Lakers Glad That’s Over

The weight of a trip spinning out of control pressed down on the Lakers, who, for a change, pushed back.

Staring at the possibility of a 1-6 record since leaving Los Angeles 12 days ago, the Lakers instead turned in a notable effort, Kobe Bryant acting as distributor, Brian Cook acting again as scorer and Phil Jackson putting on a kinder, friendlier face in an 89-78 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday at Toyota Center.

Just when things couldn’t get worse for the Lakers, they didn’t, and their longest trip of the season concluded with the end of two four-game streaks, theirs (losing) and Houston’s (winning).

Bryant had 32 points, tied season bests with nine assists and no turnovers, and also tied a career high with six steals. Cook followed up a career-best 28-point effort against Dallas with 27 against the Rockets. Even Kwame Brown scored seven more points than his previous “awful” performance, to borrow Jackson’s description of his scoreless game in Dallas.

The Lakers moved a game above .500 instead of dipping the other direction, and although Jackson had hoped for a 5-2 trip, 2-5 is what they got, after they led for all of nine seconds in their last three games before the Rockets fell into their arms.

“I considered telling the team that there was going to be a variety of different punishments that were coming on for them,” Jackson said. “They knew that there had to be a win.”

Punishment?

“Cat-o-nine-tails and things like that,” Jackson said.

It was that kind of a trip, punishing, grueling, whatever else the thesaurus would spit out.

Detroit toyed with them, then they toyed with New York before being hammered by Indiana, Charlotte, New Orleans and Dallas. Then came Houston, with its yogurt-soft defense, and the hardest hit the Lakers sustained Wednesday came from the computer of the Maverick owner, who derisively called Jackson “my bucket boy” on his blog.

Jackson, who irritated Mark Cuban by saying he intimidated referees, retorted by saying the billionaire owner was “so easy to tweak.”

At any rate, Chris Mihm did not play again because of a sprained right shoulder and is expected to undergo further testing, but the Lakers finally used another big body, Ronny Turiaf, the rookie from Gonzaga who had open-heart surgery in July and made his NBA debut in the final 1:01.

He missed a nine-foot jump shot but smiled afterward.

“We are undefeated in my era,” he said. “So that’s good.”

Bryant, relieved not to see as many double-teams against the Rockets as he had throughout the trip, sat back and distributed with skill, even finding Brown on a behind-the-back pass to complete a fastbreak in the second quarter.

The Lakers led at halftime, 44-33, and after Houston took a 57-54 lead, moved quickly to take it back, Bryant making four consecutive jump shots for a 62-57 lead. Bryant made 13 of 29 shots on the night.

“When you go through stretches where you don’t play very well, try to stop the bleeding before it starts bleeding profusely,” Bryant said.

Cook made 11 of 18 shots and Brown was three for seven, even receiving a compliment from Jackson for post defense that helped hold Yao Ming to 14 points on seven-for-17 shooting.

“He played with aggression, and he was physical against Yao Ming,” Jackson said. “He turned him out instead of letting him get to the middle of the lane the first half and did a really good job on him. That’s the kind of game he’s got to play for us, a game that inspires the team.”

But the Laker coach didn’t really want to hear that 21 of the Lakers’ last 33 games are at home, understanding the lessons of a “very disappointing” trip that had only two opponents with winning records when the Lakers played them.

“I don’t want to give this team anything that can possibly be breathing room,” Jackson said. “They just don’t react well to any kind of let-up. You have to have the pressure on them all the time to perform well.”