New Guys Show Old Why They Are Here

This is why Karl Malone and Gary Payton came to Los Angeles. This is why the Lakers wanted them here.

Saturday night, the Lakers moved on, with big assists from Malone and Payton (exactly seven, in Payton’s case).

At times this season, the duo vanished, with Malone stuck on the injured list for half the regular season and Payton lost in the vapor trails of opposing point guards flying to the hoop. They didn’t do much in the fourth quarter of Game 5 on Thursday night until Payton made an inbound pass to Derek Fisher for the game-winning basket.

If Payton and Malone were going to make this whole experiment worthwhile, they would have to find a way to help the Lakers get past the San Antonio Spurs and justify the team’s decision to jettison Robert Horry after all of those wonderful team moments.

Horry was still around, trying his best as a Spur to deflate the Lakers after years of uplifting them.

At times, Malone and Payton have stood around and watched Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant lead the way, something any number of players could do.

Not in Game 6 on Saturday night.

Just look through the play-by-play of the fourth quarter in the Lakers’ series-clinching, 88-76 victory over the Spurs, and you’ll see Payton and Malone right in the middle of it.

Payton fed Derek Fisher for a three-pointer. Then Malone cut, took a pass from Bryant and drew a foul, making one free throw.

Payton spun down the baseline and tossed in a reverse layup. He passed to Bryant for a layup. Then Payton came into the lane and got around Tim Duncan for a layup before he tumbled down Horry’s back.

The new guys had scored or assisted on 10 consecutive Laker points as they extended their lead from 59-58 to 69-64. A Bryant jumper made it 71-64.

The rest of the Lakers wouldn’t get a chance to decide the game, as the Spurs elected to foul O’Neal and send him to the free-throw line for the last four minutes of the quarter.

Malone continued to make the effort plays, leaping as high as he has all season to knock down an alley-oop pass from Tony Parker to Manu Ginobili.

Those were the type of things that didn’t show in the box score. His stat line wasn’t that impressive: eight points, three rebounds, two-for-six shooting from the field, four for eight from the line. But you wouldn’t find any Laker who would tell you that Malone didn’t make a large contribution to this victory.

Payton’s numbers were better -- 15 points and seven assists -- especially when compared to opponent Tony Parker’s nine points on four-for-18 shooting.

Malone and Payton were as cantankerous as ever, both picking up technical fouls and running their season-long -- heck, career-long -- dialogue with the officials.

Malone, the second-leading scorer in the history of the NBA, had been reduced to helping the Lakers in small ways.

He wasn’t expected to win his matchup with Duncan. That was especially true on a night like Saturday, when Duncan was aggressive from the outset. He scored on Malone, on O’Neal, even on an unfortunate Kareem Rush, who was caught on a switch.

Malone did what he could, still tricking Duncan with ball swipes and back-away plays. At 40 years old, Malone is right there with Bryant and Fisher when it comes to providing the Lakers with more energy than the DWP.

Speaking of energy, it’s time to give some props to the Staples Center fans. Bryant said earlier in the week that the building has been as loud as he’s ever heard it during these playoffs, and Saturday night, the crowd brought the noise to new levels. They roared when the Lakers took the court, gave a standing ovation to Game 5 hero Fisher when he checked into the game and rattled Duncan into missing two fourth-quarter free throws.

Back to Malone. He kept deflecting passes, batting away balls and diving to the floor. He sets the tone for the Lakers, who figure if the old guy can do it, there’s no excuse for the rest of them not to.

A remarkable string came to an end Saturday night. Since 1994, Horry or Steve Kerr had played on every NBA championship team. (the Rockets and Lakers for Horry, the Bulls and Spurs for Kerr). The retired Kerr provided commentary for TNT’s broadcast last night.

Malone is hoping to end a dubious distinction that now belongs to him. Saturday night, Malone surpassed his old teammate John Stockton by participating in his 183rd playoff game, the most for anyone who has never won a championship ring.

He’ll add to it the next game, but for now that isn’t a problem.

There will be more games. The quest continues. The experiment remains a work in progress -- progress being the operative word.

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