A Worrisome Case of Mistaken Identity

The only way to tell those are the Lakers out there is that the uniforms say so.

Otherwise they’ve lost their identity. They’ve exchanged so many personality trademarks with the Sacramento Kings it’s like “Freaky Friday.”

Maybe the Lakers hypnotized themselves into the underdog role they talked about before the series.

They’ve acted in ways we’re not accustomed to, a behavior pattern that includes losing two of the first three games in the Western Conference finals.

They got in touch with their inner champion long enough to come back from a 24-point deficit and win Game 4 with an unforgettable finish. But unless they’re counting on a few more Kobe-miss, Shaq-rebound-miss, Vlade-tap-out-to-Horry-for-three sequences, the Lakers will have to revert to their old selves for much longer than 12 to 24 minutes a game if they want to collect two more victories. Right now the best that can be said about them is that they can win this series, not that they will win this series.

They have forgotten that they’re a team that is supposed to start inside, then operate outside. They have to be reminded to play defense. They even celebrated Sacramento-style after Horry’s shot went through.

It’s not some mad scientist or an electrical storm that created these new Lakers. It has been the Sacramento Kings.

“One of the keys about basketball is how do you diminish your opponents’ strengths?” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “How do you exonerate your own strengths as a basketball club? So far they’ve been able to carry that in the last three games.

“They’ve had five guys in double figures and they’ve played a very solid game and been running a good game. They’ve kept even our superstars from having real big games in the course of this series. We have to find a way to break free and play a little bit of an open game that we’re good at.”

The Lakers entered this series feeling haughty, as if the Kings would be so dazzled by their championship rings that they wouldn’t put up a fight. And when the Lakers took Game 1 you could almost see them warming up the cars for the victory parade.

Then Sacramento took the keys with victories in Games 2 and 3. The Kings have become the arrogant team. They don’t think the Lakers can stop them--and they very well might be right on that point. After all, the Lakers held the lead for just 27 seconds during the two games played over the weekend.

When the Kings rolled into Staples Center on Sunday afternoon they were talking about the extra riot police that might be necessary to preserve order in L.A. after they won.

And who took the needles out of Jackson’s desk and replaced them with calligraphy pens, which he’s using to write tributes to the Kings instead of tormenting them?

Normally he loves to drop little psychological weights on his opponents and ramp up the pressure.

He passed on a perfect opportunity Sunday, when he was asked if such a heartbreaking loss would have a detrimental effect on the Kings for the rest of the series.

“I can’t speculate on that,” he said. “Of course, I hope that’s true. But this is a team that showed poise. They hit some big, tough shots down the stretch. And we just made bigger plays. They’re not going to give this to us.”

At least the Lakers let the Kings handle the griping about referees. The Lakers did a lot of that after Game 2, but Sunday they assigned the blame to its rightful spot.

“We’ve been getting down these last three games, it’s not because of officiating,” Shaquille O’Neal said of the Lakers’ tendency to fall behind by large deficits. “It’s because of us making mental mistakes.”

Sunday, the Kings were the ones complaining.

They wondered why Kobe Bryant wasn’t called for more fouls when he spent the second half in Mike Bibby’s jersey. Or why Rick Fox was called for a foul when he took a swipe at Vlade Divac and barely even grazed him to stop the clock with 11.8 seconds remaining.

Do the officials favor the two-time champions? That’s what Chris Webber hinted at when he said: “I think we’re almost on an even playing field. And that’s what we want, just an even playing field. I think we’re garnering some of that respect, but I don’t think we have it yet.”

But if the Lakers are going to get champion calls, they’re going to have to go to the basket to force the issue. That’s what they used to do with regularity. Go to O’Neal posting up inside or let Bryant penetrate.

Jackson said a combination of the King defense and whatever’s wrong with O’Neal took away the first option.

“There never was a time in the game when we felt like we could go to him inside and expect a score,” Jackson said.

They can’t count on easy buckets from Shaq? That’s like being unsure the sun will rise in the East. That cuts out the very essence of their team.

“I think we’ve just been pretty cautious about throwing the ball into Shaquille because of the offensive fouls and things of that nature,” Bryant said. “We don’t want him to pick up early ones, so we kind of got away from that a little bit. As far as my penetration, it’s still there. We just kind of have to be smarter about that, because of their defense and the way they’re funneling me. A lot of it comes just off of swinging the basketball.”

Instead of swinging, the Lakers are flinging. They have fallen in love with the three-point shot, taking 31 in Game 3--including 17 in the fourth quarter--then firing up another 26 Sunday.

“I wasn’t that disappointed with how the ball moved, I was disappointed that everybody who caught the ball wanted to shoot a three instead of keeping it moving on to someone,” Jackson said.

The Lakers also have abandoned some of their basic defensive tenets, including Jackson’s disdain for the double-team. The Kings still seem to get the shots they want more often than not.

And yet, after all the stumbles and bumbles, the Lakers won. They still have done that nine times in 12 playoff games.

“We’ve been figuring out ways we can win when we’re not playing our best basketball,” Bryant said.

It’s becoming the only trait they carry consistently.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at [email protected].