A Break in Their Promise

PHOENIX â€”  The sun rose over Lakerdom this morning -- we hope -- so it’s not really the end of the world as we know it, although it might be good to keep an eye on Vic the Brick for a day or two.

Even with its horrific end, this season represented progress. Of course, that’s also a measure of how far down they were when it started.

Assuming this really is a promising nucleus, this is what the way back looks like. It was never going to be fast or painless with Rudy Tomjanovich, who was supposed to make the Lakers exciting again and fled instead, or even with wise, old Phil Jackson.

Of course, it’s still an assumption that this nucleus is so promising.

If Lamar Odom had gone out the way he had played the last seven weeks, I would have said that made their season worthwhile, all by itself.

That wasn’t how he went out. In a wide-open game with Kobe Bryant taking only three shots in the second half, trying to see if his teammates could get it going (or, who knows, perhaps just a tad upset with them), Odom took a total of 14 shots.

The key piece in their strategy to attack the basket, Odom made only occasional forays into the lane. In the second quarter, he had one of those Lamar Sequences, taking an awful three-pointer early in the clock, grazing the front rim and then complaining to the referee he’d been fouled.

Similarly, Kwame Brown turned back into Kwame Brown.

For the Lakers this season, there was a lot more going on than wins or losses. As far as that went, they were great. I had them No. 10 in the West and eight of 12 ESPN panelists had them 10th or lower, but they finished No. 7. They had the sixth-best record, but the Nuggets, whom they beat by one game, got a higher seeding for winning their division.

As Bryant said of Raja Bell, the Lakers have bigger fish to fry. They’re trying to build a championship team, not simply one that can make the playoffs, which is why they drafted a high school kid and wouldn’t offer Antonio Daniels more than two seasons.

As little as ownership is inclined to concede this -- remember last spring when Jerry Buss said he thought they could be back in the Western Conference finals in two years, or in other words, next spring? -- this is a rebuilding project.

Happily for Buss, even die-hards can now see the logic few felt like acknowledging a year ago: If it came to a choice between Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant, he had no choice

Unhappily, whatever the Lakers accomplished came undone at the end. Odom and Brown, who take up $19 million of their cap space and are two-thirds of their nucleus, had a massive regression that once more calls everything into question.

All the Laker hopes rest on the Kobe-Lamar tandem, which has been together for two seasons and still ... isn’t ... quite ... what it should be.

Two seasons is a long time to try to make a tandem work. Shaq and Kobe were never crazy about each other when they weren’t actually feuding. Jackson couldn’t get them to play the most basic two-man game, because Shaq didn’t like the idea of going out and setting a screen for Kobe and rolling to the basket in the hope Kobe would throw him the ball.

Nevertheless, Shaq and Kobe were dynamite from the get-go, the nearest thing to Wilt Chamberlain playing with Michael Jordan, as then-Sun Coach Danny Ainge once put it.

Kobe and Lamar are both fine all-around players, and they like each other. Kobe does all he can to build Lamar up. Lamar has no problem with Kobe’s being No. 1.

And it still hasn’t worked. They put it together for the last six weeks of the regular season and the first six games of this series. Game 6 might have been the best one Odom ever played with Bryant on the floor, Odom scoring 22 points and carrying them in the second half when Bryant struggled.

Under Saturday’s pressure, it all evaporated.

“I didn’t know what to say,� Jackson said afterward. “My assistant coach said to say we got [cheated] by the officials. But we can’t use that.�

So this season won’t be remembered for making the playoffs and almost shocking the world by taking a 3-1 lead, but by blowing it and no-showing in Game 7.

That’s the bottom line on this nucleus, until the next time it’s under this much pressure and there’s some other result.

Faces and Figures

He’s alive! Miami Coach Pat Riley saw his franchise’s future flash before his eyes as O’Neal scored a total of 40 points in Games 3, 4 and 5 against the Bulls’ Everyman Committee of Tyson Chandler, Malik Allen, Michael Sweetney and Luke Schenscher, while Gary Payton and Dwyane Wade argued on the floor. Wade had to get his bruised hip shot up to return in Game 5 and lead the Heat back from a 55-50 deficit before O’Neal surprised everyone with 30 points and 20 rebounds in the Game 6 closeout, which the Miami Herald’s Dan LeBatard called “the best playoff game a member of this franchise has ever had.� This must drop Wade’s 40-point game in last season’s 92-86 Eastern finals win over Detroit, with 20 in the fourth quarter, to No. 2.... Riley was so desperate, he made a videotape that was shown to diners in the restaurant at American Airlines Arena 10 minutes before the game, urging them to get to their seats.... Said a relieved Riley after the No. 2-seeded Heat had finally beaten the No. 7 Bulls: “From what I read and felt, there weren’t many people who wanted us to win. They wanted Cinderella big-time. I’m just glad we were able to break the glass slipper.�

So these are the playoffs: 21-year-old LeBron James averaged 36 points, shooting 49% and 43% on three-pointers, leading the Cavaliers past the Wizards. James also refused to talk for one day after one of the beat writers predicted Washington would win, and stood up ABC. The team’s PR staff explained LeBron “wasn’t feeling well.� ... Regrets, they have a few: West, the Memphis general manager, pleaded with local fans, who failed to sell out either of the Grizzlies’ home games as Dallas swept them (“To our fans, please don’t give up on us. We’re going to do everything we can this summer to make this team better, knowing that we have to watch the dollars we spend a lot more carefully around here.�) ... Indiana’s Stephen Jackson, who averaged 13 points and shot 37% in the six-game loss to New Jersey, rapped upcoming free agent Peja Stojakovic for sitting out four games because of a sore knee. With rumbles about an upcoming shake-up, Jermaine O’Neal said he no longer cares if he stays or goes (“No matter what has happened, if an organization is tired of you, they’re tired of you. If they think they can get a better deal, it is what it is.�) ... The Spurs celebrated Tim Duncan’s 30th birthday with a party at a shoot-around. “He’s the same age as Eva,� said Tony Parker, alluding to his girlfriend, TV star Eva Longoria. “That’s old.�