A Full Deck, but Ship Sinks

By Tim Brown

March 13, 2004 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

MINNEAPOLIS — They all said they were encouraged, except for Shaquille O’Neal, so inspired by Karl Malone’s return and Kobe Bryant’s 20 shots that he went out the back way rather than face questions about them.

On the first day of the rest of their season, the Lakers had Malone, their Preferred Four and rested legs, and lost comfortably.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, who will play soon to end a string of seven consecutive first-round playoff failures, most recently to the Lakers, rode Kevin Garnett and their point guards to a 96-86 victory at Target Center on Friday night.

So, for the Lakers, the best part of the evening was the opening tap, when O’Neal, Malone, Bryant and Gary Payton stood side by side for the 22nd time and the first since Dec. 21, when Malone grabbed a knee and the season went mediocre on them all.

Given 18 games to pull together something resembling superstar integration, the Lakers missed jump shots, spent long periods ignoring O’Neal, allowed a combined 36 points to Sam Cassell and Troy Hudson, and were beaten to several critical loose balls and rebounds by Mark Madsen. Now they’re down to 17 games, with nothing at stake but postseason seeding and momentum.

“It’s going to be an interesting run,” Coach Phil Jackson said.

Malone played 21 minutes and had 13 points and two rebounds. He also defended Garnett with some success, Jackson observing, “With Karl out there, we feel like we played them even up ... and pretty well.” But, under orders to keep Malone’s minutes around 20, Jackson kept him on the bench for the fourth quarter. The Lakers scored 17 points in it and, partly as a result, lost for the second time in three games on the trip.

Malone said that at one point in the fourth quarter, with the deficit still double figures and time dwindling, O’Neal said to him, “You done?” To which Malone answered, “Yeah. Not that I want to be. But, yeah.”

Jackson promised to increase Malone’s minutes tonight in Chicago if his knee was ready for it.

“Conditioning-wise, everything, I felt fine,” said Malone, ankle-deep in ice water. “I’ve always said my training is harder than any game I play in. Sometimes maybe they don’t believe me.

“I thought maybe I should play more minutes. But I felt fine out there and it’s just going to get better and better.”

He made his last five shots after missing his first. He rattled around inside the triangle offense, but looked for O’Neal and passed smartly, and rejoined the season with a 15-foot turnaround jumper early in the first quarter.

“Karl looked great,” Bryant said. “He didn’t miss a beat. His rhythm was good, his timing on his passes was good, his shot was good, his conditioning was good. Pretty unbelievable. And he’s 40 years old. That’s amazing to me. Do you realize what he just did? That’s crazy.”

Wearing lightweight protection that looked something like a punter’s shoulder pad, Bryant shot six for 20 from the field, one for 11 in the first half. He suffered a blow to his shoulder in the final minute and left the floor in some pain, but claimed later to be fine.

Asked if he considered abandoning his jump shot -- he was four for 16 Wednesday in Boston, and by halftime had made five of 27 shots since his return -- Bryant laughed and said, “Five for nine, baby, five for nine,” a reference to his second-half shooting.

“We have a lot of work to do,” he said. “The exciting part is, this is the team everyone came here for. We have everyone on the floor and we are working toward capping off the season the right way. We just have to build our rhythm back, and it will come.

“We’re dealing with very experienced players. I don’t think anyone expected us to come out of the gates with the [18-3] start we did, but we have the players that have been in the league for a long time and really understand the game. So, 17 games should be enough for us.”

Jackson’s main regret -- other than for a second unit that did not stay with Minnesota’s -- was O’Neal’s lack of touches, followed closely by O’Neal’s poor free-throw shooting. He had 24 points and 13 rebounds, but six shot attempts in the second half, when he also missed six of 10 free-throw attempts.

“We didn’t find Shaquille often and early in certain situations,” he said, and then they didn’t find O’Neal at all in the postgame locker room. He ducked reporters for the fourth consecutive day, all since being ejected from the first game of the trip, in Utah.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

‘Wolves at the Door

How the Lakers under Phil Jackson have fared against the Timberwolves, with Minnesota’s key arrivals and departures each season:

1999-00

Regular season 4-0

Postseason Did not play

Arrival: Wally Szczerbiak

Departure: Stephon Marbury

2000-01

Regular season 3-1

Postseason Did not play

Arrivals: LaPhonso Ellis, Chauncey Billups