Lakers Discover a Team

From the rubble of foul trouble, amid the din of disgust, something strange emerged from Monday’s three quarters of darkness.

For the first few moments, it was difficult to recognize.

If it sticks around for a couple of weeks, it will be impossible to forget.

It was a team.

The Lakers, after spending much of the last eight months in the I-formation, were a team.

Not four exclamation points and a bunch of commas. Not four chrome wheels and an underbody.

But a team, for 12 memorable minutes of game clock, sharing and blending and trusting, oh my.

The Lakers were Kareem Rush, throwing in a gift from Kobe Bryant.

They were Slava Medvedenko, laying in a sacrifice from Derek Fisher.

They were Medvedenko from Karl Malone, Rush from Fisher, stunning from unexpected, thrilling from exhausted.

A team, indeed, defeating the Minnesota Timberwolves by a half-dozen points, winning the Western Conference championship in a half-dozen games, and choking up the old guy.

“With all the things we have been through this year and guys just continue to play -- I really cannot describe it,” said Malone after the 96-90 victory.

“I’ve never been a part of a situation like this, one through 12. I’ve been a part of one through six, but not one through 12.”

He sighed a sigh shared by thousands.

“This is why I went out and played tonight,” he said. “This is why I do it.”

And this is why, if the Lakers continue the unselfishness, the Eastern Conference is toast.

Doesn’t matter if it’s Detroit or Indiana. Doesn’t matter if the series starts in Hayseed or Hollywood.

The way the Lakers played together late Monday, the Pacers and Pistons could combine their resources and still lose in six games.

“It’s been a long season,” said Bryant during the trophy presentation in front of fans who were probably wondering, They get a trophy for this? “But we find ourselves back to where we want to be.”

Then, just before leaving the court, Bryant threw in one last assist.

“Everybody needs to give a round of applause to Kareem Rush, because he shot the hell out of the ball!” Bryant shouted, drawing one last roar.

It started with Rush, who spent most of the last two years in anonymity and disappointment, his one asset always being the ability to shoot.

With a couple of Lakers struggling with foul trouble, a couple of Lakers trying to hide their aches, and a couple just gasping for breath, this ability was suddenly needed.

As was the desire by others to actually pass him the ball, which Bryant did at the start of the fourth quarter after turning down his own crowded shot.

The score tied, Rush’s three-pointer gave the Lakers a 71-68 lead they never lost.

“I’m sure not too many people know of that ability he has,” said Coach Phil Jackson of Rush’s shooting. “So we encouraged the players to get the ball to him.”

And they listened?

Indeed they did, not just for Rush, but for everyone, the team recording eight assists on nine fourth-quarter baskets, including three from Bryant, who may have played his best all-around quarter of the series.

It wasn’t his eight points. It was the shots he turned down and the temptations he passed up.

“I noticed a very interesting thing tonight,” said Rick Fox, talking about the duel between Bryant and Latrell Sprewell. “When Spree hit a big shot, a time when Kobe would usually want to respond, which usually works, three times he came down and instead found a guy for an open jump shot.”

Bryant drove, spun, threw it to an open Malone for a layup, Lakers led by three.

Fisher drove on a fastbreak, threw it behind him to Medvedenko, another layup, Lakers by five.

On and on it went, the Timberwolves wilting in the face of this stranger, this group of stars suddenly playing like underdogs, these individuals suddenly unafraid to lose themselves.

“It is kind of amazing, you just play hard and do the things you are capable of doing and we were able to do that,” Malone said.

The fans caught on, and in the final moments were serenading the Timberwolves with the loudest version of the “Nah-nah-nah-nah” goodbye song ever heard in these parts.

And when was the last time Medvedenko came off the floor to a standing ovation?

You are getting warm if you said never.

Somebody asked Fox, was all this the flipping of that infamous switch?

“The switch,” he said, “was that we decided to find a way to win.”

On the greaseboard in the Laker locker room afterward, someone had drawn a crude rendition of a championship ring.

An engraving with those words might look pretty good on it.

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WEST DOMINANCE

Since 1980, the Lakers have been to 15 Western Conference finals and have failed to advance to the NBA Finals only twice (Losses in bold; Championship seasons in gray):

*--* Year Opponent Laker Coach Result 2004 Minnesota Phil Jackson W 4-2 2002 Sacramento Phil Jackson W 4-3 2001 San Antonio Phil Jackson W 4-0 2000 Portland Phil Jackson W 4-3 1998 Utah Del Harris L 4-0 1991 Portland Mike Dunleavy W 4-2 1989 Phoenix Pat Riley W 4-0 1988 Dallas Pat Riley W 4-3 1987 Seattle Pat Riley W 4-0 1986 Houston Pat Riley L 4-1 1985 Denver Pat Riley W 4-1 1984 Phoenix Pat Riley W 4-2 1983 San Antonio Pat Riley W 4-2 1982 San Antonio Pat Riley W 4-0 1980 Seattle Paul Westhead W 4-1

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.