Lakers Turn Beat Around

The Lakers, it seems, are going to trust the fact that come next weekend, they’ll be themselves again.

The thought is, that they’ll be bigger and stronger and better coached by the playoffs, toughened by a half-decade of long playoff runs and taut Game 7’s, fortified by a near-handful of Hall of Famers. It’s supposed to work.

For now, though, they’ll settle for a drawn-out victory in Game 79 against the undermanned Memphis Grizzlies, by 103-95 Friday night at Staples Center, where they drew again into a tie with the Sacramento Kings atop the Pacific Division.

The Lakers played back from a 19-point deficit, left the jump shots to the Grizzlies, and went to their advantage near the rim.

Stricken by defensive lethargy for two games, they pushed the Grizzlies to the perimeter, which helped some.

Then they rediscovered Shaquille O’Neal, who’d largely been overlooked in back-to-back defeats earlier in the week.

Starting small forward Rick Fox suffered a dislocated thumb on his shooting hand, and in the short term is doubtful for Sunday’s game in Sacramento.

So, with three regular-season games left, as final days become ever complicated, the Lakers are 54-25, tied with the Kings, staggering themselves. The Minnesota Timberwolves are 56-24 and lead the Western Conference, ahead of the San Antonio Spurs at 54-25.

“It’s made a game out of Sunday’s game,” Coach Phil Jackson said after the Kings lost in Phoenix, “that’s for sure.”

With a seeding from first to fourth on the line, the Lakers won with a 20-6 run late in the second quarter, a 7-0 run to start the third, and then played just ahead of the Grizzlies, playoff-bound for the first time in their history.

O’Neal, who said his sore right knee was “a little better” after a dose of anti-inflammatory medication, had 28 points and 12 rebounds. He was 12 for 14 from the floor.

Kobe Bryant, nine for 23 from the field, had 33 points, including a three-point basket in the final 80 seconds that finished the Grizzlies, and seven assists. Gary Payton, so eager to leave that he showered during the postgame meeting, according to witnesses, and Karl Malone each scored 12 points.

“We make it complicated, man,” Malone said. “We make it major surgery. It’s simple. I have been too passive. I’m going to start being more aggressive. I promise you that.”

Bryant said the sizable early deficit, another one, was “alarming.”

“But,” he said, “you stay in the moment and try to stay in the game.”

As they came back, Malone scored nine points in the third quarter and O’Neal scored 11 in the fourth. Asked if the ball movement was more to his liking, O’Neal waggled his right hand and left it at that.

“Our defense bailed us out,” Jackson said.

The Grizzlies still have never beaten the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Not when they were the Vancouver Grizzlies. Not since they became the Memphis Grizzlies.

Not at the Great Western Forum. Not at Staples Center.

Eighteen games have come and gone, every one of them a loss for the Grizzlies, who, in the correct circumstances, could see the Lakers in the first round.

The Lakers had never lost three consecutive games at Staples Center. In fact, they had not lost three home games in a row since April 1994.

Nearing the end of a week they identified as critical for their playoff psyches, the Lakers already had lost to the Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers. They were behind big to the Grizzlies. And the Kings waited on Sunday.

The Grizzlies played without Pau Gasol, their leading scorer and rebounder, and Bonzi Wells, their third-leading scorer. Gasol has a sore right foot, Wells a sore back.

In the meantime, the Grizzlies started Stromile Swift at power forward and Jake Tsakalidis at center, leaned a bit harder on James Posey, Mike Miller and Jason Williams, and ran up a 31-19 lead in the first quarter and a 43-24 lead in the second.

Then Bryant passed to himself off the backboard for a basket, and Payton passed to Bryant off the backboard for a fastbreak dunk, and the game was on.