Kings for a Day, or the Kings for This Season?

For one day, the answer to the burning question “What’s wrong with the Lakers?” was simple. The solution came as nicely wrapped as anything you might find under a Christmas tree: The Sacramento Kings are a better team, for now and the foreseeable future.

The Lakers didn’t produce a peak performance, but it was better than most of their 19 losses. Yet all they could do was make it a game, a hard-earned, 105-99 Sacramento victory at Staples Center.

“I thought the Lakers played well,” King Coach Rick Adelman said.

He wouldn’t get much of an argument from Kobe Bryant.

“Tonight we played really, really well,” Bryant said. “Outside of that mental lapse we had in the third quarter.”

That lapse he was referring to -- a bit of premature celebration, as Phil Jackson labeled it -- came after the Lakers took a 12-point lead in the third quarter. The Kings stormed back with a 16-5 run, and held a three-point lead by the time the quarter ended.

And for a desperate Laker team searching for positives, such as this good showing against one of the league’s best teams, just be aware that the Kings are playing at about 65%, in Chris Webber’s estimation. They’re still adjusting to Mike Bibby, who missed the first 27 games of the season after foot surgery. And they went the final 4 1/2 minutes without supersub Bobby Jackson, who broke a bone in his left hand.

“Every team gets better; we’ll get better too,” Webber said. “But we took their best shot today. We were down 10 in the third quarter, we took their best shot. If anything, we showed that we’re more composed.”

It’s not only how they responded to adversity that was different, it was how they acted after winning. The old Kings led the league in clowning opponents and fans on the road. But there were no goofy gestures by Webber or primal screams by Bibby. When it was over, Webber didn’t say anything. He simply pointed to the front of his jersey.

SACRAMENTO.

That says enough. (Although before the game, Webber couldn’t resist this jab at Rick Fox when talking about the aftermath of his fight with Doug Christie in a preseason game: “I think Fox knows what 99% of NBA players think about him and the situation. It’s kind of like, he should be quiet. After you get beat up, just be quiet. What else you gonna do?”)

Sorry if this is too much Sacramento for you, but it’s their party right now.

What to say about the Lakers?

One of the observations has been that they’re not trying hard enough. Well, you don’t outrebound a team, 61-42, and block six shots (as the Lakers did Wednesday) without putting in some work.

“The effort is the same effort,” Fox said. “Unfortunately that’s no longer enough. What we gave last year is not good enough.”

Not when other teams have improved -- and the Lakers are regressing.

“Our well’s not as full,” Fox said. “It seems to carry us 20-25 minutes a game.”

The Lakers had some stretches when they played well, when the shots fell and the fans cheered and the game’s intensity and the network TV cameras made it feel like June.

They looked good for the opening 5 1/2 minutes, got their buckets the old-fashioned way when Shaquille O’Neal scored eight points in three minutes near the end of the second and took control at the start of the third quarter.

“We put it together for 2 1/2 quarters,” Bryant said. “We’re not at the level we can play that way for 48 minutes.”

Even when they’ve lost in December it’s not as if they’re so inept they can’t advance the ball past half court. They’re getting the ball to Shaq and Kobe, and those guys are creating open shots for their teammates. The shots just haven’t been going in.

On Friday, O’Neal and Bryant were as guilty as anyone, if not more. They missed 16 of their 20 shots in the second half. Most of O’Neal’s were layups. Some of Bryant’s were wild, circa 1998.

“I might have over-penetrated,” Bryant conceded.

Jackson said he had some philosophical disagreements with Bryant’s decisions and attempts to take on multiple defenders, but he said it was an isolated case. Some, including an ESPN.com columnist who has no other apparent purpose than to serve as the valet parker for Phil Jackson’s karma, thinks Bryant’s play is the Lakers’ primary flaw.

Right. If everyone else were as dedicated in the off-season and brought as much energy to each game as he did, the Lakers wouldn’t be in this hole. He could provide more help on defense and take better care of the ball (he’s averaging four turnovers a game) but he’s not the problem.

The business model for the Lakers relies upon Kobe and Shaq scoring lots of points, and in order to do that they’ve got to shoot the ball as much as reasonably possible.

The real concern is O’Neal’s inability to overpower defenders the way he used to. He had another earth-bound game Wednesday, and he had to make 11 of his 16 free throws to get to 27 points.

And Jackson said afterward that we should get used to this, that the “dynamic” Shaq of days past is gone. Whether it’s age, his toe injury and the necessary orthotics in his shoe, he just can’t explode the way he used to. Which means the Lakers’ primary option isn’t as effective. That’s one reason they were outscored, 52-30, inside on Wednesday.

That’s a category they used to own. The same way they owned the Kings. The Kings were the better team last season, the Lakers won because they were the Lakers.

The Lakers don’t have the same look. (And it wasn’t just the white jerseys at home -- a nice touch, as long as they don’t permanently replace the gold uniforms.)

O’Neal, the ringleader of all the trash-talking in the good times, disappeared without saying a word this time. If he’s going to enjoy the sunshine, he’s got to stick around in the rain, too.

O’Neal is marrying his longtime girlfriend today. One word of advice for a successful marriage: communication. He might want to try some.

J.A. Adande can be reached at: j.a.adande@latimes.com