Problems Scattered Coast to Coast

Over a few days in a basketball season that never promised anything approaching serenity, Lakers were scattered across the country, and across their trainer’s room.

Even by their usual pre-playoff standards of instability and distraction, a superstar in Arkansas, another in Colorado, a starting center in physical rehab and his backup in Georgia made for an unusually unsettled period. In part as a result, the Lakers lost three of four games last week, with more trouble ahead, and as Gary Payton observed, “It is what it is.”

On Friday alone, 24 hours before the Lakers would reach the midway point of their season, Karl Malone skipped the commotion that would have been Salt Lake City, rested his knee in southern Arkansas and was compared to a hibernating bear by Coach Phil Jackson.

As Malone slumbered, Kobe Bryant donned his suit and deadpan and did his now familiar Eagle County courthouse routine, pulling the usual top-of-the-hour news channel curiosity.

Horace Grant, torn by his father’s declining health and his responsibility to an organization thinned by injury and jarred by a losing streak, flew from Atlanta to Los Angeles to Salt Lake City, dropped his bags and prepared to play 37 minutes the next night.

Brian Cook, the rookie forward who had pleased everyone with his spiritedness over the last few weeks, took his broken finger back to Los Angeles, perhaps passing Grant at 35,000 feet somewhere over Las Vegas.

As Lakers trudged through airports everywhere, Shaquille O’Neal was wrapped in rubber tubing and sent to the gym floor for exercises, part of the recovery process as prescribed by therapist Alex McKechnie.

O’Neal has been sidelined 12 games because of a calf injury and now, according to Jackson and team medical personnel, is being held back for fear of further damage.

Asked his status, O’Neal has taken to pointing at trainers and therapists, as if to say, “Ask them.” The only thing for sure, O’Neal will play fewer than 70 games for the third consecutive season.

No day spent embedded with the Lakers would be quite complete without a moment of controversy, this time provided by an Internet report that O’Neal’s injury was annoying to Payton.

So, Payton and a reporter marched to O’Neal, who listened to an account of the story and said, “So? I’m mad too.”

Left for weeks with the burden of running a team undermanned, Payton said, “I’ve got no problem with Shaq. He’s hurt, he’s hurt. He’ll be back when he’s ready. If we get everybody back the last couple months, we’ll be cool.”

Then, after the injuries, court dates, personalities, disorder and occasional entertainment, the Lakers suddenly found themselves needing a win.

They’d lost three consecutive games, nine in a row on the road and faced the start of a forbidding seven-game trip later in the week. Bryant returned. Grant returned. Even Rick Fox, sidelined since May, returned, though he did not play.

The Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz on Saturday night, their first road win since Dec. 4, their first of any kind since Jan. 17. They have three days off, and will play twice this week before heading to Toronto on Saturday, a trip that will run all the way to the All-Star break and, perhaps, to the return of Malone.

If nothing else, they won’t go off without some success away from Staples, even if their lone win was against someone worse off than themselves.

“That’s what I just got through telling them in the locker room,” Jackson said late Saturday night. “We did not want to go out on that trip with that [road losing streak] hanging over our heads. We can go out, play the game and play freely behind it.”

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O’Neal will be examined today by team physician Steve Lombardo, according to Jackson. Lombardo will determine if another MRI exam is necessary.... Jamal Sampson will have an MRI test on his right foot and ankle, Jackson said.