A Cold, Cruel Day for Lakers

Then there are the nights when the Lakers are in a record-setting mood of another kind.

It has been demonstrated that Kobe Bryant can get his points, and his free throws, like few others in team history, but it also has been shown that these Lakers can come whisper close to team records for futility, another example cutting to the front of the line Wednesday at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Looking nothing like the team that drubbed the New York Knicks the night before, the Lakers were seconds away from a team record for worst shooting percentage in a game, needing Von Wafer and Andrew Bynum to bail them out with two late makes in a perplexing 105-79 loss to the injury-ravaged Indiana Pacers.

“I’ve never seen such a performance from a basketball club from one night to the next in a situation like this,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “It was a completely different team.”

The Lakers couldn’t make shots and also couldn’t get rebounds, a bad combination in any league, on the way to collecting another loss symbolic of their rise-fall-rise-fall nature these days.

They made 26 of 85 shots (30.6%), a miss or two away from the team record of 29.4% set against Utah in November 2004. They were shooting 29.3% until Bynum’s dunk with 39.4 seconds to play and Wafer’s 17-footer with 11.1 seconds left.

Bryant made eight of 24 shots and had 26 points. Devean George was two of nine, Chris Mihm two of eight. Lamar Odom was four of 12, had 10 points and sustained a rib injury that had him gingerly pulling his shirt over his head after the game.

Odom, who sustained sprained cartilage in his upper rib cage after smacking into David Harrison and Jeff Foster while chasing a loose ball, said he would try to play Friday against Charlotte because the Lakers needed to “start showing spirit.”

“It’s easy to stand up and cheer for your teammate and get the troops together when everything’s going well,” he said. “But when things don’t go right, we kind of show our immaturity as a team as far as really being in it with each other. That’s kind of where we stand right now.”

The Lakers were barely standing in the first half despite facing a depleted Pacer team that had lost six consecutive games.

Jermaine O’Neal was out because of a torn groin, Jamaal Tinsley was out because of a sore elbow and Austin Croshere was out because of a concussion. Then Stephen Jackson left the game after a hard fall on a drive with 2:15 left in the second quarter. He was diagnosed with a bruised hip.

The Pacers, who led at halftime, 52-37, began the second half with a lineup of Anthony Johnson, Fred Jones, Jeff Foster, Scot Pollard and Peja Stojakovic.

Jackson was more concerned with the Laker effort in the first half. Something was missing, namely the entire team.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said. “It was aces wild. One for eight, one for six, one for five, one for four.”

The Lakers had been in all-time low territory before, only three months ago. They would have tied the team record for fewest points in a game in an 85-73 loss to Memphis if not for Mihm’s three-point play with 23.4 seconds left.

Jackson called that effort “pathetic,” and on Wednesday called for Bryant’s teammates to better their effort.

“You just can’t play a basketball game if other people aren’t going to step up and support the team,” he said.

Bryant seemed to agree.

“With teams starting to think that this is going to be a formula for us, with me going and getting 40 or 50 points, this is the time for everybody to step up and start drilling some shots and make the defense pay,” he said.

The Lakers, who scored 51 fewer points than they did the night before against the Knicks, were outrebounded by the Pacers, 55-43.

And with that, they fell to 24-21, matching their record last season.

It’s not the brightest progress report, with today being one year after Rudy Tomjanovich sent a ripple through the organization with his abrupt resignation.