Close, but No Cigar Yet

The Sacramento Kings were playing toward their 23rd loss on the television set in the Lakers’ locker room, and doing it convincingly.

So, Laker players who’d only weeks before talked about playing themselves into a fourth or third seeding in the Western Conference playoffs, who’d only recently taken an interest in the standings, found themselves shaking their heads and grinning.

The Lakers lost their 23rd game March 12 in Minnesota. At that moment, the Lakers were 6 1/2 games -- and seven losses -- behind the Kings in the Pacific Division, with a month left in the season.

Three weeks later, as the Lakers prepared to play the Houston Rockets, the teams were tied in the loss column, after the Kings’ loss in Dallas.

Rick Fox, the league’s foremost authority on King flaws, walked between the blowout in Dallas and a handful of reporters and said, “You all act surprised. Why you all acting surprised?”

A few minutes later, Bryon Russell stood to the side, noted the Mavericks’ 20-point lead and began to applaud, asking others to join him.

“We’re not doing anything different,” Karl Malone said. “The only thing I care about is what we do in our locker room, how we’re playing.... I don’t think we’re too excited about nothing right now.”

The Lakers play in Sacramento on April 11. In a season in which they lost Malone for 40 games, Shaquille O’Neal for 15 and Kobe Bryant for 17, the Lakers had not admitted to having their hearts set on a first or second seeding.

But, in a near annual event since Phil Jackson arrived going on five years ago, the Lakers appeared to have found their touch and the Kings appeared to have found reverse. Their calendars said April.

“We’ll watch it,” Jackson said before the game. “We told the players a couple of weeks ago ... there’s a chance the scenario might change in our favor.

“But, there’s still a lot of basketball to be played.”

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Malone has yet to play in Utah, and he smiled at the possibility that his active return there would be in the playoffs.

If Jerry Sloan drags the Jazz into the postseason, it probably would be in the No. 8 spot.

Asked if he’d considered a best-of-seven series against his former team, Malone said, “I try not to.”

“I wish we’d just go in the day of the game,” he said. “All the hype, if it happened like that, it would be a zoo.”

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After recovering from foot surgery, Fox played his first game on Jan. 28. On that day, Russell was shooting 42% (34 for 81) from the three-point arc and in the league’s top 10.

In 33 games since then, with his shot attempts diminishing with his playing time, Russell is eight for 26 from the arc and seven times has failed to enter the game.

An unsinkable type, Russell shrugged Thursday night, a few minutes after shooting for most of his pregame exercises.

With the playoffs so close, Russell said, “If I ain’t ready now to play when he puts me out there, I shouldn’t be on the active roster.”

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O’Neal has 2,081 career blocks, 11th on the all-time list. George T. Johnson is 10th at 2,082. Manute Bol is ninth at 2,086.