Malone Knows What to Do With Retake

The best thing about Hollywood is when things go wrong there’s always Take 2.

Karl Malone and the whole Laker organization got a second chance at the postseason Monday night, and this time they got it right.

Everything felt off in Game 1 Saturday, starting with a teenage girl singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” For almost 20 years the honor of the first playoff anthem belonged to Jeffrey Osborne, but when the Lakers didn’t start on Sunday as expected, he was stuck doing a concert in Washington.

Monday night felt like the playoffs. Osborne was back, belting out his familiar rendition. Malone looked like the second-leading scorer in NBA history again, and the Lakers looked more like the Pacific Division winners, beating the Houston Rockets, 98-84, to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round series.

Malone is adjusting to playoff life in L.A., but he should know that in recent years springtime meant the power forward (Robert Horry) came to life.

Malone began his Laker playoff career by missing 11 of his 14 shots in Game 1.

These things happen sometimes to Malone, especially in L.A. He missed 18 of 20 shots in a playoff game at the Forum seven years ago. On the off day he and some teammates rented bicycles at Venice Beach and pedaled down the bike path. Refreshed, he came back with 42 points and nine rebounds, making 12 of 27 shots from the field, 18 of 18 from the line. This time he bounced back by scoring 17 points on seven-for-12 shooting from the field, to go with eight rebounds and four assists.

No bike rides this year. His afternoon on Sunday sounded more like typical Malone: he went to work. After the Lakers watched game tape, Malone came out to the court and went over some of the finer points of the triangle offense with assistant coach Tex Winter. Then he took some shooting practice and finally he sat down for a lengthy chat with reporters.

He didn’t blame Saturday’s poor shooting performance on the right ankle he sprained in the regular-season finale. His attitude always has been that if you’re on the court, you’re fine.

“I didn’t stop shooting it,” Malone said, referring to that night in 1997. “I’m not going to stop either, now. So let ‘em keep doing it. I hope that’s their game plan.”

Clearly it was.

“Shaq gets 56 [%] in the paint and Karl gets 41 [%] from the perimeter,” Rocket forward Maurice Taylor said after the strategy worked in Game 1. “No-brainer.”

Monday night the Rockets didn’t have to worry much about O’Neal, who played only 14 first-half minutes because of foul trouble. So Malone took over the duties of guarding and going at Yao Ming. Malone did his best to hold his ground against the 7-foot-6 center in the post, but somehow the Lakers lost track of the biggest man on the court when Houston was in transition.

Malone tried to answer back by taking the ball right to Yao, and he scored four points.

Yao might have a nine-inch height advantage on Malone, but Malone has 17 years and 172 more playoff games’ worth of experience. On defense, Malone used everything but the banana-in-the-tailpipe trick. In the first half he hopped out of the way when Yao tried to back him in, causing Yao to lose his balance, stumble and travel. When Yao had the ball deep in the paint in the third quarter, Malone used his patented swipe, then gathered the ball and threw it off Yao as he fell out of bounds.

Malone stood triumphantly on the baseline and pointed in the Lakers’ direction, like Michael Irvin signaling a first down.

Malone was animated for much of the night, looking far younger than his 40 years.

The oldest player on the court needed some youthful energy, because the Lakers ran out of big men to back him up. Horace Grant never returned from a hip flexor injury and was left off the postseason roster. And in the first half Slava Medvedenko went out with a strained Achilles’ tendon. Malone put in 38 minutes of work on the night.

“I spend a lot of time training for nights like this,” Malone said. “I was prepared to do whatever.”

Phil Jackson gave Malone a rest for the first 2 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter, and that appeared to do the trick. When Jackson called on his power forward with 9:21 left in the game, Malone hopped off the bench and immediately proceeded to defend the pick-and-roll with vigor.

Malone better have been productive on a night the beloved Horry had 14 points and 10 rebounds in the San Antonio Spurs’ victory over Memphis.

Malone will never occupy the same place in this city’s heart as Horry. They’ll run out of alcohol before Horry has to pay for another drink in Los Angeles, thanks to the three-pointer to beat Sacramento in 2002, a shot that still evokes loud cheers whenever it’s shown on the Staples Center giant screen.

But after all of those years of hating Malone when he played for the Jazz, the Laker fans have taken to him after one season.

He left the court to a standing ovation with 1:38 remaining in the game, and it wasn’t just because he was walking next to O’Neal.

Malone was the star of this scene.

Cut. Print it.

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