Laker Defense Has Meltdown

The Lakers are finding they no longer can account for themselves, and that makes it official--there isn’t a team in the NBA they can defend.

Their expressions were a bit more taut early Sunday evening, 30 minutes after another loss to a physically less capable team, this time the Miami Heat, this time by 103-92 before a grumpy 18,997 at Staples Center.

Two games out of three, in most stretches, they have enough Shaquille O’Neal and enough Kobe Bryant to outscore some mediocre team from the middle of the Midwest Division and pat themselves on the backs and figure it’s all OK.

They said they would put aside the personal drama of Shaq versus Kobe for the good of the professional endeavors of Shaq and Kobe, only to find that that won’t always work, either. And so, before Jack, Sly, Dyan and a national television audience, the Lakers were outscored by one of the worst offensive teams in the league, while being outrebounded by the very worst rebounding team in the league.

Afterward, Bryant seethed at the team’s lack of conditioning, even holding up the Heat as an example of a truly fit club.

“[Pat] Riley works those guys,” he said.

O’Neal groused about the defense, a theme common since it became clear the Lakers not only have poor defensive games, but have become a disinterested defensive team. They have perfected the seemingly uneven task of failing to challenge most jump shots and still allowing most penetration.

“We have to get our defensive intensity back up,” O’Neal said. “We have to play better team defense and play better individual defense.”

Then, veteran Ron Harper wondered if all the locker-room talk was just that--talk, suggesting Laker players are only too happy to point out their frailties but unwilling to make the commitment to make their title defense anything other than a huge disappointment, and a lethargic one at that.

“There isn’t anything that fazes these guys,” Harper said, nodding his head around the locker room. “They’re just here. Having fun.”

Where’s the fun part? Their 4-3 record in January, a month with an airy schedule the Lakers hoped would lend spring to their aging legs? The six home losses, one more than last regular season? The 13 losses in 39 games, two fewer than last season, in 82?

“Guys just do their own thing,” Harper said. “We don’t retain. We don’t hold anything. When we play, we just go out [and play]. In order to be a good team, you’ve got to take your job home. I don’t believe this team does.”

He shrugged and cocked his head.

“We stink,” he said. “If this team [the Heat] comes out to score a hundred points on us, we gotta stink.”

Standing at his locker in a dark turtleneck and a light snarl, Bryant appeared barely able to hold his anger. If Harper wondered where the Laker heart was, Bryant wondered where the Laker legs were.

O’Neal and Bryant got their points. O’Neal had 31, but had only eight rebounds. Bryant had 34, but no assists (the Lakers had a season-low 11) and six turnovers.

The Heat, however, scored 30 first-quarter points and pushed the game with its offense from there. Three Miami players--Eddie Jones, Anthony Mason and Tim Hardaway--scored at least 22 points. And the Lakers played without starting forward Horace Grant, who was home because of back spasms.

The Lakers simply could not stay up. Again.

“It’s a matter of conditioning,” Bryant said. “I don’t see any reason why we can’t play defense for 48 minutes. It’s not like we don’t know that’s what it takes to win. We know. We did it last year. If we want to play defense, it’s a matter of conditioning, sustaining it for 48 minutes.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson, who said he was surprised the team fatigued again, has had the luxury of practice time for much of the past three weeks.

“I guess we have to double it up,” Bryant said, “because we have so many old legs. I’m sure Phil’s going to work it out and find the right way to get us in the proper condition. We do have old bodies and it’s hard for them to run all out every day in practice.

“We can’t sustain intensity for 48 minutes. We run out of gas. That’s what our problem is. Guys need to get in shape. We need to get in shape. Period. Until we get into shape, guys are going to keep running the ball down our throat.”

Primarily, it was Mason doing the Spalding tonsillectomy. He scored 19 second-half points. Hardaway assisted. Only three for 16 from the field in a Laker win in Miami last month, Hardaway made five three-point shots. And this time it was the Lakers who were three for 16--from the three-point arc.

“We had a hard afternoon,” Jackson said.

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The Falloff

Some comparisons of the Lakers’ NBA championship season in 1999-2000 with this season:

RECORD AFTER

39 GAMES

1999-2000: 32-7

2000-2001: 26-13

GAME IN WHICH

LAKERS SUFFERED

13TH LOSS

1999-2000: No. 77

2000-2001: No. 39

HOME LOSSES

1999-2000 (41 games): 5

2000-2001 (22 games): 6

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ALSO

SCARY PRECEDENT

Laker history suggests conflicts like the one between Shaq and Kobe can have ugly ramifications in the end, Mark Heisler writes. D9