Their Issues Are Bigger Than Game

Some of the great NBA antagonists, buttressed by history and touched up by nuances, will be on display at Arco Arena today. Oh, and the Lakers are playing the Sacramento Kings too.

Not even the league’s top rivalry can overtake the internal squabbles that must be resolved for these teams to reach their potential. They need group therapy more than a showdown right now.

You know something’s wrong when Coach Phil Jackson and Rick Fox, who revel in bashing Sacramento and its only major sports team, couldn’t bring themselves to make any derogatory comments about the Kings on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t like to kick people when they’re down,” Jackson said. “If they were up, I’d kick them a little bit.”

The Lakers and Kings are at the top of the Pacific Division, but it sure feels as if they’re down. That’s because both teams have lost two of their last three games as they stumble down the stretch amid a host of issues.

For the Kings, it’s Chris Webber vs. an offense that was working just fine in his absence. And Webber vs. the Sacramento fans. Meanwhile, Bobby Jackson is losing his fight with his abdominal strain.

For the Lakers, it’s Kobe Bryant taking on all comers: Phil Jackson, the triangle offense and the rest of his teammates.

It’s a shaky commitment to defense pitted against their knowledge that they can’t win without it, a battle personified by Shaquille O’Neal.

It’s their season-long susceptibility to injuries, the latest being Fox’s broken right thumb.

And 79 games into the season, they’re still struggling to find consistency. The only thing they’ve done regularly in the last week is fall into deep holes during the first half.

Are they going to play defense, or are they just going to turn into the Dallas Mavericks and hope to win simply by piling up points?

What’s Bryant going to do? The Lakers have given up trying to guess. He’s still firing up the most shots every night, despite making only 23 of 72 in the last three games.

Apparently, Bryant took exception to Jackson’s recent comments about how the Lakers were worse off when Bryant got caught up in driving to the hoop and getting in trouble. Since then, Bryant has spent a lot of time driving to the hoop and getting in trouble.

As a result, the Laker offense has degenerated into the wild, wild, west, with every man trusting nothing except his own Colt .45. Everyone else figures they might as well shoot when they have the ball, because they’re not sure they’ll see it again once Bryant gets his hands on it.

“We haven’t made it easy on ourselves in terms of playing the game the way we need to play in order to be the best,” Derek Fisher said. “A lot of times we’re doing too many things outside of what our system is. That makes it hard for anybody to find a rhythm other than the guys that get the most field-goal attempts. If you’re getting 15 or 25 shots in a game, you’re going to find a way to be successful. For other guys that don’t get as many shots, it requires the execution of the offense to put you in a situation where you can make shots in a rhythm.”

That’s been Karl Malone’s focus throughout the season. But even he sounds fed up and ready to go for his.

“I’ve been passive, trying to get other guys involved,” Malone said. “I made a point to kind of do that. That’s what I’m going to do from here on out. I’m going to start being more aggressive. I promise you that.”

You know who quietly has settled into an inglorious role? Fisher.

At the start of the season his priority seemed to be getting shots whenever he could after Gary Payton’s arrival sent Fisher to the bench. Lately he has concentrated on making an impact on defense. In recent games he has sparked little surges by stealing a pass or taking a charge immediately after checking in.

“I definitely had to shift my focus to just making a contribution and not just focusing on offensively doing things, which I’ve been able to do in the past,” Fisher said. “Just realizing after a while that each year is different and your role changes constantly. To be on a championship team, everybody has to be willing to find their niche and their area where they fit in. Everybody can’t score and everybody can’t block shots or do certain things. The last month or so I’ve tried to focus on bringing energy and making a difference in the game. Sometimes it might be making shots, other times it’s just getting steals and making plays.”

The Lakers need O’Neal to bring that attitude on defense. When he is jumping out on screen-and-rolls, it makes life easier for the Laker guards, who don’t get scorched by dribble-drives. When he steps out to get a hand in the opposing shooter’s face, as he did against Houston’s Yao Ming, the results are a three-for-15 shooting night for Yao. When his sore knees aren’t feeling well enough or his pride isn’t sufficiently challenged (by a lot of “Yao’s better” talk), he stays at home and watches someone like Lorenzen Wright go for 21 points.

All of this stuff leaves no room to talk about the usual buildup to a Laker-King game and the typical subjects of cowbells, Cub Scouts and queens.

Fox won’t even be making the trip, removing any possibility that he could check into the game just to goad a King into a fight and draw a double-ejection.

“Don’t think I haven’t thought about it,” he said.

Don’t think this latest edition of Lakers-Kings couldn’t use it.

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.