Three-prieve

There would be no living to earn guessing along with these Lakers, not when Shaquille O’Neal half-limped, half-shuffled off the practice floor on Monday afternoon, and not when Kobe Bryant admitted with heavy eyelids and a reasonably fresh IV prick that he was drained, too.

Their three-peat fears/desires have settled hard into the Western Conference finals against the Sacramento Kings, a series tied at two games apiece and gathering drama going into tonight’s game at Arco Arena.

The Lakers made a startling comeback and Robert Horry made a wonderful shot in Sunday’s Game 4, both unlikely considering the rising notion that the Kings are the better team, even without Peja Stojakovic, or at minimum playing consistently better.

They had less than a day to bathe in their victory. The Lakers reported for their Memorial Day practice around 4 p.m. and flew two hours later to Sacramento for Game 5 just in time for the dinner hour, which made everyone nervous for Bryant, who didn’t come out of the last one there so well.

The daunting question was what the shot and the win would do for a Laker team straining to play well and play together and play hard. On the verge of pending elimination early Sunday evening when time expired and the course of Horry’s jump shot had not yet been determined, the Lakers breathed again.

“We needed something like that,” Bryant said. “We haven’t been playing our best basketball.”

After a moment’s thought, he concluded, “There is not a better time for that shot to go in than it is now.”

There are, it would seem, two possible destinations, now that Horry’s jumper and Bryant’s defense and O’Neal’s free throws dragged them into being competitive again.

Only somewhat committed to this thing for going on seven months, when they were particularly frustrated by O’Neal’s physical limitations, the Lakers could allow their new fortune to inspire them.

“It better,” guard Lindsey Hunter said. “I think that kind of ignited us, a game like that. That’s got to add something to what we’re trying to do.”

Or, it could renew their belief that a third consecutive title was their destiny all along, again having to be convinced of the importance of defense and an offensive plan on a game-by-game, quarter-by-quarter basis.

Hours after Coach Phil Jackson had mulled a Laker response to a two-games-to-one series deficit, they were behind by 20 points in the first quarter, which he might have assumed was his answer. Except that three periods later, he was standing with his fists over his head, as joyous as any of the players and ballboys who ran to Horry’s side.

“Miraculous,” Jackson described it.

To advance, they would have to win at least another game in Sacramento, either tonight or in Sunday’s Game 7. Game 6 is Friday night at Staples Center.

“Two things,” Jackson said. “We got momentum on our side in the second half, and then we were able to slow down their offense a little bit. Those were important things for us. The shot itself or whatever was a fortuitous thing for us. We’re happy to be recipients of that. But, it just balances out the slate. That’s all that does.”

The players said they believed they would change now, that they would return to the basketball they played for, oh, a few games at a time during the regular season, but mostly to the game they played last postseason.

That would seem unlikely, given O’Neal’s sore toe. But they managed to find something in Game 1, when their shots fell and it all looked easy--or at least fluid--for the first time in weeks. And then again in Game 4, when the season appeared to be falling down around them, when they did just enough to give Horry a chance.

“A win like that builds momentum,” Bryant said. “It builds character and camaraderie on the team. It builds togetherness. That’s what wins like that do.

“We earned it because we worked our butts off to get back in the game. But at this point it’s really irrelevant.”

Game 5 will bring more dynamics, more of Bryant defending Mike Bibby, and for how long? More inspection of O’Neal’s game. More of the possibility that Stojakovic will play. More, well, more cowbells.

Jackson appears poised to make subtle alterations to his rotation, in part because Derek Fisher is not shooting well, though he’s not alone in that or in his inability to stop Bibby from scoring. Still, Fisher averaged 26.5 minutes in Games 3 and 4, after averaging 36.5 in the first two games, a notable decline.

For sure, Jackson will be less patient with his first unit, which has been outscored, 72-35, in the first quarters of the last two games.

“We’ll make changes,” he said, “but I don’t think we’ll make any radical changes that are going to change the chemistry we put out there on the floor.”

Where it goes from there, in the final days of an already turbulent season, is anyone’s guess. They’ll all find out together, however, beginning the moment Horry’s shot allowed them to start over again, if they wanted.

“This,” Horry said, “should be enough to knock the cobwebs off, because we’ve been struggling all playoffs. So, we can be focused and get some wins and get back to old Laker basketball.”