Bryant’s Just 2-2 Much

Did you fall for it?

I fell for it.

The San Antonio Spurs fell for it.

At times, it seemed like every gym rat in the country fell for it, everyone rushing to Staples Center this week to witness the flaming destruction of the NBA’s Hindenburg.

Suckers.

Those golf-chasing, cruise-booking Lakers aren’t going anywhere, unless you count San Antonio, where they will follow the backpedaling Spurs into a Game 5 of a series suddenly as it should be.

Tied, after the Lakers’ 98-90 win Tuesday.

Spinning, toward the team with five Springfield plaques.

Fading, away from the team with one Duncan doughnut.

Rumbling, on the reborn shoulders of Shaquille O’Neal.

Stumbling, on the suddenly unhappy feet of Tony Parker.

Flying, madly flying, into memories as indelible as they are confused, through the sensational and utterly strange trip that is Kobe Bryant.

“We’ve just started playing basketball,” said Gary Payton, shrugging.

Oh, so that’s what that is.

Nice of you Houdinis to pull that out of your sleeves before the Spurs stole your shirt.

However it returned, it’s back, a comeback from a 10-point halftime deficit, a united effort by O’Neal and Bryant, a howling Staples Center crowd that even excited the cool Denzel Washington, the scoreboard showing him throwing phantom punches during the fourth-quarter flurry.

“I left it all on the floor,” said Bryant after his 42-point, post-courtroom performance pulled the Lakers into a two-all series tie in these Western Conference semifinals.

Other things were left on the same floor, including the notion that the aging Lakers didn’t have the legs for consecutive games, or the conscience for an extended series effort.

The Spurs may still have home-court advantage, but the Lakers now have inside-the-head advantage.

The Spurs have never lost a playoff game to the Lakers in the SBC Center, where they will play Thursday, but they have never seen these Lakers there.

A series that began with the Lakers mired in distrust and disillusionment has spun on something far more valuable than a dime.

Suddenly, these Lakers are playing not for stardom but for another month of spring, motivation we didn’t know they possessed.

So what if only seven teams in history have ever rebounded from a two-games-to-none deficit to win an NBA seven-game playoff series?

Any more suckers out there?

Yeah, it was a wild night at Staples Center, beginning with Bryant following a quiet, “not guilty” plea with a distinct “ ‘outta my way” scream.

“It was unbelievable,” said Karl Malone. “I have said it before, for what a young man like him went through and to continue to come out and do what he does is pretty incredible.”

This week, there was talk that because of his pretrial hearing on sexual assault charges in Colorado, Bryant might not arrive until just before tipoff.

Who would have guessed that, in the end, he would arrive before some of the Spurs?

Bryant entered his not-guilty plea at 2:32 p.m. MDT in Eagle, Colo., and pulled up in the Staples Center parking lot for the playoff game sometime before 5 p.m.

(The fact that the previous sentence required no exclamation points or italics is a testament to the constant nuttiness around here).

After napping in the car, Bryant walked into the locker room about 5:20.

The Spur team bus carrying Coach Gregg Popovich, Tony Parker and a couple of others was stuck in traffic and did not arrive until about 6:15.

They were tardy early, and tardy late, falling apart under Laker pressure in a third-quarter run that essentially started like this:

Payton and Devean George screaming at each other after George did not throw the ball to Payton during an in-bounds play and was hit with a five-second violation.

“He said just keep playing hard,” said O’Neal of Phil Jackson and, what do you know, the Lakers are listening to their coach again.

Following the argument, the Lakers finished the quarter on a 22-12 run on the back of O’Neal, whose scoring went something like this:

Fighting layup. Grinding layup. Bulldozer layup. Free throws. Turnaround hook. Two free throws! Dunk.

By the time the quarter ended, O’Neal had scored 14 points with seven rebounds in 12 minutes, the Lakers led by five points that seemed like 15.

“The third quarter was my quarter, they got me the ball and I did what I do,” said O’Neal.

“Then the fourth quarter belonged to Kobe.”

Of course it did, it always does, with a satisfied O’Neal stepping aside while Bryant scored 15 fourth-quarter points to clinch it.

We’ve seen it four times this year, this return-from-court brilliance, but each time it seems new.

It’s hard to watch because of the nature of Bryant’s court case. But it’s easy to watch because of the nature of sports.

Said Malone: “This is his sanctuary.”

Said Bryant: “I’m numb.”

Two games from extinction, the Lakers suddenly seem a legitimate 10 wins from a title, so Bryant can just join the club.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. For previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.