It’s Back to Slack for Lakers in Loss

Twenty-four hours after pledging nightly effort and accountability, Shaquille O’Neal missed 12 of 15 free throws and then slipped out the back way, minutes after another blowout loss for the Lakers.

The Lakers left for Orlando late Thursday night, for Game 5 of seven in a row on the road, this time 96-73 losers to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wachovia Center, where Gary Payton was ejected in the ninth minute and Allen Iverson scored 39 points.

They bound between capable and overrun, some nights holding to O’Neal and Payton and winning with something close to cleverness, others losing with heavy legs and confusion.

Berated during the week by Iverson for lacking conviction and moved enough to unite beneath team-wide, matching headbands, the 76ers dealt the Lakers their worst loss of the season.

Coach Phil Jackson and some of his players presented the defeat as borderline inevitable, the merging of back-to-back games, a delayed flight from Cleveland the night before, an early-morning arrival in Philadelphia, a scrapped shoot-around and what the Lakers perceive as referee Joey Crawford’s irrational issues with Payton.

“I’m not going to talk about it,” Jackson said. “It’s too irritating to talk about it.”

Of course, he would, eventually. When the game ended, when the Lakers had set season lows for free-throw percentage (42.3%) and field-goal percentage (34.1%), and the lowest point total against the 76ers since the inception of the shot clock, Jackson glared long and hard at Crawford, the veteran referee who has his cranky moments. Crawford glared back.

While the absences of Kobe Bryant and Karl Malone, both injured, an airy defense and an uncommitted offense appeared to be the larger issues, Jackson had a hard time releasing Crawford from what he believed was the official’s responsibility. That is, the Lakers’ 18th loss.

According to those close to the byplay between Payton and the officials, Payton disagreed with a foul call and spoke to referee Bennie Adams about it. Crawford -- not Adams -- issued the technical foul. Payton then laughed indignantly at Crawford, who ejected Payton for it.

When the possession ended, the 76ers held a lead of 18-8, the Laker backcourt of Derek Fisher and Maurice Carter was being flogged by Iverson, and the Lakers slowly dissolved at the hands of the spirited 76ers.

“I think Joey knew after he’d done it he put us in an extreme disadvantage to play the game,” Jackson said. “This is sports entertainment, after all. And that game wasn’t entertaining.”

He added that Payton’s behavior “did not warrant” the swift reaction by Crawford, but that he would not complain to the league.

“I usually don’t like to do that,” he said. “I’m not vindictive like some people are in the league. I’ll let it go.”

Payton, too, left through the back door, on the way out telling a TNT reporter, “I don’t want to talk about the game, I don’t want to talk about the officials, I don’t want to talk about anything right now. All I know is ... Joey has no business being in there.”

Still, Payton had talked himself into his second bang-bang, first-quarter ejection of the season, the first issued by Steve Javie against the Dallas Mavericks on Dec. 12.

The Lakers generally have not handled the early bad news well, having lost to the Mavericks by 17 points, and the 76ers by 23.

Payton had just stalked through the tunnel Thursday night when Horace Grant, bemused, walked past the scorer’s table and said, “And the hits just keep on comin’!”

The Lakers can’t seem to keep their superstars on the floor, and sometimes it doesn’t matter when they do. O’Neal’s three-for-15 effort from the line was the worst percentage of his career with at least 15 attempts, according to the Lakers. He lacked the bounce of 37 points and 12 rebounds against Cleveland and of 36 points and eight rebounds against Toronto.

Of the free throws, Jackson said, “He’s got to do better than that. He knows it. That’s embarrassing for him.”

There was plenty of that to go around. The Lakers scored 10 points in the first quarter, the second time they’d scored so little in nine quarters. Given a challenge of better defense in the second half, the Lakers allowed 33 third-quarter points, 16 of them to Iverson.

After the game, Grant, ankle deep in ice water, shook his head.

“Glad that’s over,” he said.