six points in 61 minutes.

Still, this was the effort they sought. Booed again in his hometown, Bryant made 16 of 35 shots and was the best player on the floor. O’Neal was surly and quicker to the rim. Derek Fisher hung as best he could with Iverson, though it was Bryant who took him for key possessions in the fourth quarter. They came back from 10 points down in the fourth quarter to force the overtime.

“If we play like we played tonight, we’re going to win a lot of games,” Fox said. “It was encouraging.”

Then it became one play the Lakers could not make.

“It wasn’t Rick’s fault,” Coach Phil Jackson said in a postgame news conference. “We knew they would jump to Kobe. Robert just had to pass the ball on an angle like that because of the pressure he was receiving.”

They found themselves in a place rife with memories of their three-peat, having won three of those 12 Finals games in this very arena in 2001, against a team thick with a mix of their last two Finals foes, Iverson and Eric Snow and Aaron McKie threaded through Keith Van Horn and Todd MacCulloch.

They spent six weeks trying to draw out the occasional good quarter into four. Progress, on one night, was playing through the one bad one.

For a night, most of it, their legs were back. Their heads were back with their legs. For most of it.

“We played in spurts very well,” Bryant said, and that would have to be close enough. Again.

*

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Long Road Back

The team with the worst record to make Western Conference playoffs last season finished 44-38. How Lakers need to finish season to reach that record.

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