Lakers Thoroughly Outplayed in Loss

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) _ Kobe Bryant scored one point in the first half. Shaquille O'Neal had two after that. Their teammates did little to help. No wonder the Lakers lost by 20. <br/><br/>``At halftime,

Monday, June 7th 2004, 5:57 am

By: News On 6

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) _ Kobe Bryant scored one point in the first half. Shaquille O'Neal had two after that. Their teammates did little to help. No wonder the Lakers lost by 20.

``At halftime, I told the team, `I don't think we can play any worse than we played this first half as far as shooting the ball and executing in the open floor,''' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. ``But we tried hard the second half to duplicate it.

``We have a couple days off to get our feet on the ground and get ready for Game 4.''

Bryant was held to 11 points and O'Neal scored 14 in an 88-68 loss to Detroit on Thursday night, giving the Pistons a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Bryant scored 58 points and O'Neal had 63 in the first two games.

``What it boiled down to is we didn't execute and we let them rush us into decisions,'' Bryant said.

``I think most of it was effort-related,'' O'Neal said. ``They beat us to everything tonight, played a little bit better defense and once again, we had a horrible third quarter.''

Led by Bryant and O'Neal, the Lakers are going for their fourth championship in five years. Eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by eventual champion San Antonio last spring, they added future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Gary Payton in the offseason.

With Malone injured and Payton doing little to contribute, the Lakers appear to be a team in trouble.

``We face a heck of a challenge right now, being down 2-1 and to have two games coming up on their home floor,'' Bryant said.''

Los Angeles would be down 3-0 had Bryant not made one of the biggest shots in finals history, a long 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left in Game 2 to force overtime, and the Lakers won 99-91.

The Pistons bounced back strong in Game 3, limiting the Lakers to the third-lowest finals total in the shot clock era.

``We couldn't shoot the ball, we couldn't do anything right,'' said Payton, who shot 2-of-7 for six points, making him 4-of-14 for 11 points in the finals.

``They got to every loose ball and everything,'' said Malone, who played 18 minutes despite a possible torn ligament in his right knee and had five points and four rebounds.

Bryant shot 0-for-4 in the first half. He misfired on his first shot of the third period before making a jumper from the right baseline, cutting Detroit's lead to 54-42.

By the time the third quarter was over, Bryant was 2-of-9 for seven points and the Lakers trailed 63-51. His two baskets in the fourth quarter came after the outcome had been decided.

``For the most part tonight, I was attacking 30 feet from the basket,'' Bryant said. ``I mean, that's something Phil and I talked about after the game is me not having to attack 30 feet from the basket, doing some things in our execution to give me sharper opportunities and quicker opportunities.''

Jackson said Bryant had a difficult time shooting.

``This is a tough background to shoot in, it's a different one, and the basket, he had a few things that didn't go down for him; didn't get to the line too often,'' the coach said.

Bryant shot 4-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-3 from the foul line.

O'Neal scored 12 of his team's 32 first-half points, but went scoreless after making a basket for the first points of the third quarter. He picked up his fourth foul with 6:01 left in the third period _ the same time Malone came out of the game for good.

O'Neal shot 7-of-14 from the floor and 0-of-2 from the foul line.

``I thought I was getting bumped, but maybe not, so I'll be looking forward to getting to the line the next game,'' he said.

O'Neal said he believes he can still dominate the way he did in winning the finals MVP award three times.

``Yeah, I've got to get (the ball), though,'' he said. ``I think if I'm getting looks and touches, then yeah, of course, like especially if they are playing me one-on-one. Of course. No question.''