No Excuses Made for Mediocre Trip

The Lakers may have returned to Los Angeles with their heads in hand, but not their hands on hips. They say the schedule--six games in nine days, two sets of back-to-backs, a journey that started in the southeast, reversed back to the northern midwest and then concluded back on the East Coast--had nothing to do with ending the longest swing of the season with consecutive losses.

“That’s a crutch,” Rick Fox said after Monday’s 96-86 loss to the Washington Wizards. “We’re all in shape. I don’t think fatigue has anything to do with it. If somebody’s tired, take him out.”

Added Shaquille O’Neal: “I won’t accept that. Fatigued from what? We haven’t been doing [anything].”

Almost anything, at least. The Lakers did have a three-game winning streak in the middle, highlighted by an especially nice showing at Indiana, and that seemed to signal an end to the problems that came just before. Seemed to--the next two outings were to the New York Knicks and the Wizards.

Meet the team that planned to use the trip as a jump start and instead got a false start, at 3-3.

“Four-and-two would have been disappointing,” Fox said. “Three-and-three is almost embarassing because we’re a better team than that.”

In that case, their good news is also their bad news: they immediately get the chance to prove it.

The Lakers, off today, play Wednesday at the Great Western Forum for the first time since Feb. 19. It’s just that they play the Pacers, followed by the San Antonio Spurs, followed by the Detroit Pistons, followed by the Portland Trail Blazers.

So much for the recovery process.

Or as Fox said:

“Welcome home.”