The Big Two Make Things Right Again

It’s as if every game that pushes these Lakers toward the end draws them back to the beginning.

For all of the coaches and players who have come and gone over the last eight years -- including the most recent addition of two players on their way to the Hall of Fame -- the Lakers’ best path to victory remains remarkably close to the route Jerry West envisioned when he brought Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant to Lakerland in the summer of 1996.

They stood at the crossroads Tuesday night, in a philosophical showdown with the San Antonio Spurs. The Lakers’ two stars against the Spurs’ team. If the Lakers won they would pull even in the Western Conference finals, setting up a three-game sprint to glory. If they lost they would be one loss away from an off-season that could alter the course of the franchise just as dramatically.

Part of the drama unfolded in a Colorado courtroom, where Kobe Bryant pleaded not guilty to a charge of felony sexual assault. If a jury agrees with him, he still could leave the Lakers as a free agent.

Game 4 was a reminder of how great O’Neal and Bryant have been and can be when the superstars are working in tandem. Bryant was as brilliant as he has been in any playoff game, spinning, flying and throwing in shots from everywhere -- even over his head -- on his way to 42 points.

After a sluggish start, O’Neal finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds.

Two men combining for 70 of the Lakers’ points in their 98-90 victory that evened the series at two games apiece.

“They’re still doing their thing,” Gary Payton said. “When they play basketball like that, you’ve gotta just sit there and help ‘em out. Help ‘em out any possible way you can. But you’ve got to keep getting them the ball. They got the ball and they were doing good things with it.”

Bryant’s performance was reminiscent of the way he took out the Spurs three years ago, when O’Neal proclaimed Bryant was his “idol.”

“Once again I have to title him as the best player ever,” O’Neal said Tuesday night.

Tony Parker and Tim Duncan were the dominant superstars in the first two games, doing whatever they wanted to the Lakers. So the Lakers changed their approach for Game 3, focusing all of their defensive attention on those two.

The Spurs had a simple adjustment for the start of Game 4: They made shots. The Lakers’ winning strategy in Game 3 was to crowd the middle and surrender the outside shots. It was reached in part by player input, and Jackson didn’t seem completely enamored of it after the game. The players didn’t think Hedo Turkoglu and Bruce Bowen could beat them.

For one quarter, they did. Or rather, Turkoglu did. He made four of his first five shots, including three three-pointers. Ginobili knocked in a couple of threes of his own.

Turkoglu scored 13 points in the first half. That matched his output for the first three games of the series.

Open looks and second-chance points helped the Spurs take a 10-point lead. By the third quarter the Spurs had five players in double-figure scoring.

But it was no match for the Lakers’ big two. As Turkoglu faded, missing six of his final seven shots, O’Neal and Bryant surged.

For stretches of the night, Bryant had to do it on his own. No one else matched his energy. O’Neal seemed sluggish, as if he were the one who had flown to Colorado and back.

In one sequence he got into the lane, elevated, then passed to Devean George in three-point territory. George missed the open shot. O’Neal got the rebound and missed in the paint.

No problem. Bryant stole a pass at the other end of the court, sped the other way, lost the handle as he crossed the free-throw line, and left a pass to a trailing O’Neal. As the crowd braced for a thunderous dunk that would have brought the Lakers to within three, O’Neal bobbled the ball away.

Bryant seemed exasperated. Was he going to have to do this all by himself?

The important thing was, he didn’t try. He stuck with the program, with the Lakers’ Prime Objective: Get the ball to O’Neal.

At first, O’Neal didn’t appear to be up to the task. The Spurs had switched defensive plans and tried their best to hold their ground between O’Neal and the basket. They stood him up and he forced shots, including an awkward, twisting hook against Duncan.

Through the midpoint of the third quarter he had missed six of 11 shots. Then a bit of the old Shaq emerged. He made five consecutive field goals and tacked on three free throws, leading the Lakers from a seven-point deficit to a four-point lead.

Bryant tossed in a jumper, a free throw and a dunk.

In the final tally of the third quarter, O’Neal and Bryant scored 23 of the team’s 31 points, including 16 of the last 20.

“He was looking for me and I was delivering,” O’Neal said. “The fourth quarter is always known as his time. We were looking for him in the fourth quarter. He was taking some tough shots and hitting some tough shots. He amazed me tonight. I’m impressed tonight.”

Bryant scored 15 in the fourth to finish off the Spurs.

No other Laker scored in double figures

No one else needed to. Bryant and O’Neal had it all in their hands, right where it has always been.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Adande, go to latimes.com/adande.