A Victory Couldn’t Get Much Uglier

This just in: The Lakers still aren’t the Lakers.

Of course, as Toronto Coach Kevin O’Neill was saying before the game, they still have half the season left and everyone knows that by April, they’ll be their old, fearsome selves.

Unfortunately for the Lakers, this is only February.

In the latest installment of “Who Are They This Week?” Shaquille O’Neal is back but Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone aren’t as they start a killer trip with four games in five days.

So, when they got the little Raptors on the run Sunday, Coach Phil Jackson must have hoped they’d keep them on the run. Instead, the Lakers blew all but the last point of a 16-point lead and were happy to get out of Air Canada Centre with an 84-83 victory when Vince Carter couldn’t get a home-court call on his home court.

Trailing by one point in the final seconds, Carter tried to drive through traffic that included Gary Payton, who got his hands on the ball, and, Carter thought, on him. The officials didn’t see it that way.

“I don’t want to get into it,” said Carter, after shooting 14 free throws, but at least two fewer than he thought he was entitled to. “Unreal.”

Said a broad-minded O’Neill: “You’ve got two guys, Vince and Shaq, who think they’re fouled on every play. I thought it was a good effort on our part that came up a little short.”

On the Lakers’ part, at least it was a victory, which is starting to become important as their injuries keep mounting and they keep falling lower (No. 3 in the West) and farther behind (4 1/2 games behind No. 1 Sacramento.)

Aside from that, it was a mess. O’Neal was dominating early but the Raptors ganged up on him late. O’Neal shot 15 free throws but that wasn’t enough for him, either, as he explained profanely afterward to Channel 9’s John Ireland, who kept trying to point out they were on the air, which O’Neal might have guessed, because they were looking into a TV camera.

Shaq’s teammates shot 17 for 56, forcing Jackson to play his starters most of the tough fourth quarter, instead of resting them for tonight’s game against the Pacers.

The Lakers were outrebounded, 48-42, by a Raptor team that has been pounded on the boards nightly since trading starting center Antonio Davis and starting power forward Jerome Williams to Chicago for Jalen Rose, a guard; Donyell Marshall, a small forward, and Lonny Baxter, a reserve.

The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Marshall actually lined up on O’Neal on Sunday, on a front line with 19-year-old, 6-10, 230-pound Chris Bosh, who’s a rookie, and Carter, who used to be a guard.

“I prefer we have more size,” O’Neill said before the game, “but from the day the trade was made, my whole thing was, and I told our staff this, we’re just going to coach whoever’s here.... If you sit around and bemoan what you don’t have, I mean, that’s like ex-wives. That’s what they do. I prefer not to be an ex-wife....

“We can’t guard [O’Neal]. Thinking back on our game in L.A., I remember there was twice when I could not see Chris behind him. And I’m not exaggerating. I mean, you just couldn’t see him behind him....

“This won’t be much fun for our post guys. I mean, we struggle with [Detroit’s] Mehmet Okur. Mehmet Okur was putting some of our guys in the rim the other night. And Mehmet Okur’s Mehmet Okur. Today we’ve got the real deal.”

Sure enough, it wasn’t any fun for O’Neill’s post guys. The real deal, O’Neal, had 22 by halftime but after that, the Raptors, who were supposed to be helping on defense, arrived faster and in greater force.

The overmatched Marshall had 18 points and 13 rebounds. The willowy Bosh, emerging as a big-time prospect a year or two ahead of the most optimistic schedules, had 17 and 14.

“I mean, it’s OK,” said the unfazed Bosh of playing against O’Neal. “We knew it coming in. It’s not a surprise to us....

“I knew I’d be down low [in the NBA.] That was one point I got across. I was a post player, not a small forward.”

The Raptors drafted him reluctantly, after looking all over for trades, but now have him pegged, even above the famous Carter, as their future.

The Lakers’ future remains to be seen but for the time being, at least, the glory days are still over.