Lakers Enjoy a Good Sub

It was Robert Horry who guaranteed .500 by Friday.

“I lied,” he said Wednesday.

If that were the worst of the Laker flaws.

The Lakers won’t get there, of course, having established that last week. But, they won Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns, apparently fading but occasionally capable, by 99-90 at America West Arena, where Kobe Bryant scored 40 and Horry himself scored 16 points in 29 minutes.

It cost Horry a raked right eye and a swollen right hand, but he alone answered the challenge of coach and superstar for one game, for one more shot at rebuilding the Laker momentum.

Phil Jackson had railed on the bench players for weeks, early Wednesday evening suggesting it was the area that would most benefit from a trade, and Horry came out shooting because of it.

“Basically,” Horry said.

For the first time in nearly two months, the Lakers’ reserves outscored an opponents’. Horry’s 16 and Devean George’s one beat the Suns’ 10. Shaquille O’Neal, who has had his moments complaining about players not named Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant, was pleased with the development but unwilling to be swept away by a mere four quarters.

“If the bench comes out that aggressive, we’ll be fine, we’ll be champions again,” O’Neal said. “They’ve got to do that every night. One night out of 41, though, ain’t good enough.”

Still, the Lakers won a game when it had to be won and where it had to be won. It wasn’t much, and they knew it, but it was something. They’d take something.

They’d won five road games in going on three months. They’d lost to Golden State and New Jersey last week in Los Angeles, twice falling away down the stretch, when winning in the fourth quarter once was their signature move.

They have the Sacramento Kings on Friday night, and the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, and they’d really like to get into the All-Star break as close as possible to Horry’s prediction. They are 20-23 and 3 1/2 games behind the Houston Rockets for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot. They needed 25 games to win their first 10 games, 18 to win their second 10, and at this point anything beyond absolute failure would have to be thought of as progress.

The Lakers don’t talk much about stretches of games anymore, either out of boredom or fear, but they did not want to trudge into Sacramento on a three-game losing streak, and they could not bear the notion of the season slipping further away because of the Suns, suddenly losers of three in a row and five of six games.

So they gave the ball to Bryant, who shot 29 times, making 15, and reached 40 points for the seventh time this season, and to O’Neal, who scored 25 points and took 12 rebounds. And they allowed Horry 12 shots, tying his season-high. Or, rather, he took them.

“They always talk about the bench not giving them scoring,” Horry said. “The bench don’t take no shots.”

While loose balls continue to be a study in lethargy for the Lakers, a fact that brought Jackson bounding from the bench a handful of times (“They needed some help tonight,” he said, grinning), and while they allowed a lot of points (33) to another point guard (Stephon Marbury), the Lakers have little choice but to believe their fortune is turning. For one, rookie Amare Stoudemire has turf toe and heavy legs, he missed 11 of 12 shots and wasn’t a factor. For another, the NBA all but paved the way for the Lakers to make a run through a difficult part of their schedule.

On Friday, the Lakers will play at Sacramento, and they will find that Chris Webber and Scot Pollard are injured and will not play.

On Saturday, they will host the Utah Jazz, whose coach, Jerry Sloan, shoved a referee this week and therefore won’t be on the sidelines at Staples Center.

On Tuesday, when they get to Indiana, Ron Artest, after his Dennis Rodman moment, won’t be in the gym.

He’ll be serving the last of his four-game suspension, home performing anger-management breathing exercises.

The Suns were without Penny Hardaway and Jake Tsakalidis, both injured.

“Someone’s smiling on us,” one Laker said.

It might as well be their turn.

“We’ll take the win and pile it in with the rest,” Bryant said. “But, we lose to Sacramento, everything’s back to the way it was before this game.”