Bryant Wasn’t Only One Out of Sync

Even during the Lakers’ recent 11-game winning streak, there were subtle complaints about Kobe Bryant’s trying to do too much off the dribble in the team’s half-court offense.

Those gripes were expected to be a notch louder Monday after Bryant launched 26 shots and made only nine in the Lakers’ 95-89 loss to San Antonio on Sunday.

But there was no finger pointing. Before practice, Coach Phil Jackson had the Lakers watch tape of the second quarter so they could see that the entire offense was out of sync.

“We didn’t run our offense in the half court very well, a lot of guys were out of position,” said Gary Payton, who had 21 points and eight rebounds against the Spurs. “We were forcing a lot of shots and we weren’t passing the ball the way we were supposed to.

“Against a good defensive team that puts a lot of pressure on the guards, we have to have other options to go to and we weren’t going to those options.”

Although Bryant made only one of seven shots in that quarter, post players Karl Malone and Slava Medvedenko, who prefer mid-range jump shots, and sometimes even Shaquille O’Neal drifted to the perimeter, throwing off the Laker sets. And it didn’t help that Rick Fox, Devean George and Derek Fisher stood around, making it easy for the Spurs to collapse on Bryant.

“We’ve been hearing it all year but sometimes we just don’t do it,” Malone said about executing the Lakers’ triangle attack. “With every offense there’s a defense, and then it’s about countering. We didn’t do any of that [against San Antonio], we just wanted to hold on to the basketball and against a team like that, you play right into their hands.”

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With the Lakers expected to see a steady diet of pick-and-roll plays against such ball-handling guards as Tony Parker, Mike Bibby and Troy Hudson in the playoffs, Fisher’s playing time may increase.

“It’s fun being out there as many minutes as possible,” said Fisher, playing 21.5 minutes a game, his lowest average in six years. “But I know Phil is going to do the best he can to keep Gary and Kobe on the floor.... The only way I’ll probably get any extended minutes is to slide those guys down and have me play the small-guard position.”

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Veteran power forward Horace Grant, who has sat out 17 of the last 18 games because of a hip injury, participated in contact drills and could play this weekend.