L.A. a Cut Below T-Wolves’ Big 3

Mitch Kupchak, in charge of keeping the Laker roster stocked with five or so healthy professional basketball players at all times, smiled at the latest development, because he had no other option.

Kobe Bryant cut open the index finger on his shooting hand the night before and went back to the injured list, beside Karl Malone. Kupchak not only can’t keep them safe on the floor, he can’t keep them safe in their garages, where Bryant apparently was struck down.

“To be honest with you, it gets to the point where you expect the unexpected,” Kupchak said Friday night, two hours before the Lakers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves, 97-84, at Staples Center. “It’s been that kind of year. The one thing I keep on mentioning as a big positive, injuries have come and gone and nobody’s mentioned ‘season-ending’ yet.

“Early on, we talked about being flexible. And my goodness, who would have thought this flexible?”

That would be Ime Udoka flexible. On Friday, Maurice Carter flexible, straight from the Dakota Wizards of the CBA. Rick Fox at guard flexible and Luke Walton-versus-Kevin Garnett flexible and Phil Jackson on his feet screaming flexible and Gary Payton so angry he gets ejected flexible.

“We just have to work with what we got,” Shaquille O’Neal said after a game in which they did, for just a half.

On a night they gave up 35 points to Latrell Sprewell, 28 to Sam Cassell and 62 to the Timberwolves in the second half, they could only assume that by sometime in March, their fortune would turn. In the meantime, they’ll endeavor to play plenty more defense and free O’Neal by making their jump shots.

“We should have plenty of time,” Jackson said. “Even if Karl is out a maximum amount of time ... it still gives us a full month as a basketball team.”

It remains to be seen what they’ll look like when that month arrives. Bryant sat on the bench with his right forefinger two inches thick in gauze, shoulder to shoulder with Malone, and watched the Lakers build a 15-point lead in the first half and lose it in the second. The Timberwolves took away O’Neal with double teams, made the shots they missed in the first, and dared the Lakers to make their jumpers.

On the eve of their longest trip in 12 years, the Lakers shot 32.5% from the floor in the second half and lost for the fourth time in six games. As they do seemingly every few days, the Lakers exhaled and watched another among them go, and reminded themselves of how much season remains.

O’Neal scored 22 points and took nine rebounds in 37 minutes. The game was his second since returning from a strained right calf that forced him to sit out the previous 12. He played 18 mostly rough minutes Wednesday night and was only average again in the first quarter against the Timberwolves.

“I’m all right,” he said. “Calf was OK and the wind was OK.... Our problem right now, we’ve been relying on the jump shot a little too much.”

That’s Shaq-speak for “I’m back, Kobe’s out, gimme the ball.”

He broke out in the second quarter, made a couple of short jumpers and appeared to regain his legs. He scored eight points in the quarter, which nearly ended with the Lakers holding a 12-point lead. As it turned out, Sprewell took the ball up the left side of the floor and made a running 43-footer as the half expired, bringing the Timberwolves to within 44-35. That would lead to the second-half surge that would finish the Lakers, who next play Sunday in Toronto.

Back in the building where their postseason ended last season, the Timberwolves tied the score, 57-57, when the Laker jumpers became erratic and Sprewell took over. With the Lakers concentrating on Garnett, Sprewell got loose for 19 third-quarter points and Cassell scored 16 in the fourth.

The Laker attack was three-pronged, then, for about 18 minutes over the last month, and that was on Wednesday. They had O’Neal, Bryant and Payton in the same lineup for about that long, and they beat the Seattle SuperSonics with some ease. The Timberwolves, whose coach, Flip Saunders, will coach the All-Star game here in two weeks, were a different beast.

“What an awful second half,” Jackson said. “That was tough to live with.”