Payton Is Left Limping

Gary Payton rolled his left ankle when he landed on Devean George’s ankle after a jump shot 30 minutes before the end of Sunday morning’s practice. He winced on his way out of the gym and limped to the bus that would take him and his teammates to Memphis, the sixth city in nine days for the Lakers.

At the same time, Derek Fisher mumbled through a gash on his lip, opened by an inadvertent Kobe Bryant elbow, closed by a smear of glue administered by trainer Gary Vitti and, later, a single stitch by a nurse in Memphis.

The Lakers were in New Orleans for so long that between the time they checked into and out of their hotel, the Chicago Bulls came, played a game, and left.

Aside from Payton’s injury, and Payton predicted he would play tonight against the Grizzlies, the Lakers departed with a greater sense of their potential strength, in large part because Shaquille O’Neal seems happy and determined. He said Sunday that he weighs 332 pounds and is headed to 320, where he intends to stay, and that the presence of Karl Malone, in particular, has become an inspiration.

Through six games, O’Neal is averaging 22.7 points, which would be the lowest of his career, on 17 attempts, the lowest since his rookie season. Rather than sharing the ball with Bryant, as he had for most of seven seasons, O’Neal is sharing it with Bryant and Malone and Payton.

O’Neal has maintained a fairly steady course of optimism and cooperation, wobbling briefly on the issues of Bryant’s commitment to the team and his own contract extension. Two weeks ago today, Bryant accused O’Neal of having been fat and without leadership skills, among other character inadequacies. While he was livid, according to those who spoke to him in the hours after Bryant’s rant went to the airwaves, O’Neal held his composure, and the Lakers appear to be better for it.

Sunday, in a practice facility outside of New Orleans, O’Neal said he would try not to be bothered by shots or points, or by petty differences.

“John Wooden sat me down in college, a long time ago, and said, ‘Being great ain’t all about scoring and making the fantastic play. It’s about how everybody else plays around you,’ ” O’Neal said. “I’ve always been that type of player. Guys depend on me, but I also depend on them. And it’s an easy game, man, especially when you’ve got four

“Right now we’re just playing on ‘great fumes.’ Soon, we’ll have to start buckling down and going to the plan, how stuff’s supposed to be run, how stuff’s supposed to be done.”

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TONIGHT

at Memphis, 5 PST, Ch. 9, delayed, 6

Site -- The Pyramid.

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330).

Records -- Lakers 5-1, Grizzlies 2-4.

Record vs. Grizzlies (2002-03) -- 4-0.

Update -- The Grizzlies have lost three games in a row. The Lakers are fresher after their Thursday-Friday, San Antonio-New Orleans back-to-back. Pau Gasol averages 15.2 points for Memphis, Mike Miller 10.8 points and Jason Williams 8.2 assists. Shane Battier suffered a bruised knee Friday against Phoenix and Miller sprained his right ankle Saturday against Utah, but both practiced Sunday and are expected to play tonight.