Sunburn Stings for Lakers

Shaquille O’Neal played a less-than-ordinary game, fielded dumb questions--his description--about it, and then leaned back on a metal folding chair, lost his balance and smacked the back of his head on a locker.

Across the room, Kobe Bryant, who had played 34 phenomenal minutes and then seven mortal ones, burst into laughter at the sight of his teammate rubbing the back of his head.

“One of them days, buddy,” O’Neal told Bryant. “One of them days. First Jake gets 19, now this....”

While waiting for the Phoenix Suns to miss, a dreary way to spend an evening when your defense is layup prone, the Lakers went ahead and added another ghastly loss, 118-106, Wednesday night at America West Arena. Committed, they have said, to staying with the Sacramento Kings, and to getting through the easy ones while readying for the tough ones, the Lakers were outscored, 24-13, in the last eight minutes.

Jake Tsakalidis, the aforementioned, rode high pick-and-rolls for his 19 points and then left to a standing ovation, an oddity for a center on a floor shared with O’Neal. Shawn Marion had 32 points and 18 rebounds, and the Suns, awful for weeks, managed to summon the strength and stamina to play through the Lakers, spotty for months.

On consecutive nights, the Lakers gave up a combined 234 points, starting with the second-half near-collapse to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Staples Center. They hadn’t been so burned since December 1996, when they gave up as many points on consecutive nights in Chicago (to a Bulls team coached by Phil Jackson) and Milwaukee.

For the first time this season, consecutive Laker opponents made more than half of their field-goal attempts, and the Lakers have given up at least 30 points in five of six quarters. As a result, the Lakers lost for the first time in four games and fell a game behind the Kings in the Pacific Division and Western Conference standings, with a long weekend of the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio Spurs ahead.

After a very long postgame wait, Jackson pushed through purple doors and wondered where the defense went.

“We did just about everything possible to mess it up and not even have a chance to get back in the ballgame,” he said. “So, we’re pretty disappointed in that ballgame as a team. It reflected deeply on how much we played defense, how attentive we were to that.”

After a murky 31/2 quarters, the Lakers trailed only 94-93, thanks in part to Bryant’s 17-point third quarter. He reached the end of the third with 36 points, then did not play the first 5:25 of the fourth quarter. After he returned, with the Lakers behind, 98-93, Bryant did not attempt another shot as the offense seemed intent on having O’Neal bring it back.

“We were just trying to establish some type of rhythm, offensively,” said Bryant, who made 18 of 20 free throws.

Jackson didn’t know what caused Bryant’s apparent reticence. “I haven’t talked to him about that. We went down to Shaq.”

It seemed an unlikely place for the Lakers to lose, three days after their victory in Sacramento, against a real live playoff team. Then, as they stuffed their duffel bags for the short trip home, they discovered the wait would be at least an hour longer. Their charter plane, it seemed, had a cracked windshield, so there was nothing to do but sit and mull a defeat that stood with their worst of the season.

Still, they’ve gotten good at explaining these.

“We’re not worried,” O’Neal said. “It’s all about us. We let another slip away. We made it harder on us.”

O’Neal described himself as “a little slow.”

He drew the line at praise for Tsakalidis, however.

“I have to help [on defense],” he said, more defensive than he’d been all night. “It’s not like he backed me down and scored on me. I’m surprised you asked that dumb question. I have to help the guards.”

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West Standings

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