Lakers Can’t Toe the Line

Ever vulnerable, ever fragile, the Lakers reached their season’s symbolic halfway point with yet another loss that defied reason, other than the figure in gray on their gloomy bench.

They said they couldn’t wait for the woeful Chicago Bulls to get to Staples Center. Remember? Said the thuggish Bulls would pay for their ugliness.

Then, on Wednesday night, with Shaquille O’Neal resting his big right toe eight chairs from Phil Jackson, the Lakers lost again to the Bulls, 97-89, at Staples Center.

Including a road loss to the Clippers, the Lakers have lost four of five games in their arena.

The Lakers went to the All-Star break clinging to Kobe Bryant. They had won four games in a row, all on the road, all with O’Neal, who was the conference’s player of the week for that contribution.

Bryant scored 38 points, and could not hold off the Bulls, in part because he had eight turnovers. He was the only Laker with more than 11 points, and so the Bulls rode Marcus Fizer’s 21 points and Kevin Ollie’s 15 to their second consecutive victory against the Lakers, twice-defending NBA champions.

“It’s not embarrassing,” Bryant said. “It’s just very upsetting. I don’t think we matched their intensity. I don’t think we understood how hard they played.”

The Lakers had 20 turnovers and missed 14 of 17 threes, and so begged the Bulls to run and score easily. Six of the Lakers’ 13 losses were to last-place teams.

“We talked about our ability to respond to game situations,” Jackson said, “and the fact we didn’t meet the qualifications, the parameters, that this game demanded.”

Charmed by the Dallas Mavericks’ zone defense three days before, Jackson ordered the Lakers into a 2-3 alignment in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls appeared uncomfortable with it. Late offensive fouls by Fizer and Ron Artest were due, in part, to them charging into the middle of the Laker defense, on consecutive possessions. On the next, the shot clock expired on the Bulls, and the Lakers drew to within 81-80 on Samaki Walker’s layup.

From there, the Bulls outscored the Lakers, 16-9, and went merrily into their break, with 11 victories.

The Lakers played for the ninth time in 46 games without O’Neal. They are 5-4 without him.

By early in the second quarter it was clear the Lakers would win only if Bryant could stay with the Bulls offensively, and if the rest of the Lakers could defend the undertalented but game Bulls.

Bryant scored only four points in the first quarter, but 10 in the second, when he played only five minutes. He had 30 by the end of the third quarter.

While it seemed inconceivable the Lakers who beat the San Antonio Spurs without O’Neal could lose to the Bulls without O’Neal, they’d already lost to the Bulls with O’Neal, 31/2 weeks before.

They lost, 106-104, in overtime in Chicago, the same night O’Neal shined Brad Miller’s ear, and then they played the next three games without him.

These are the Lakers, and if they showed nothing else in the first half of the regular season, it’s that they have no regard for the regular season.

They lost to every last-place team in basketball, and a couple that should be, and looked remarkably indifferent in those games.

In that spirit, it seemed, the Lakers played with one foot in the All-Star break. They scored 40 points in the first half, fewer than they had scored at halftime in all but two games. The offense lacked flow, and their shots lacked touch, and the only thing that saved them was the Bulls, who play like that every night and therefore won 10 in 46 games before Wednesday’s game.

Jackson had predicted that the events of the last meeting--the simultaneous fouls by Miller and Charles Oakley, the air punch by O’Neal, and the chippy loss at United Center--would not carry over, and even had a colorful description for it.

“This game is another stop along the point,” he said. “As they say, the caravan stops, the dogs bark and the caravan moves on. It’s what happens.”

Jackson started Slava Medvedenko at power forward and Samaki Walker at center. Medvedenko scored 11 points in 21 minutes but occasionally appeared confused on defense. Walker had eight first-quarter rebounds, in part because the Lakers missed 16 of 24 first-quarter shots.

There were boos for Miller when he was introduced, but they were L.A. boos, and sure not to hurt anyone’s feelings.

Miller smiled broadly and smartly chest-bumped Artest.

At center court, where the players--who often share agents, a union, and previous rosters--touch fists or hug, Miller was ignored. He shrugged.

More boos came for Miller when he touched the ball, which wasn’t that often. All of the attention should be a boon to Miller, practically unheard of before his flagrant foul brought O’Neal’s wrath.

Oakley, who has a sore right wrist, did not play. Tyson Chandler, the rookie from Dominguez High, started his third consecutive game and scored eight points and took nine rebounds.