Lakers Aren’t Out of Sorts

While the Lakers sorted through the messages of Phil Jackson’s contract negotiations, of Shaquille O’Neal’s extension, of Kobe Bryant’s seeming conflicted desires of wanting to stay but needing to go, they won three games in a row.

Though something less than an actual move on the leaders of the Western Conference and Pacific Division, the brief winning streak -- including Friday’s 116-88 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers at Staples Center -- momentarily straightened their erratic side.

They are 34-19, still five losses behind the Sacramento Kings, still with Karl Malone on the injured list, but with 29 games to play. They keep telling themselves that it’s enough, nearly two months to find the direction of their game and their pride.

One day soon, Jackson said, perhaps in this next run of 10 road games in 13, perhaps not for another six weeks, the Lakers will begin to look familiar again.

“I believe we will,” he said. “I don’t know if it’s going to be until the middle of March. But I think you’ll see the group of guys that started the season and looked like they could play playoff basketball at that time.”

In the meantime, they’ll apparently be just good enough to win or lose on some nights, and find themselves in others. The 76ers, a heavy-legged team that flew in from Seattle, pushed the Lakers into the third quarter before fading. The Lakers lost by 23 in Philadelphia two weeks ago, and probably thought the 76ers had this coming.

O’Neal scored 29 dunk-filled points and took 13 rebounds, 16 and five in the second quarter. Bryant had some foul issues and scored 28 points in 29 minutes. Allen Iverson scored 13 points on three-for-18 shooting a night after playing 48 minutes in Seattle.

The Lakers followed a trend that actually started at the All-Star game, where O’Neal and Bryant score and everybody else helps some. In games earlier this week against Portland and Golden State, both close victories, Bryant averaged 33 points and nine assists and O’Neal averaged 26 points and 13 rebounds. A bunch of other guys -- including Gary Payton -- participated. Payton most of the time.

“We just looked at each other,” O’Neal said of Bryant. “We knew we have to pick it up.”

Asked if it really was eye contact or if they actually spoke, O’Neal said, “We can look at each other and say, ‘You ready?’ And turn it up.”

According to Bryant, there was more to it than that.

“We’ve done it,” Bryant said. “It’s amazing to me how surprised you guys are. You’ve seen us do it for three championship years in a row. We can get it cracking quickly. We’ve done it. You shouldn’t be surprised.... I’m healthy. He’s healthy. It’s old hat. We talked about making a statement over the second half of the season. That’s what we talked about.”

While they’d take the wins, the heavy emphasis on The Original Two seemed no way to integrate Payton and, when he’s healthy, Malone. Jackson was asked if he believed Bryant’s passion for ball-handling and offensive control smothered Payton’s game, and he said, “I don’t think so. The ball’s going to go into Gary’s hands most of the time. That’s going to be one of the things that we do.”

He said they’d talked about it as a team and decided again it was in everyone’s best interest for Payton to be more involved, even to direct the offense. Only this week, coming out of the All-Star break, Jackson sat with Bryant and the two discussed a more taut approach to the second half.

Bryant has four court dates in March, two of them on game days.

“It was really just talking about being present in this game and this season and playing this time we’re together,” Jackson said. “Anything in the future is down the road. There’s nothing down the road that makes any sense right now. Because it’s all about this season and playing well and doing your job.”

In the long term, Jackson said, “You want to have a player that thinks of the team, you know, is unselfish in that regard. Puts the team effort above his own. Those are important things. That means that you’re breeding good things for the basketball club. It usually gives your team a chance to be a good team.”

As for whether Bryant is that guy, Jackson said, “He can be.”

He had seven more assists against the 76ers and shot well again, making 10 of 18 field-goal attempts.