Pistons Took X-Factors Out of the Equation

You knew the Detroit Pistons’ series-opening victory knocked the Lakers upside-down when Kobe Bryant started advocating more use of the triangle offense.

Yes, it sounded radical. Pistons 87, Lakers 75 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals at Staples Center will have that kind of effect.

The Pistons came into the Lakers’ house, raided the fridge, propped their feet up on the couch and, in the ultimate sign of disrespect, grabbed the remote control.

They did exactly what they wanted to the Lakers, winning this game on their terms.

Phil Jackson now finds himself at the center of these Finals.

At the moment the story line isn’t his quest for a 10th coaching championship, it’s about his need to make some dramatic changes to get the Lakers back to even ground in this series.

Usually when the Lakers lose a playoff game it’s easy to spot exceptions that won’t continue through the course of a series.

Not this time.

The Pistons absorbed what the Lakers do well, which is getting points from Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant, and exploited what the Lakers don’t do well, which is creating shots from the role players going one-on-one and defending off screens.

So where do the Lakers go from here?

Bryant, that noted freelancer, suggested running the triangle.

“This series, we have to go deeper into our offense,” he said. “We have to be able to utilize the triangle and cut guys up so our teammates aren’t just threats as spot-ups, they become aggressive.”

The problem is the newest Lakers aren’t comfortable with anything beyond the basics of the offense. They’re still grappling with geometry and aren’t ready for calculus.

Jackson simplified the offense at the end of the season so Karl Malone and Gary Payton would feel comfortable, then he went to the opposite extreme during the San Antonio series by opening up the floor and running screen-and-rolls.

What worked against the Spurs won’t be as successful against Detroit. The Pistons jump out on screens, they close out on shooters, they rotate to the right man.

At least, that’s what they did in Game 1.

“I don’t know if we could ever defend better,” Detroit Coach Larry Brown said.

Unlike a hot-shooting night, it’s easy to expect another good defensive effort.

Normally opponents want to get the ball out of O’Neal’s and Bryant’s hands and force the rest of the Lakers to win a game. They don’t count on Kareem Rush’s making six three-pointers or Derek Fisher’s hitting a turnaround jumper with 0.4 of a second remaining. If those things happen, so be it.

Brown stayed single coverage on O’Neal, and he threw Tay- shaun Prince’s long arms against Bryant for most of the game. O’Neal scored at will, going for 34 points. Bryant struggled but found his way to a 25-point night. Their 59-point total was their second-highest of the playoffs.

This is only the second time the Lakers have lost in the six times they’ve combined for at least 50 in the postseason.

The glaring difference this time was that the Pistons told the rest of the Lakers they’d get nothing and like it.

“We played Shaq and Kobe honest,” Piston center Ben Wallace said. “They got their numbers and we played everybody else honest. We didn’t let the role players come out and just line up shots from outside.”

The task of Laker opponents in the playoffs is keeping the role players out of the interview room. Fisher shot one for nine, Rush went 0 for 3 and there wasn’t a trip to the postgame news conference between them.

The Lakers can look for improvement from Karl Malone, who shot two for nine. After a three-for-14 night in the playoff opener against Houston, he came back with a seven-for-12 performance in Game 2. But Payton (one for four) will continue to find it tough on his forays to the hoop.

And the Lakers can’t count on O’Neal hitting 75% of his free throws the rest of the way.

On the bright side for the Pistons, leading scorer Richard Hamilton was held to 12 points on five-for-16 shooting. They can expect more from him.

They also can expect another good night from Chauncey Billups. His 22 points in Game 1 shouldn’t have been a surprise after the 26.5 points he averaged against the Lakers during the regular season.

The Lakers had no business leading at halftime, but the Pistons missed so many layups and free throws that the Lakers tiptoed into the locker room with a 41-40 lead.

Jackson’s halftime talks did the trick the last two series; the Lakers won the third quarter eight of 12 times against San Antonio and Minnesota.

But when action resumed Sunday, the Pistons outscored the Lakers, 24-17.

The Lakers can’t afford to get left behind out of the gate in Game 2, or it will get pretty tight in Lakerland. Jackson must have them prepared, with a couple of new wrinkles.

But first the Lakers will have to get over their different perspectives. Jackson suggested that O’Neal didn’t get more shots because he tired in the second half. O’Neal responded: “I don’t think a person going 13 for 16 is a sign of being tired by any means.

A little internal dissension is nothing new for this group. Searching for a novel approach to victory in the middle of the NBA Finals is. And that’s their current task.

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.