Now, Back to the Season

Meanwhile, from the team angle....

The Kobe Bryant-Shaquille O’Neal subplot will disappear for a few months, leaving the Lakers with more immediate concerns.

Primarily a three-point shooting team these days, the Lakers fell to 14-12 overall, nine games behind the Phoenix Suns for first place in the Pacific Division and half a game ahead of Portland for seventh in the Western Conference.

After losing to Miami, they spoke of positives, trying their best to avoid the negative glare of a third loss in their last four home games, accompanied by another setback against an upper-echelon opponent.

“It’s a good learning experience for us,” said Bryant, who had 42 points. “We’ve been in so many of these games now, maybe about three or four of them against the top teams in the league, and just have not been able to close them down. The more the season goes on, in January and February, I think you’ll see us start winning these games. We’re close, we’re close.”

Lamar Odom tied a season high with 24 points and took 11 rebounds, but he and Bryant were the only Lakers with more than 12 points.

“We almost did take control of the game,” Odom said. “We had it. We were right there. We just fell a little short. We played hard and well enough to win that game but just could not make enough plays down the stretch.”

The Lakers led by seven early in the fourth quarter, but ended up losing in overtime, 104-102, another sampling of the Lakers’ inability to hold on to leads, however big or small.

“We’ve got to get to the point where a turnover here, fourth-quarter free throws, things like that -- we need to get those things done,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said.

“We have to grow as players and start making those plays.”

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Miami guard Dwyane Wade wrote “C.B. #1” on his shoes, an acknowledgment of Laker forward Caron Butler, who was suspended for the game because he punched New Orleans guard Dan Dickau in the fourth quarter of a game on Wednesday.

Wade and Butler were teammates last season in Miami, and they were teenage friends while playing in summer basketball tournaments throughout the Midwest.

Jumaine Jones, who started at small forward in place of Butler, had nine points and made one of five three-point attempts.

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Bryant’s parents, Joe and Pam, attended Saturday’s game. They also attended a Laker exhibition game in Las Vegas in October.... The Lakers are 9-6 at home. They were 34-7 at home last season.