An Off-Center Victory

On a day that began with Shaquille O’Neal on the Staples Center floor practicing his free throws until 1:30 in the morning, he made one, and scored seven points, his career playoff low. And it didn’t matter.

He lapsed into foul trouble early and spent Monday night’s playoff game with a goal to stay on the floor, leaving the rest of the Lakers to summon the game that escaped them two days before.

So, Kobe Bryant scored 36 points, Karl Malone rediscovered his touch and the Lakers took a two-games-to-none lead against the Houston Rockets, by 98-84, in their first-round, best-of-seven series. Game 3 is Friday night in Houston.

“That’s the sign of a good team, when one of your big dogs is in single figures,” O’Neal said. “I just tried to do the little things. I really didn’t play in important parts of the game.... But everybody else sucked it up.”

On a night that began with early fouls against O’Neal, throwing a blanket over much of his game, the Lakers turned to Bryant, who went to the basket; Malone, who scored 17 points, many on the open jumpers he missed in Game 1; and a bench that brought Derek Fisher (11 points), Kareem Rush (10, all in the fourth quarter) and Slava Medvedenko (six points).

The Lakers scored nine points in the third quarter Saturday, then 30 in the decisive third quarter Monday, finding the easy points and free flow that had eluded them. Bryant scored 17 in that quarter alone, while the Rockets scored 18, turning a close game into a runaway. Bryant left without addressing the media, his daughter, Natalia, in the crook of his right arm.

“We got things in movement, transition and ball movement,” Coach Phil Jackson said, content to be rid of what he’d called the “mud wrestling” of the series’ first game.

Bryant was four for 19 from the field in Game 1, which the Lakers won, 72-71. They gathered themselves and their offense, Bryant went into the gap left in O’Neal’s absence, and they scored 74 points through three quarters. Malone, three for 14 Saturday, was seven for 12. Medvedenko, who backs up O’Neal at center and Malone at power forward, suffered a strained right Achilles’ tendon in the first half and did not return. His status for Game 3 is uncertain.

“Everyone stayed focused,” Malone said. “When Shaq picked up those fouls, everyone realized what they had to do. It was a great team effort.”

O’Neal had those seven points and seven rebounds in 33 minutes, many of them spent avoiding contact. Yao Ming had 21 points, seven in the fourth quarter with the game largely out of reach. Steve Francis had an 18-point, 10-rebound, 12-assist triple-double for Houston.

Often, after a difficult game at the free-throw line, the corrective hours are spent on O’Neal’s backyard court off Mulholland Drive, above Beverly Hills.

But late Sunday night and into early Monday morning, O’Neal ran the floor and stopped and shot free throws, hoping to simulate game conditions.

His bodyguard rebounded. Arena maintenance workers watched. He had made 15 of his last 52 free throws, including four of 14 in Game 1, feigned calm, and then spent two days at one free-throw line or another.

He had only three chances Monday, made the one, and stepped aside as teammates carried the bulk of the load. They shot 45.3% and outrebounded the Rockets, 38-36.

It meant a heavy night for Malone, who had eight rebounds and played 38 minutes on a right ankle still healing from a sprain suffered Wednesday.

“There were times tonight,” Jackson said, “that I didn’t know if we were going to make it through the ballgame with the players that we lost, Slava going out and Shaq being in foul trouble. It really put us in a deficit. Somehow we managed to come through with a win and it surprised us.”

Some of the win came from the free-throw line. Bryant was 16 for 17, eight for eight in the second half, which the Lakers won, 54-38.

“I think today might have been Kobe’s birthday,” Francis said. “How generous they were to him out there. To me, that’s what opened the game up.”

O’Neal committed his fourth foul less than three minutes into the second half and Jackson left him on the floor. Jackson did alter his defense. O’Neal defended Kelvin Cato, not the offensive threat Yao is and in foul trouble himself, while Malone drew Yao.

It kept O’Neal in the game for the first eight minutes of the third quarter, which he survived without committing another foul. When O’Neal left, the Lakers led, 61-56. Malone moved to center and Luke Walton played power forward. On the next possession, Walton made a three from the top, giving the Lakers an eight-point lead, the arena ringing with cries of “Lu-u-u-ke!”

Jackson risked a fifth foul and a Shaq-light fourth quarter by having O’Neal return later in the third, but O’Neal generally stayed away from the ball and the Lakers, on six late points by Bryant, went to the last 12 minutes ahead, 74-64, to then their largest lead of the series.

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Take Three

Most playoff three-point baskets as a Laker (*active):

Derek Fisher*...124

Michael Cooper...124

Byron Scott...116

Kobe Bryant*...100

Robert Horry...83

Rick Fox*...81