Now Lakers Are Sweating

Still the Lakers. No big deal, they said, nothing has changed.

The team assembled for the playoffs lost for the first time in the playoffs, however, on a Friday night in which moisture rose on Phil Jackson’s forehead, moving him to observe, “Sultry in here today, kind of like Houston is. Swampy, a little bit. Kind of like us on the floor.”

Between the beads, the Houston Rockets played themselves back into the best-of-seven series, defeating the Lakers, 102-91, at Toyota Center. The Lakers lead, two games to one. Game 4 is here Sunday afternoon, and now Game 5 on Wednesday night -- a day Kobe Bryant will spend trying to return from a pretrial hearing in Eagle, Colo. -- is in play, something they’d hoped to avoid.

Steve Francis finished the Lakers late in the fourth quarter, with Gary Payton on the bench again for all of it, and so that will remain an issue.

Bryant played, scored 21 points and spoke afterward, appeasing the league officials who asked him to. Speak, that is.

“They did what they had to do,” Bryant said. “They won this one game.... It doesn’t change much.”

What the Rockets did was force the Lakers to play defense, at which the Lakers aren’t particularly adept.

Francis scored 27 points, made four of five three-point shots and, memorably, took the Rockets from six points ahead to 11 ahead with two late drives.

Cuttino Mobley scored 21 points. Yao Ming scored 18 points and took 10 rebounds. When the Lakers came from 13 points behind to four behind with a little more than two minutes left, it was Yao whose five-footer over Shaquille O’Neal began the process of killing the rally.

So stand the Lakers, nothing easy in what was going to be a parade of a season, wins falling like confetti along the way. They still lack cohesion, apparent even in victory, and have abandoned the triangle offense for long stretches, hoping to free Karl Malone and Payton to contribute to the scoring.

As it is, O’Neal scored 11 of the Lakers’ first 13 points, the Rockets adjusted, and O’Neal scored none of the next 32. When the Lakers got back to O’Neal, he had 10 points in the fourth quarter and even made four of seven free throws, and finished with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

“I didn’t touch the ball,” he said. “I’ve got to get it more.”

After a busy first quarter, O’Neal said, “I didn’t see it much after that. We let one slip away.”

The series did not come here to die, apparently. In the first playoff game in Houston in five years, since the Lakers eliminated them, the Rockets held to their guards, while the Lakers struggled. Bryant’s late shots did not fall -- he was seven for 20 in the game -- and Francis’ late hangers did.

While Slava Medvedenko was unable to play because of a strained Achilles’ tendon -- he watched the game from the bench, beside Horace Grant -- the Lakers did not lose along their front line. Malone, running pick-and-rolls, getting open behind picks, scored 18 points on 18 shots. O’Neal, when involved, was strong and fast, despite playing again with a sleeve on his right knee, suggesting more trouble with tendinitis.

Instead, the Lakers lost at the hands of the Rockets’ quick guards. Francis and Mobley appeared to draw strength and accuracy from the home playoff game. The Rockets made nine of 16 three-pointers.

“You know what?” Mobley said. “I’m not even satisfied. I’m just ready for Sunday, to tell you the truth.... This team is going to come back aggressive and we will too. We’ll see what we can do.”

So, the Laker locker room was solemn, and players shook their heads at a game that came and went quickly.

The Rockets led by 13 points at halftime, by 16 in the third and began the fourth ahead by 12, drawing the sweat from the Lakers and one last push -- from O’Neal, mostly -- that got them within four.

Then Yao hit, and Francis went to the rim, and Mobley made a couple of free throws, and they stood and stared at the crowd, sometimes with their arms raised, pretty sure it was going that well.

“They played good,” Francis said. “They’re definitely one of the top teams. It’s not going to be easy to beat them again, but like I said, we’re going to have to continue to play like we played.”