Lakers’ Spring Breakthrough

The days are coming when the Lakers will know whether they were inspired by the time of the season or simply by the Sacramento Kings, a team that pushes them at times and annoys them at others.

Maybe they already know and they’re going to surprise everybody in April.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, leaders of the Midwest Division, are in town, having won their three previous games against the Lakers, one of them with all of the Lakers’ superstars in uniform, so the first hint will come tonight.

In the meantime, Shaquille O’Neal conducted a news conference Thursday afternoon while lying on his back on a trainer’s table, a towel tucked under his head and his hands clasped delicately on his chest.

“We’re feeling good,” he said.

And Kobe Bryant was in Colorado, attending another pretrial hearing and finishing another two-day regimen of round-trip flights and early-morning alarms, separated by 36 breathtaking points. He will play tonight.

In the hours between the Sacramento and Minnesota games, as the Lakers tried to play themselves away from the injuries to their best players and the clumsiness of those periods without them, they were upbeat again.

Quite suddenly and somewhat mysteriously, three months of so-so basketball has left the Lakers 2 1/2 games behind the Kings and half a game behind the Timberwolves. Among the signs of evolution, O’Neal claimed to be happy with 16 rebounds and 13 shots, Karl Malone’s knee proved to be further along than Chris Webber’s, and Bryant and Gary Payton blended their games against the Kings as though they’d played together for years.

“That was one of our best games, where me and him stayed aggressive,” Payton said. “We still can play better.”

Now, whether one might believe in those six consecutive wins, and in 17 victories in 21 games since the All-Star break, depends on one’s perspective. Only a few days ago, Coach Phil Jackson’s player rotations had become an issue, more than a few of the players blaming Jackson’s long bench for their inability to put away the likes of the Clippers, Orlando Magic and Milwaukee Bucks.

After the Lakers went to overtime to beat the Bucks on Sunday night, according to witnesses, Jackson addressed the team. He asked whether anyone knew why, after holding a 15-point lead in the third quarter, they were unable to put away the Bucks.

For a moment, there was silence, and then Bryant cleared his throat. Because, witnesses said he told Jackson, of the players you put on the floor.

Jackson disagreed and told Bryant so.

Afterward, O’Neal told reporters he, too, wished Jackson would tighten the rotation. The next day, Payton voiced the same concern. All season, Payton and Malone have fought to stay on the floor, even as Jackson hoped to save them for the playoffs and, at the same time, maintain playing time for Derek Fisher, Kareem Rush and Slava Medvedenko.

“Phil’s going to be Phil,” O’Neal said. “We had a discussion. I told him whenever I ask to come out, just give me two or three minutes, let me get a drink of water, put me back in.”

Jackson, who rarely has dealt with matters of playing time -- outside of a season with Isaiah Rider -- since coming to Los Angeles, said he wouldn’t concern himself with them now. “I’ve kind of ignored it, said I’m just going to do things the way I do them,” Jackson said.

The fact is, he added, the nationally televised, over-advertised games of the postseason are coming, and with them plenty of breaks in the action, so more minutes for the front-line players.

In the playoffs, he said, “There’s no reason an NBA player can’t play 48 minutes. There’s usually five minutes between timeouts. It takes two minutes for players to recover. The only reason a player has to come out is his influence on the floor. If it’s not a good influence, if he’s having trouble with his defensive man, if he’s not contributing offensively or he’s in the way or he’s in foul trouble, that’s the only reason at the end of the season you need to substitute.”

Still, he added, “We feel there are impact players off our bench that are important for us to have on the floor. Kareem’s an outside shooter ... who extends the defense and helps us out. Fish gives us some energy ... on the floor. Those are important players for us to play every game. Slava, obviously, was an important person to have on the floor [Wednesday] night. But it was a much shorter rotation.”