Rockets Hang In, Lakers Unfazed

Sultry.

That’s what Phil Jackson called it.

He could have been delivering a weather report most any day of the year in Houston.

This time he was talking about the Rockets.

They hung on the Lakers like humidity in the middle of August. Their intensity made Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant & Co. sweat.

“Give their defense credit,” Jackson said. “I think they’ve been very good.”

This was the way the Rockets came into the series, wanting to take it to the Lakers. Double-teaming at every opportunity against O’Neal and Bryant.

O’Neal scored 11 of the Lakers’ first 13 points and then spent the middle of the game being virtually shut out of the scoring column for 21 minutes 10 seconds.

What was just as much a surprise was Bryant’s choosing the occasion of the Lakers’ 102-91 loss and the tightening of the series to a 2-1 Laker advantage to end his 12-day media blackout that began when some questioned his motives for taking just one shot in the first half of an April 11 loss in Sacramento.

The scene was a locker room empty of all his teammates and the coaching staff, more than 45 minutes after the conclusion of the game, following a workout by Bryant in the weight room.

“I appreciate your patience,” he said. “We had opportunities. We cut it to four and six points a couple of times. But we couldn’t quite get over the hill.”

Throughout the game, Steve Francis and Cuttino Mobley took the lane virtually at will, and Mo Taylor made the Lakers pay late with some critical jumpers.

“We’re going to have to do better with the pick-and-roll at the top,” Bryant said.

It also wouldn’t hurt if the Lakers found a way to shoot better. After another off-target night of 43.4% from the field, the Lakers are shooting only 40.6% in the series.

Bryant took 20 shots and missed 13.

“I don’t know,” Bryant said. “If you’re talking about shooting percentage, I take a lot of shots with two seconds on the shot clock. So that can be deceiving.”

“It’s about rhythm,” Jackson said.

And sometimes even the best dancers trip over their own two feet.

Here was a night when O’Neal appeared on the verge of one of those monster performances until foul trouble tied him up again. He picked up his second and third personal fouls in a span of 30 seconds late in the first half.

Here was an opportunity for the Lakers to put a chokehold on the series when they sprinted out to an early lead.

“When he gets in foul trouble, he has to slow his game down considerably,” Jackson said of O’Neal. “He got nicked early, and he handcuffed himself.”

Still, the Lakers aren’t ready to admit they are locked up in a full-tilt threatening situation.

“They did what they had to do, which was win this one game tonight,” Bryant said. “We still have an opportunity to do what we wanted to do coming here. That’s win one game.”

Which left the only question about Bryant’s roaring silence of the previous 12 days, which finally ended, some suggest, because the NBA office made a few prodding phone calls to one of the league’s marquee stars.

“Some of you are really good guys,” Bryant told reporters. “I really mean that. I have a lot of respect for a lot of you guys. A lot of you work hard. You’re very professional. Some others, well ... “