Lakers’ Shot Was Way Off the Mark

If you wanted the perfect juxtaposition of a franchise gone askew, it was right here on the Rose Garden court.

As the seconds ticked down in the final game of the season here last year, Kobe Bryant had the ball in his hands. He somehow managed to maneuver around Portland’s Ruben Patterson and launched a three-pointer that sent the game into overtime. At the end of another overtime, Bryant caught an inbound pass in three-point territory and launched a turnaround jumper high into the night. By the time it dropped through the net, the buzzer had sounded and the Lakers were the Pacific Division champions.

Bryant had the ball in his hands again at the end of regulation Wednesday night.

This time, the Lakers didn’t even get a shot. Vikthor Khryapa forced a jump ball, Patterson stole Bryant’s tip and the Lakers lost their 48th game of the season, by a score of 106-103.

No shot. A fitting end for a team with no chance at the playoffs.

“If you want to summarize it like that, that’s fine,” Bryant said. “It doesn’t really matter. We played hard, we just didn’t win the game in the end. We just put the season behind us and move on to the next one.”

Let’s stop for a moment to recognize Bryant’s greatness -- his 27.6 points per game were second in the NBA this season and you could’ve filled the opening block of “SportsCenter” with a few of his fourth-quarter plays Wednesday -- so we can really appreciate what a colossal failure this season was. Regardless of whom you blame -- Bryant, Jerry Buss, Mitch Kupchak or the correct answer, all of the above -- they just wasted a year of Bryant’s career. It makes you want to wrap yellow tape around Staples Center and declare it a crime scene.

Any year -- especially for the Lakers -- in which they aren’t at least in contention for a championship is a waste.

“It could be viewed that way pretty easily,” Bryant said. “But just from the mentors I’ve had in the past -- Tex [Winter] being the main one -- he’s always talked about the journey. It’s about the route, the path to greatness or to success is the most important thing. And that’s what this is. That’s what this season is. It’s a step. It doesn’t seem like a very big one. It seems like a pretty small step. But it’s still a chop at the tree.”

It’s going to take a lotta chopping, and a whole lotta walking.

Bryant is 26. He’s young enough to ride out this rebuilding phase and still be at or near his prime when the project is complete. But there’s only a finite number of years he can play at this elite level, pulling in six rebounds and handing out six assists while logging almost 41 minutes a game. Now there’s one less.

You realize we’re talking at least six more years before this gets fixed, right?

First the Lakers need to get the right pieces in place. Then they need enough time in the oven. Remember, even after the bonanza summer of ’96 (when the Lakers acquired Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant) it still took them four years and two coaching changes to get a championship. That made it a relatively quick nine years after their 1991 loss to the Chicago Bulls for the franchise to get back to the Finals.

Of the championship teams in the 1980s, the Lakers were the lucky ones.

The Detroit Pistons went 14 years between trips to the NBA Finals.

The Philadelphia 76ers waited 18 years.

For the Boston Celtics, it’s 18 years and counting.

What makes these Lakers different is that after the run ended they still had a central championship player in the prime of his career.

What also makes them different is they traded away a central player while he remained the best in the league at his position, still capable of producing MVP-caliber seasons.

So while O’Neal and the beneficiary of the Lakers’ stupidity, the Miami Heat, go on to the playoffs, the Lakers go home.

The Laker players liked to point to the numerous injuries and the mid-season coaching change as derailing their season. But look at the teams in the playoffs and you’ll find plenty who overcame one or both of those same obstacles.

If you look at teams that have made dramatic turnarounds in recent years, they usually added a dynamic point guard (see: Kidd, Jason and Nash, Steve) or a dominant big man (see: Shaq). The Lakers could benefit from any one of the top three point guards available in the draft: Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Raymond Felton, and they’ll probably have a chance to take at least one of them.

As for a frontcourt presence, please stop sending e-mails with the absurd notion that the Lakers will somehow get Kevin Garnett this summer. The ones about the wealthy African wanting to use my bank account to hold millions of dollars are more believable. And if you insist on entertaining that Garnett fantasy, realize that it would entail the Lakers sending Bryant to Minnesota. You just saw what Garnett did without another All-Star in Minnesota this season; this would amount to nothing more than the two teams switching seats at the lottery.

Back to reality. What’s next for this team?

“I don’t know, probably hire a coach,” said the coach, Frank Hamblen.

As far-fetched as Phil Jackson’s return might seem, at least he hasn’t definitively ruled it out. So it’s still possible, if unlikely.

Upon further review, Bryant did get off one buzzer-beating shot. It came at the end of the third quarter, when he launched a three from the backcourt that missed the backboard, bounced and landed on a courtside waitress’ tray, spilling food and beer all over fans and photographers on the baseline.

A wayward shot in a wayward season, and one big mess to clean up.