Passive Is Regressive

The Lakers promised to play defense and were true to their word.

They pledged to work the ball inside, and did that too.

All that was needed was the typical 35-point game from Kobe Bryant, but that turned out to be the beginning and end of their problems Sunday afternoon, never to be solved.

The Lakers returned to the playoffs after a rare layoff last season and found the going rough -- a 107-102 loss to the Phoenix Suns in which Bryant failed to fire.

He had eight points in the first half and finished with 22 on seven-for-21 shooting as the Lakers dropped Game 1 of their best-of-seven first-round series at US Airways Center.

As MVP candidates go, Sun guard Steve Nash unveiled his usual numbers -- 20 points, 10 assists -- but Bryant had less of an impact.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson, befuddled, told him during a fourth-quarter timeout to be more aggressive.

Sun Coach Mike D’Antoni, politically correct, said Bryant looked “a little more passive than usual.”

Sun forward Shawn Marion, almost relieved, observed, “Usually we’re just watching him. It’s Kobe, one on five.”

Instead, the Lakers offered up a five-on-five effort Sunday, which made the game entertaining and close, but a losing Laker proposition.

The plan was to get the ball down low to Kwame Brown (14 points) and Lamar Odom (21 points), a concept that ended with the Lakers winning the points-in-the-paint category, 42-30.

But Bryant, who averaged 42.5 points in four regular-season games against the Suns, sprung for barely half that. He was four for 15 and had 12 points before hitting a driving layup with 6:04 to play.

“At one point I told him it was time for him to get aggressive,” said Jackson, who chose to do so during a timeout with 8:45 to play. “He picked up his game a little bit and started going to the hoop. I thought he was out of rhythm, didn’t feel comfortable with his shot, started taking the ball to the basket.

“It was a good enough game. His game was keeping us in the offense. Doing the things he had to do was good enough to keep us there. It wasn’t good enough to put us over the top.”

The Lakers, now 1-8 against Phoenix since the Shaquille O’Neal trade, have had problems getting over the top against the Suns.

Their other seven losses had been by an average of 11.3 points, one piling atop another, the distinction blurred among Nash drives, Marion dunks and triple-digit Sun bursts.

Then came Sunday, a new day, with a decidedly unique flavor.

Jackson was in a joking mood when he came out for a pregame media briefing, reaching for a phone on the wall and asking if it could be used in case of emergency.

The Lakers professed to be lighthearted as well, snickering at clips of “Inside Man” that Jackson kept splicing into game film leading up to Sunday.

They were generally upbeat after the loss, Bryant smiling a couple of times on the dais as he spoke into a microphone in a room tucked deep inside the arena.

Laker special assistant coach Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, a witness to and participant in his fair share of playoff games, also offered words of encouragement as players entered the locker room after the loss.

His message was simple, to the effect that their same effort “wins on Wednesday” when the teams meet here for Game 2.

Until then, the Lakers will have to chew on the historical NBA fact that 79% of teams that win Game 1 have gone on to win their best-of-seven series.

Bryant, a game-film addict, will have time to reevaluate his game, over and over.

“I had to take a lot of bail-out shots tonight,” he said. “I wasn’t looking to attack or to assert myself really. I think we had a lot of things we can take advantage of and tonight we did that. It kept us in the ballgame. We had them right where we wanted them. Just a couple bounces didn’t go our way.”

The Lakers faltered in the first half, as they typically do against the Suns, trailing, 52-38, after a Nash-to-Marion fastbreak dunk. Smush Parker (13 points) and Luke Walton (10 points) were the only Lakers in double figures in the first half, which ended with the Suns ahead, 58-50.

But the Lakers rebounded in the third quarter, tying the score at 75-75 as Walton and Odom each scored seven points. The Lakers managed to hold the league’s highest-scoring team to 17 points in the quarter, a victory in itself.

Sasha Vujacic’s three-pointer gave the Lakers an 80-79 lead with 10:01 to play, but they couldn’t convert late.

Bryant’s three-pointer, the only one he made, brought the Lakers to within 103-100 with 17.9 seconds to play.

They never came closer, unable to prevent Jackson from logging his first loss in first-round openers, a previously unblemished record now standing at 14-1.

“I don’t feel like we missed an opportunity,” Jackson said. “I think we will have better opportunities as we go along.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Nash vs. Bryant

Game 1 comparison of the two MVP candidates:

*--* NASH BRYANT 38...Minutes played...46 20...Points...22 2...Rebounds...6 10...Assists...5 5-12...Field goals made-attempted...7-21

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Dialing it down

Kobe Bryant, who averaged 42.5 points against Phoenix during the regular season, had only 22 points Sunday and the Lakers fell to 1-4 against the Pacific Division champions (* Steve Nash did not play):

*--* DATE SITE, RESULT KOBE PTS. April 23 at Phoenix, L 107-102 22 April 16 at Lakers, W 109-89* 43 April 7 at Phoenix, L 107-96 51 Jan. 20 at Phoenix, L 106-93 37 Nov. 3 at Lakers, L 122-112 39

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