This Desperate Team Is on a Know-to-Need Basis

Not bad, for just another game.

High scoring, just enough drama to keep things interesting, the Lakers’ superstars doing superstar things, Peja Stojakovic firing away like Legolas in “Lord of the Rings.”

The Lakers scored a season-high point total in beating the Sacramento Kings, 124-113.

But in the end, just another game. It was game No. 44, with another game, against Utah, at Staples Center tonight.

“A win is a win,” Shaquille O’Neal said, in a robotic tone even by his standards. “And we’re just trying to get back on track. For us, this win counted. It really doesn’t affect them that much. They’re still in first place. We’re just trying to get to .500.”

The Lakers’ desperate state means they can’t afford to treat any one game with more importance than another. They need ‘em all.

And they got what they absolutely need if they’re going to do this: contributions from multiple players.

O’Neal and Kobe Bryant did more than their share, essentially splitting 74 points and 11 assists between them.

Devean George played with aggression, Derek Fisher played with poise and Rick Fox came through with 15 points, including a couple of very timely three-pointers.

“The team was real, real focused coming in tonight,” Brian Shaw said. “We played a lot better against them. Granted, they had a lot of their guys out. On the Christmas Day game [a 105-99 King victory], we didn’t let go of all the personal stuff. Tonight, we just came in and played and didn’t worry about the [Fox-Doug Christie] incident that happened during the preseason.”

There wasn’t much smack-talking coming from the Laker camp in advance of this game, even with a nice victory at Phoenix on Wednesday to boost their spirits and an off day Thursday to come up with some more of that witty banter we love so much.

See, the Lakers don’t have the luxury of making statements -- in the paper or on the court.

They have more immediate problems with the Phoenix Suns, Houston Rockets and even the Golden State Warriors (who currently hold the tiebreaker advantage over the Lakers) as they contend for the eighth Western Conference playoff spot.

They already know they can win in Sacramento. They had won four of their previous six regular-season games in Arco Arena and four of the last six playoff games here as well.

They knew that by coming in at full strength, while the Kings’ Chris Webber, Bobby Jackson and Scot Pollard were out with injuries, it wouldn’t be a true reflection of the two teams’ states.

So Phil Jackson stayed serious in his pregame address to the media. He brushed off as satire a Sacramento Bee story that accused Bryant of boozing it up during the playoffs, and he didn’t throw anything out for the bulletin boards (save for a gratuitous swipe at the Portland Trail Blazers).

O’Neal isn’t saying much at all these days, so there weren’t any additions to his lengthy list of verbal digs at the Kings. He did make a sight gag during Friday morning’s shootaround, beckoning a television photographer to shoot the Kings’ giant Pacific Division championship banner, then recoiling in mock horror as if to say: “Oooooh, the big, bad division champs.”

The first half served as a demonstration of the different approaches taken by these two franchises. The Lakers relied almost exclusively on O’Neal and Bryant in the first quarter, while the Kings got points from all the way down their deep roster.

But in the second half, Laker reserves Shaw, George and Samaki Walker scored 15 points. Surprise, surprise.

The Lakers seemed to have an answer for everything the Kings had.

Bryant makes a bad foul to give the Kings two free throws in the final seconds before halftime? No problem. George throws a baseball pass to Robert Horry in the frontcourt, Horry whips the ball to O’Neal steaming down the middle, O’Neal flips in a layup with a foul on Mike Bibby and the Lakers get a three-point play.

Without Webber, and with Coach Rick Adelman giving a healthy chunk of Vlade Divac’s minutes to Keon Clark, the Kings hardly resembled the cutting, slick-passing bunch that had won 33 games coming in.

They went on their obligatory run (and Stojakovic went absolutely nuts, hitting six straight shots during one stretch in the fourth), but the Lakers managed to keep them in check.

So maybe they can keep this in mind if they meet in the playoffs. But the Lakers have to get there first.

They get Utah tonight, Indiana without suspended Ron Artest on Tuesday (which means you can go ahead and put Kobe down for another 36 points right now) and then the New York Knicks before the All-Star break.

Can they do this? All they have to do is keep winning games. No matter the opponent.

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