Lakers are a sad act in loss

Dr. Phil offered up a diagnosis of the Lakers. It wasn’t pretty.

“I think they just had SAD,” Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. “You know what that is, right? It’s a sunlight deprivation, when you get here and it’s all gray. All these California boys, they just get depressed. They can’t take it. They were very sad.”

There wasn’t much cheer coming out of the Lakers’ locker room after a listless, low-energy 95-84 loss Friday to the Indiana Pacers at Conseco Fieldhouse.

Somewhere between the team bus’ delivering them from the wind-whipped weather and picking them up after the game were 48 minutes of unsightly basketball by the Lakers.

Kobe Bryant had 22 points on chilly seven-for-25 shooting. Lamar Odom had 10 points and six turnovers. Andrew Bynum had six points and four fouls. And on and on, although they did manage to make 15 of 16 free throws.

Beyond that, despite a decent 20-point effort from Smush Parker, the Lakers were drubbed in the fourth quarter, 32-14, ensuring the disappearance of their 70-63 lead after three.

That it came exactly two years after Rudy Tomjanovich resigned abruptly, which sent the Lakers careening toward an unsettling 34-48 season, was merely coincidental. Times have changed and the product on the court has obviously improved, but the Lakers (28-19) are still prone to occasional gaffes. And seasonal affective disorder obviously was not their real problem.

It started with Bryant, who shot one for eight from the field in the first half, then three for eight in the third quarter and three for nine in the fourth. Not one of his best games.

“That’s an understatement,” he said, smiling sheepishly. “The ball just wasn’t going in for me. I’m an eternal optimist, so hopefully I shoot better [tonight against Washington]. Just one of those nights.”

Odom also struggled with the ball, accumulating twice as many turnovers as assists (three). When reporters entered the locker room afterward, he stood up from his chair, tossed a couple of peanuts to the ground and spoke firmly.

“It’s a shame the way we played tonight,” Odom said. “In the triangle offense, you have to play with confidence when you have the ball. It looked like our recognition was bad tonight and we had guys that didn’t know what to do with the basketball.”

Odom did not specify which guys, perhaps because it could have been just about anybody.

It could have been worse, but the Pacers weren’t on their game either, committing 22 turnovers (one more than the Lakers) and shooting 37.7% through three quarters.

The fourth quarter was unquestionably theirs, though. They shot 61.1% and held the Lakers to five-for-20 shooting.

“Neither team played great,” Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle conceded.

About the only entertainment to be had during the first half, as the Lakers and Pacers each fumbled their way to 11 turnovers, was counting the number of Colts jerseys in the crowd (there were a lot). A couple of brave souls even wore Chicago Bears jerseys. They were summarily booed.

The Lakers had high hopes of carrying momentum from their victory Wednesday in Boston, an event punctuated by a group of fans breaking all unwritten Celtics codes by chanting Bryant’s name toward the end of the game.

But that optimism dissipated, and Jackson was left to light into the players afterward.

“What happened in the fourth quarter was an ugly way to end a game,” he said to reporters, toning down his comments after what could best be described as a testy talk with the team.

And with that, the Lakers fell to 1-2 on their eight-game trip, with another chance tonight against the Washington Wizards and their two All-Stars -- Gilbert Arenas and Caron Butler.

mike.bresnahan@latimes.com