No Good Cheer for Lakers

The league got what it wanted, an entertaining holiday game mixed in with a new player rivalry, Gary Payton versus Lamar Odom, to be added to that other one as more fuel for the future.

The Lakers weren’t so fortunate with their wish list.

They hemmed and hawed in the final minutes of a Christmas Day game against the Miami Heat, made only 38.8% of their shots overall and allowed Payton to rip them for 21 points in a 97-92 Heat victory Sunday at American Airlines Arena.

They made only three of 21 three-point attempts but still had chances to win before Odom and Kobe Bryant erred badly on three-point shots in the final minute, allowing the Heat to improve to 16-12, half a game better than the Lakers.

Bryant had 37 points on 12-for-30 shooting and also had eight rebounds and six assists. Brian Cook had 15 points and kept the Lakers close with 11 third-quarter points. Dwyane Wade and O’Neal each had 18. O’Neal took 17 rebounds.

“We played poorly and still found ourselves in the ballgame,” Bryant said. “We had the opportunity to make a three-point basket and put the dagger in them and it just didn’t quite go in.”

Two opportunities, actually. And neither was very close.

After Payton’s three-pointer gave the Heat a 94-92 lead, Odom was short on an open attempt from the right side with 41.9 seconds left. Wade made a free throw for a 95-92 lead, and Bryant’s shot from well beyond the arc barely hit the front of the rim with 2.9 seconds to play.

“I was wide open, something I’ve got to knock down, especially when Kobe’s got three players on him,” Odom said.

Bryant was drifting left on his attempt.

“We wanted to run a play, and they took it away from us and forced me further down the floor than I would have liked to be,” Bryant said. “I got up a shot that didn’t quite make it there.”

As one rivalry seemed to dim, another started between Payton and Odom, who jawed at each other throughout the second half. Afterward, Odom moved aggressively toward Payton at halfcourt but was pulled away by Heat forward Udonis Haslem.

Odom, who had 14 points and 16 rebounds, was still upset half an hour later.

“He’s an extremely disrespectful young man,” Odom said. “I’m not going to repeat anything he said, but it’s extremely disrespectful. It’s dudes like that, that’s why things happen off the court between players and their friends and things like that. He needs to watch how he talks to other men. There’s a difference between competing and how you talk to another man.”

Odom did not reveal conversational details but used the phrase “extremely disrespectful” six times to describe Payton’s words.

“His mouth is horrible, atrocious,” he said. “But that’s the way it is.”

Payton saw it differently, describing the give-and-take as “nothing.”

“Having fun on the court,” he said. “Everybody jabbing and jabbing.”

The other, more publicized rivalry wasn’t quite as active.

O’Neal did not go out for the captains’ meeting with the referees before tip-off, leaving it to Wade to exchange a brief greeting with Bryant and Odom.

A few minutes later, O’Neal and Bryant ignored each other before tip-off. O’Neal hugged Odom and briefly tapped Cook and Chris Mihm. Heat forward James Posey offered a quick hello to Bryant, who stood outside the halfcourt circle, staring straight ahead, his hands tugging on the bottom of his shorts.

It took all of 23 seconds for them to make contact on the court, O’Neal picking up an offensive foul by setting a screen on Bryant near the top of the key and accidentally tripping him.

Both players seemed tired of fielding questions about playing each other.

“Ask me what two plus two is,” O’Neal said. “Everybody knows that two plus two is five. Stop asking.”

Said Bryant: “It felt pretty normal. It felt no different than the game we just played in Orlando. I know that’s not what you [media] guys want to hear.”

The Lakers had been one for 17 from three-point range before Devean George made two from the left corner in the final three minutes, the latter giving the Lakers a 91-89 lead with 2:06 to play.

The Lakers found fault with the Heat’s next possession, as O’Neal snared Wade’s miss on a drive and scored on a layup to tie the score at 91-91 with 1:49 to play. Mihm appeared to be an afterthought on the play, getting tossed to the ground by O’Neal.

“It was pretty obvious,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “All of a sudden, Chris wasn’t there anymore.”

The Lakers were left talking about what could have been.

“To be in this position against this type of team when we didn’t play well at all says a lot about where we’re going,” Bryant said. “Teams coming to play against the Lakers, they’re going to have to deal with us.”

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Three up, three down

The Lakers are 0-3 against Miami since Shaquille O’Neal was traded to the Heat before the start of the 2004-05 season, but Kobe Bryant has averaged more points than O’Neal in the three games:

*--* Dec. 25, 2004 at Staples Center PTS FG% FT% 3-PT 3-PT% REB TO STL BLK AST MIAMI 104 444 680 7-14 500 54 7 9 5 20 LAKERS 102 439 842 14-36 389 53 15 3 2 21 March 17, 2005 at American Airlines Arena PTS FG% FT% 3-PT 3-PT% REB TO STL BLK AST LAKERS 89 379 765 10-24 417 27 15 10 2 19 MIAMI 102 475 724 5-19 263 56 11 10 6 18 Dec. 25, 2005 at American Airlines Arena PTS FG% FT% 3-PT 3-PT% REB TO STL BLK AST LAKERS 92 388 742 3-21 143 56 18 5 9 20 MIAMI 97 450 667 3-12 250 59 17 6 7 17 Bryant vs. O’Neal (averages for the three games) MIN FG% FT% PTS REB AST STL BLK TO PF BRYANT 47 38.5 82.9 35.0 7.0 5.0 1.7 1.0 5.0 3.5 O’NEAL 37 53.5 33.3 22.3 13.3 2.6 0.3 2.6 3.0 3.6

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Source: Los Angeles Times