Cutting It Close

The Lakers would look at one April road loss and the nine three-point baskets the Houston Rockets made the night before and conclude as Rick Fox did Saturday afternoon, “I don’t see anything in anyone’s face right now that would say they’re worried about winning this series.”

Three games into the playoffs, however, they remain individually strong and collectively fragile, thick through the shoulders and thin on the floor.

A mere Jim Jackson jump shot from trailing in the series, the Lakers lead, two games to one, by the width of the rim Jackson hit at the end of Game 1. They won twice at home, lost Friday night in Houston and play today to retake their two-game advantage in the best-of-seven series.

One week into the postseason, Karl Malone has found his offensive place among them, Shaquille O’Neal is winning his battle against Yao Ming, and Kobe Bryant is closer to optimum balance and still, together, their game is unreliable.

It doesn’t mean they can’t win, of course. They were 14 points better than the Rockets in Game 2 despite O’Neal’s foul trouble, and lead the series despite serious and lingering issues between Phil Jackson and Gary Payton and while getting almost nothing offensively from their small forwards.

“We know what we have to do,” O’Neal said. “It’s plain and simple. We just have to go out and do it. We have to play better on defense. We’ve got to hit shots. We’ve got to stay consistent with what we’re doing. [Friday] night, a different kind of game. We still had a lot of opportunities to win. But they fed off the energy of the crowd, hit a lot of shots. And they’re going to have to play a lot better [today].”

No one figured the Lakers to run the postseason as they almost did three years ago, not after a long and stressful regular season in which they managed to win the Pacific Division title but lost the race to maximum potential.

For six months, their losses carried the disclaimers of boredom or injury or the clumsiness of triangle education. They figured to have it together for the playoffs, and three games in they’re still getting there, again a game or two away.

Jackson is trying more Derek Fisher and less Payton, more Malone and less triangle. Defensively, the Lakers remain vulnerable to the Rockets’ pick-and-rolls and perimeter shooting, Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley combining for 48 points in Game 3 after scoring 55 in the first two games in Los Angeles.

Francis finished them in the final minutes at the rim, with two spinning shots, which O’Neal dismissed.

“He’s going to have to pull another couple of circus shots out, because we’re kind of upset and we’re going to be ready to play,” he said. “So, [today] is going to be a different game.”

There was a sense in their locker room that O’Neal was again taking responsibility for what happens here. He came out hard in Game 3, punished Yao near the rim, and scored 11 of the Lakers’ first 13 points. Then the Lakers lost track of him, or the Rockets took him away, and by the time he scored again -- 21 minutes later -- they’d need another quarter to draw within range of the Rockets.

Minutes after the game concluded, O’Neal was calling for the basketball. There is so much at stake for him, including his need to dominate Yao and his hope to help Malone and Payton to their rings.

“I don’t think it was anything defensively they were doing,” he said. “Even though I don’t get the ball in an opportunity to score, I would still like to get it so I can get other people involved. I’ve been known to, when the double[-team] comes, to look for guys and they take the high-percentage shot.”

Often enough for two games, that guy has been Malone. He scored 18 points in Game 3, most of them from mid-range. His knee is sore again, but not so bad he’d talk about it. “I’m good,” he said, “good to go.”

Having sat out half the season because of a torn knee ligament and still a novice to the offense, Malone for months played for everyone else, his style anyway. Now he’s ready to score, if need be.

“I think it’s something they were made aware of. And I can be better. I can do better, be better, things like that,” he said. “I think I was a little more passive during the regular season.”

The change, he said, “It’s good. Really good. I’m looking forward to [this] afternoon.”