Payton and Malone Open to Rave Reviews

They passed out signs at Staples Center last night, real cool movie-poster style signs with the Lakers’ full complement of stars together menacingly with the title “The Lakers Reloaded.”

But it was the message on the other side of a sign, which was an ad for the upcoming “Matrix Revolutions” movie, that really hit home: “Everything that has a beginning has an end.”

These days it’s hard not to think about this whole breathtaking, frustrating, exhilarating, heartbreaking show coming to a conclusion. With the escalation in the Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal feud you’re almost wondering if Bryant’s ante-upping comments Monday were part of an exit strategy.

And Gary Payton and Karl Malone have to be wondering if they got to the party too late, after the cups are all gone and the barbecue coals have died out.

And yet they’re still willing to help clean up the mess. On Monday, with Bryant and O’Neal spilling fresh blood in the water and the media circling, they stepped up and addressed the reporters, doing their best to explain a years-old feud after only 26 days with the team.

On Tuesday night, with the start of the NBA season finally at hand, they were forced to pick up a little of the slack for Bryant, who sat out the game to rest his knee.

They received rousing ovations from the crowd when they were introduced before the game ... then they missed their first five shots between them.

In this game, as has been the case throughout the preseason, they haven’t showed the full merits of their Hall of Fame careers. The jumpers that helped Malone become the second-leading scorer in NBA history haven’t been falling. Payton’s scoop shots keep getting blocked.

But as Payton said the other day in Las Vegas, “Let us gradually get into it.”

They have too many skills and too much knowledge of the game to be busts. On the nights Malone can’t shoot he’ll continue to get to the free-throw line, where I’m betting he will score half of his points this season.

And Payton will always, always, always be pushing the ball upcourt, which will lead to some easy baskets. His rationale is: “If we’re running a lot, we don’t have to run the triangle a lot.”

Not that they seem to be having many problems with it. The offense moved as smoothly as a dolphin through water.

And when they came out of this comfortable 109-93 victory over the Dallas Mavericks late in the fourth quarter, the fans didn’t just give them standing ovations because they appreciated the financial sacrifices they made to become Lakers. They both had worked their way to solid statistical nights: Malone almost had a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Payton had 21 points, nine assists and seven rebounds.

(There’s too much stuff going on in Lakerland to even address how bad the Mavericks and their silvery cocktail-waitress uniforms looked).

One play summed up what Payton and Malone bring to the Lakers both defensively and offensively. Payton stole the ball from Tony Delk. Just straight-up snatched it. He brought the ball upcourt and passed it to the left wing to Malone, who whipped a pass inside to O’Neal for a dunk.

But if this season somehow does result in a championship against increasingly mounting odds, it will be as much a result of Payton and Malone’s presence in the locker room as anything they do on the court.

Payton continues to insist that everything will be fine, and he has everyone in his camp thinking the same thing.

On Monday, Payton likened the whole affair to a family situation.

“You have problems with your wife, you have problems with your kids,” Payton said. “It’s the same thing. When the problems come up, you’ve got to deal with them. and we’re dealing with them.”

OK, Gary, so what would you do if your children were behaving like this?

“I’d whoop their ... ,” he said with laughter. “But we’re fine. Ain’t nothing happening. Everything is good and everything’s going to be good.”

It’s that same Payton attitude displayed on the court, such as the time near the end of the third quarter when he stood and held the ball, giving a look that says “Y’all just need to chill.”

Payton brings a world of experience in addition to his 18,000-plus points and 7,600 assists. He has seen a franchise’s hopes evaporate over issues that had nothing to do with what happened on the court, as when Shawn Kemp’s frustration with his contract and general unhappiness led him out of Seattle and ended the SuperSonics’ championship-contending days.

He has had his own clashes with coaches and owners, which is one of the reason he’s a Laker. He says he wasn’t mature enough to give advice to Kemp during their Seattle days. That’s changed now. It might be little things, such as his suggestion to Bryant that he, not Payton, address the crowd before Friday’s game in Las Vegas. (Trust me, for Payton to give up a chance to talk is a real sacrifice.)

Even though Malone is 40, he would tell you that he just now is getting a proper perspective on life. That’s because his mother died Aug. 13, making every so-called calamity involving the Lakers look trivial.

“Look at the big picture,” Malone said. “Opening night, Staples Center, my mom’s seat’s up there and she ain’t in it.”

Malone and Payton are in the picture, however. And for one night, at least, they helped keep the party lasting just a little bit longer.

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