Lakers figure out how to not take the easy way out

You have to be so proud of our Lakers guys, busting their butts in a playoff game as if they really cared about the outcome, an unusual treat for the paying customers.

If only every playoff contest were a seventh game.

The Rockets probably needed former NBA referee Tim Donaghy on their side as much as Yao Ming to have any chance against the Lakers, but around here the last few days there had been genuine concern.

As Phil Jackson’s honey, Jeanie Buss, put it in a tweet after the collapse in Houston, “strained conversation w/Phil . . . we’re both so frustrated to talk,” followed by this entry the next day, “had heart 2 heart w/Phil this morning, apologized for being short with him but explained I’m crazy with worry.”

Who knew it would be Luis Scola driving a wedge between Phil & Jeanie?

Now obviously there’s no way to know the hearts that rest inside part-time competitors, our fellas digging deep and even learning something very valuable after playing 82 regular-season contests and another dozen playoff games.

“I think we learned that if we play hard every night and we’re ready to compete,” Pau Gasol said, as if no one has ever heard of such a thing before now, “we’re going to give ourselves a chance.”

Maybe the credit goes to Jackson, waiting 82 regular-season games and another dozen playoff games before mentioning it to the guys.

But I wonder. I wonder if Jackson does anything.

Before the game I asked him, “Do you feel you’ve been on top of your game in this series?”

“I don’t know,” Jackson said. “My shot is not falling. My three-point shot is limited. I’m worried.”

I gathered by his answer it wasn’t going to be on him how the Lakers performed in Game 7, but instead on the players.

“When you got the nine rings,” I asked, “didn’t we give you credit for that?”

He never did say, proving once again he doesn’t have all the answers, but who cares -- he had the home-court advantage in this series and in the end that seemed to matter the most.

They also have it against Denver, so no sweat.

The game over against Houston, and someone wanted to know why Jackson appeared so calm in the face of mounting criticism the last few days, asking if he knew something “we didn’t know.”

Coaches like questions like that, reminded that they know something the media doesn’t know, but we all knew the Rockets were no good, so of course the guy with nine rings knew the same thing, so what was to worry about going into Game 7?

But then this is Hollywood, everyone here like’s drama, and as Lamar Odom put it, “we like to make it interesting.”

Well, can it get any more interesting than this, Gasol playing tough and Andrew Bynum not sitting on the bench most of the game? Things some of you thought you might never see.

Gasol was so determined in this game, he was almost tough. And he doesn’t do that every game, but kudos to him for saving it for Game 7. If only the Lakers had gotten to the seventh game against Boston a year ago, Gasol would’ve been a real tiger.

And how about Bynum? For whatever reason, he plays so big and strong at home or the Playboy mansion, which reminds me of a Rihanna song, “A Million Miles Away . . . I’m really no good,” or something like that.

Sasha Vujacic made a three-pointer, Derek Fisher somehow got the ball to go into the basket twice and Kobe Bryant scored 14 points in the seventh game of a playoff series, and the Lakers still won by 19.

That’s how crummy the Rockets really were, but now it gets even tougher for the Lakers -- matched against an even easier opponent in the Denver Nuggets.

So far the Lakers have struggled to beat a bunch of bums from Utah, a Houston team without three key performers and now they get Denver, a team they stomped in last year’s playoffs.

They get Carmelo Anthony, who plays a brand of basketball so selfish -- it’s only a matter of time before he plays Denver out of the series. And our guys will probably stand around waiting for that to happen, because they have previous experience standing around and watching a selfish player at work.

So the Lakers couldn’t have it any easier, which makes it so tough on them. How does anyone expect our guys to get up for every game against a team like this?

At the very least, we probably have to expect a letdown Tuesday night, our Lakers guys too emotionally drained from having to play hard through an entire game to take the Nuggets seriously.

Oh well, we’re used to it.

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YOU SHOULD probably know who is responsible for ruining this year’s Triple Crown. He’s one of our very own here in L.A.

Now ordinarily, if there was no cheating in horse racing, you could get rich listening to Bob Baedeker, a.k.a. Mr. B, who picks winners on TVG, the horse racing network.

The other day Mr. B took it a step further, talking the owner of Pioneerof the Nile into not blocking Rachel Alexandra’s entrance into the Preakness.

Rachel not only ran, but won -- Mine That Bird, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, running second.

So if Baedeker doesn’t make such a compelling argument to get Rachel into the race, Mine That Bird wins again and everyone is excited to watch a Seabiscuit-like horse such as Mine That Bird run for the Triple Crown.

Just thought you ought to know.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Sukhi Pabla:

“One word describes T.J. Simers. And it starts with an ‘I’ and ends with ‘T.’ ”

You think I’m an idiot, that’s easy: irreverent.

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t.j.simers@latimes.com