Answers in Short Supply

Rick Fox, basketball wise and world savvy, pondered for several seconds a question that touched both arenas.

Everyone could see the results of five playoff games, four that the Lakers had played poorly and won, one that they had played poorly and lost.

Everyone could see that Shaquille O’Neal had exhibited moments of dominance, that Kobe Bryant had enjoyed possessions of uncommon grace, and that the rest, Fox among them, had helped sometimes.

But now the Lakers were headed to San Antonio, with their most critical game since Game 2 of the last NBA finals ahead of them, tied 1-1 in the Western Conference semifinals. Tim Duncan had just observed that the media had declared the Lakers “immortal,” which probably was an overstatement, but that the Spurs had not.

There are signs, too, that O’Neal is unhappy with Phil Jackson, either for Jackson’s midweek request for more activity from his center, or because Jackson went public with that conversation, which Jackson called “heated.”

On his way from the team’s practice facility Thursday, O’Neal was asked about his health, including a mildly sprained left ankle, a new ailment. He told an Associated Press reporter, “Ask Phil. He knows everything.”

O’Neal often uses similar language when angry with Jackson, most recently in November, when Jackson fined O’Neal for missing two practices while attending the birth of his daughter. He then accused Jackson of talking too much.

Their relationship has been fine since. Indeed, O’Neal often has threatened to retire if Jackson were to leave the organization. The coach’s contract has two more seasons.

Clearly the Spurs were gaining confidence and the Lakers’ was slipping, and David Robinson’s back was getting stronger while O’Neal was hurting, from his shooting forefinger to his jumping toe to his ankle.

So, Fox was asked, Why? Why now?

He paused and looked to the rafters.

“You’re wondering whether or not San Antonio is responsible or we are,” he said. “Looking at ourselves, knowing what we do and what the execution of our game plan is supposed to look like, we are responsible in the sense we’ve dug ourselves a hole the last two games in the first half due to a lack of following through with our game plan. You have to give San Antonio credit for taking advantage of that. Other teams haven’t taken advantage.

“Now, I know how it feels today. We haven’t had a feeling like this for a long time in the playoffs. It’s not a sweet taste. We’re faced with a team now that will play two games at home, where it plays well, where we have to go and compete.”

Game 3 is tonight at the Alamodome. The Lakers practiced nearly up to the moment their charter flight departed LAX on Thursday. They lifted weights and paced through instructional drills for an hour on the floor, then watched film, all as Jackson was dictating instructions. And all along with the sense that anything short of a split--Game 4 is set for Sunday--could foreshadow the end of their season, well short of their third consecutive title.

“We’d much rather be up, 2-0,” said Bryant, on a day most of the players left practice without talking to reporters. “We could easily be down, 0-2, right now. So, we just go up there and deal with the situation at hand and do our best.”

They are pretty sure they haven’t done anything close to their best yet. After another regular season cloaked in complacency, the Lakers have been uninspired in the playoffs. Their offense has almost completely left them. Not even a gritty defense can make up for an offense scoring 85.5 points a game against the Spurs, 16 points off the regular-season average.

There are reasons:

* Bryant shot only two free throws in Game 2. The Lakers have had five fewer free throws than the Spurs.

* Compared to the regular season, O’Neal’s scoring is down nearly five points. Bryant’s shooting percentage, rebounds and assists all are down.

* The Lakers are committing more turnovers and dispensing fewer assists--more than four a game--than in the regular season, and they are allowing more offensive rebounds, even though opponents are taking fewer shots. The Lakers also are taking eight fewer shots a game.

It is, by all accounts, a bad time for them to be playing their worst basketball of the season. They got through Portland on a couple of decent halves and one very large three-pointer by Robert Horry, and have put two good quarters together against the Spurs only once, the third and fourth on Tuesday, but only after trailing by 16. In four first-half quarters against the Spurs, they have scored 13, 19, 21 and 19 points.

The Lakers have no real answers, either, or simply aren’t offering them.

“You people forget that it took an overtime for us a couple times last year in the playoffs, one against Sacramento,” Jackson said earlier in the week. “You don’t go through all these games blasting opponents out of the water.... There are going to be struggles. They’re hotly contested games. We know we’re not playing great basketball. We’re not saying we can’t play better, but we’re not downgrading what San Antonio’s doing. They’re having a big part of what’s happening to us.”

Jackson added that he’s not totally surprised by the laborious starts.

“The pressure on a team to succeed, to win three in a row, and the whole countdown to the back-to-back-to-back activity we’re involved in has been a year-long watch for us,” he said. “There’s a good reason we’re amped up a little bit.”

Said Fox: “To be smacked around like we were Tuesday, we realize it’s time to accept the challenge. The challenge has been laid down.”