Lakers Still Have a Big Wait to Lift

Inside of a minute left, Staples Center emptied, quietly. A few of the remaining 18,997 booed, but that wasn’t the prevailing emotion.

Just, you know, nothing. Just, waiting.

Waiting for Shaquille O’Neal. Waiting for the four-peat to start. For something.

The Lakers lost, 95-83, to the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night, and so, two weeks into their season, they are tied for last in the Pacific Division. They have lost four in a row for the first time in more than three seasons under Phil Jackson. They are 2-6, standing shoulder to shoulder with the dreadful Golden State Warriors, who will be here for the showdown Friday, and playing the part.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 26 points and Jason Terry scored 21 for the Hawks. Kobe Bryant scored 21 points, but he didn’t score in the fourth quarter, missed 14 of 22 field-goal attempts, and the Lakers shot 34% from the floor, terribly inaccurate again.

Starters Bryant, Rick Fox, Robert Horry, Samaki Walker and Derek Fisher combined to shoot 20 for 69.

Brian Shaw scored 17 points, 12 in the fourth quarter, and made five of six three-point shots as the Lakers tried to claw back.

For the fourth consecutive game, they trailed by at least 17 points. Two previous deficits, in Boston and Washington, had been recovered, though the victories were not. Against the Hawks, after trailing 72-55 with more than four minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Lakers came within 77-75, a 20-5 run, finally on a Shaw three-pointer. And then the Lakers began to miss again, and the Hawks finished by scoring 13 of the final 18 points.

“Wow,” Jackson said, “we were really pathetic out there.”

Afterward, Bryant emerged from the trainers’ room, a tiny round bandage on one corner of his mouth, a crooked smile on the other.

“I was furious, I was ready to kick somebody’s you know what,” Bryant said. “And I’m in the training room and [conditioning coach] Jim Cotta is holding his little daughter [Greer]. I don’t know how old she is, but she’s the cutest thing in the world. It just put things in perspective. I swear to God, I’m not even upset anymore.

“Man, the truth of the matter is, we’re playing bad. We need to make shots that are very makable shots. We’re not making them. Some guys need to find their jump shots, and they will. They’ll come around. But, what doesn’t break you makes you stronger. So, this is a period where we really find out a lot about ourselves and come out the next game and play our hardest and see if we can win that one.”

Early in the game, before many of the various injured Lakers shuffled in through the tunnel, Jackson could look to his right and make out Slava Medvedenko, Tracy Murray and Shaw, each separated by at least one chair.

On the floor, the rookies -- Kareem Rush and Jannero Pargo -- reclined on their elbows along the baseline.

Of Jackson’s 14, two -- O’Neal and Mark Madsen -- are on the injured list, one -- Devean George -- has ankles so sore he might as well be, and another -- reserve center Soumaila Samake -- served the first of a five-game suspension for violating the league’s steroid policy. He had 10 available players.

Still, before the game, in another Shaq moment, O’Neal sought to quell unrest brought on by five defeats in seven games.

“It can’t get any worse for us,” he said. “It’s only going to make us stronger. Real life will be back soon. This is all just a terrible, bad dream.”

He laughed a big, thick November laugh.

And then the Lakers made five of 26 field-goal attempts in the first quarter (19.2%) and scored 17 points. At the end of three days off, back in their own gym after their first 0-3 trip in seven years, the Lakers had their worst shooting quarter of the season, which bled, slowly, brick by brick, into their worst shooting half (28.8 %) of the season.

They went to halftime having made 15 of 52 shots, having mystified a crowd already not sure what to think in O’Neal’s absence, and having been unable to stop Abdur-Rahim, who scored 20 points before the half.

Then the Hawks, who had lost three in a row on the road -- in Phoenix, Utah and Sacramento -- and have played one home game in November, scored the first 12 points of the third quarter, and led, 57-40. In the same span, the Lakers took only three shots.

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Cold as Ice

The Lakers’ 2-6 start can be attributed in part to poor shooting; In four of their losses, they failed to break the 40% mark from the field. Their scoring and shooting in six losses:

*--* Date, Opponent Pts FG% Oct. 29 vs. San Antonio 82 31.8 Nov. 5 at Cleveland 70 31.8 Nov. 12 vs. Atlanta 83 34.0 Nov. 7 at Boston 95 39.6 Oct. 30 at Portland 90 41.2 Nov. 8 at Washington 99 45.6

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