Payton Limited to 27 Minutes

Gary Payton started and played 27 minutes in the Lakers’ 105-95 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night, and afterward said he was not bothered by his sprained left ankle, suffered in practice the day before.

After playing heavy minutes in his first five games as a Laker, Payton has had them shortened considerably in the last two games, Friday playing 28 minutes in a 19-point loss in New Orleans.

Payton wasn’t in much of a mood to talk afterward, only confirming that his ankle felt fine and adding, “We’re just going to play. We’ve just got to play and try to work it out.”

In the last two games, Coach Phil Jackson relied often on a backcourt of Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher. Jackson also changed his guards’ defensive responsibilities against Memphis, opting to have Payton or Fisher on the ball -- Jason Williams, most often -- and Bryant off it.

Jackson insisted he was attempting to preserve Bryant’s energy, while Bryant insisted his legs were fine.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal,” Bryant said. “Some nights I’ll be on the ball, some nights I won’t.”

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Payton’s mood was dimmed by the loss.

As he soaked his sore left ankle in a Gatorade jug half filled with hot water earlier Monday night, he told a friend about the back-of-the-airplane fun he’s been having as a Laker.

Payton and Bryon Russell have a regular game of dominoes, and now Bryant has shown some interest in the game, though he’s not yet skilled enough to push Payton or Russell. Honestly, Payton said, all of the bickering has been “family stuff,” and now everybody seems to be getting along fine, or at least well enough to play basketball.

“It’s a picnic,” he claimed, his crooked grin filling the corner of the room and his voice filling all of the room.

The question put to Payton, then: What happens first -- Bryant learns dominoes or Payton learns the triangle offense? Payton laughed.

“He’ll learn dominoes first,” he said. “That triangle might not come until the playoffs.”

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Payton taped his left ankle against the Grizzlies, one of the rare times in his career he’d taken such a precaution.

He said he’d never so much as sprained an ankle in 13-plus NBA seasons before Sunday’s practice, when he rolled his left ankle on Devean George’s foot.

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Jerry West, in the Memphis Commercial-Appeal, on championship motivation: “I know Karl [Malone] and Gary are tired of hearing how they haven’t won a championship. I know I got so tired of it that I almost didn’t want to play anymore.”

West won an NBA title in 1972, his 12th season in the league. He played 13 seasons.

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During the war in Iraq, Shaquille O’Neal had become pen pals with serviceman Antonio Franklin in a program sponsored by ESPN. The two traded e-mails for several months.

Before Monday’s game, O’Neal met Franklin in person for the first time. The two hugged and Franklin presented O’Neal with a cap and a book on Qatar, where Franklin was stationed for six months.

O’Neal refused to divulge the nature of their conversations.

“It’s classified,” he said, smiling.

Franklin was born in Memphis and lives in a suburb.