Lakers Won’t Be Given Clean Slate

The Lakers reassembled Monday afternoon, hoping a five-day break would be enough rest for the schedule that lies in front of them, daring them to make the playoffs, if they can.

It has been 11 years since the Lakers failed to advance beyond the regular season, an occasion that has come along once or twice a generation since their move from Minneapolis in 1960.

There will be challenging bends in the roads of many cities over the next two months, with an overtime loss or an ill-timed shot possibly providing the margin that keeps the Lakers out of the postseason for only the fourth time in team history.

The Lakers, 26-24 and in eighth place in the Western Conference, have 32 games left. Nineteen are on the road, and 17 are against teams with winning records.

Only the optimists survive at this point.

“It’s tough,” Kobe Bryant said. “If we weren’t so optimistic, we’d think the second half of the season would be the pits.”

A year ago, the Lakers were 31-19 and began to solidify their playoff position by winning seven of eight after the All-Star break.

Back then, Phil Jackson was in his fifth season of establishing the triangle offense, which, though boring at times in Bryant’s view, led to three championships and four appearances in the NBA Finals.

The Lakers also had Karl Malone’s elbows, Derek Fisher’s timely range and Gary Payton’s playmaking. And they had Shaquille O’Neal.

Or, as Kevin Garnett said over the weekend: “Come on, man. You can’t take Shaq off that team and expect them to be one of the better teams. I mean, it just ain’t going to happen.”

Garnett, an eight-time All-Star forward for the Minnesota Timberwolves, caught himself quickly, cognizant that the Timberwolves, for all their problems with chemistry on the court and math in the win-loss column, are only a game behind the Lakers for eighth place.

“But they’ve got Kobe,” Garnett said. “And they still are good.”

How good will be determined in the next two months.

Maybe the Lakers will be done April 20, in Portland, the scene of their dramatic overtime victory a year ago that gave them the Pacific Division title in their regular-season finale.

Or maybe they’ll move to the first round to face the Phoenix Suns, who haven’t found a fastbreak they didn’t like, or the San Antonio Spurs, who haven’t found reason to break their dislike of the Lakers (see: Fisher, 0.4 seconds).

The Lakers will visit them both before the end of the regular season, two games among many that could be considered hazardous to Laker playoff hopes.

If the Lakers are still in contention after getting through what’s left of February and 16 games in the 31 days of March, they’ll begin April with nine consecutive games against teams that currently have winning records. Then they finish the season with road games at Golden State and Portland.

“We’ve shown promise,” center Chris Mihm said. “If we can get the whole team healthy and together, I can tell that we’re going to have a good second half.”

Other teams on the outskirts of the playoffs are looking at glass-half-full scenarios with their schedules.

The Memphis Grizzlies, in seventh place, 2 1/2 games ahead of the Lakers, have only 13 games left against teams with winning records.

Minnesota, which threatens to start playing well any day now, has a palatable home schedule with eight games against teams with losing records.

The Denver Nuggets have a new coach, George Karl, and a favorable schedule with only 12 road games the rest of the way.

If the Clippers overcome injuries, they could take advantage of a schedule with five games against the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats and New Orleans Hornets, teams that are a combined 32-122.

Times staff writer Lonnie White contributed to this report.

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How They Compare:

Teams vying for the final playoff spots in the Western Conference. Top eight teams qualify (H-home games, A-away games, WR-games vs. teams with winning records):

*--* Team H A WR 7. Memphis 14 15 13 8. LAKERS 13 19 17 9. Minnesota 12 16 14 10. Denver 17 12 14 11. CLIPPERS 14 15 15

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