Lakers Barely Turn a Toss Into a Win

It is a familiar game, one they rode to three championships and a second-round fall-out, gobs of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, a handful of other guys hoping to help.

While not exactly what they had in mind this season, things have changed, and the Lakers made it work for a second consecutive game, on consecutive nights, by 100-99 over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday at the Arena in Oakland.

O’Neal blocked Clifford Robinson’s 18-footer at the buzzer, atoning for three late Laker possessions that ended without points, including four free-throw misses, two by O’Neal.

Still, O’Neal scooped up the basketball as Robinson asked for a foul. The buzzer sounded as he bounded up the floor; before he ducked through the tunnel, O’Neal flipped a bounce pass to a fan on the left sideline who had heckled them all.

Bryant scored 35 points. O’Neal had 31. He played the final six minutes with five personal fouls, having gotten there, in part, with three offensive fouls.

Starting point guards Gary Payton and Speedy Claxton fought in the third quarter and both were ejected, leaving Bryant and O’Neal with each other, again. Bryant made a 17-footer from the left side for a 100-97 lead with 1:27 remaining, and the Lakers held on from there, through bad free throws and missteps and one last defensive play.

“We’re both healthy, as healthy as we have been in a long time,” Bryant said. “We’re able to pick it up and play at a level we’ve become accustomed to.”

From the three-point lead, in the last 87 seconds, the Lakers held the Warriors to two points over four possessions. Nick Van Exel made a runner to bring the Warriors to 99 but missed another. And the last possession went to Robinson, on the left side, with O’Neal closing, and that’s how it ended, how the Lakers won for the fourth time in five games.

“On any given night, we can do that,” O’Neal said of sharing the game with Bryant. On Tuesday night, in a three-point win against the Portland Trail Blazers, they combined for 52 points. With Payton gone, they took it to 66, enough by one.

“We’ve got a lot of help, but I can’t wait until we get all of our guys back,” said O’Neal, who kept the Warriors in it by missing eight of nine free throws. “It’s going to be fun.”

Payton, in the meantime, kept it interesting.

Near the Warrior bench, Claxton poked away Payton’s dribble. As the ball bounded loose to the sideline, Payton held off Claxton with his elbow, which Claxton pushed away.

Payton turned on Claxton, they grabbed each other, and both fell toward the scorers’ table, bringing teammates and referees with them. Officials Eddie Rush and Leroy Richardson peeled Payton off Claxton, and the three tumbled backward.

Neither, it appeared, threw a punch.

Moments later, with 6:54 remaining in the quarter, Payton left the floor with two Laker security guards, Claxton to cheers and a pat on the rear end from Nick Van Exel.

The ejection was Payton’s fourth, his third in the Lakers’ last 10 games. He declined to comment afterward with a slow shake of his head. Claxton said, “He was not used to being in that type of situation, and he got frustrated and then he got physical.”

During the fray, Warrior Coach Eric Musselman must have said something that reached O’Neal, because afterward O’Neal called him “the little midget Warrior coach.”

The Lakers played their ninth gym in nine games, all in February. They played on trading deadline eve, with their only real hope for help resting his knee on a couch in Newport Beach.

Although O’Neal, Bryant and Payton in the same lineup would seem to be enough, games in bunches don’t suit the Lakers. They had lost five of their last six games on the back ends of consecutive games, a run that began when their record was 18-4 and they thought the future held nothing but blowouts and winning streaks.

That changed with the boredom, as they described it, and then the injuries to everyone, it seemed, but Payton. That leaves them with 30 games, with some progress in two games since the break, with some progress coming.

This week, Bryant has averaged 33 points, and he has made 24 of 39 shots. O’Neal has averaged 26 points and has made 24 of 36 shots.

“We’re putting more energy behind it,” Bryant said. “Our effort has increased.”