Not the right coast

MIAMI â€”  What a short, strange trip it’s already been.

The Lakers looked fully uninterested for three quarters, completely content to wait until later to dial up the effort, just as they had been doing in recent games, riskily but successfully.

Only one problem: It didn’t work this time.

The Lakers almost recovered in time to steal a victory but lost in overtime to the Miami Heat, 114-111, Thursday at American Airlines Arena.

Too little, too late, very unimpressive against a team that lost at home last week to Minnesota and Milwaukee.

Kobe Bryant had 39 points on 15-for-28 shooting, curbing any talk of his recent shooting failures, but there were many other things to discuss, among them the disappearance of Pau Gasol, a nagging inability to make free throws, some controversial late-game officiating and a surprising appearance by Quentin Richardson.

Moving steadily from the backdrop to the forefront is the simple fact that these Lakers aren’t nearly as skilled on the road as last season’s champions. After Thursday’s game was added to the “L� column, the Lakers fell to 17-11 on the road after going 29-12 last season.

“We’re so used to winning games at the end that we kind of coast and coast and coast,� Bryant said.

“We’ve got to pick it up.�

They’ll have two more chances to prove it on this three-game trip, one of many forays away from Staples Center still awaiting them. They play tonight at Charlotte and Sunday in Orlando.

As for Thursday, where to begin?

Perhaps with the journeyman, Richardson, blistering the Lakers for 25 points and making seven of 11 three-point attempts, many of them against Bryant, who shook his head after the game.

“Some of those threes he hit, I was literally in his face,� Bryant said. “He just knocked them down.�

Then there were the words Lakers Coach Phil Jackson directed toward the officiating crew of Leon Wood, Kevin Fehr and Derrick Stafford.

With the Lakers up a point, Bryant airballed a 21-footer with 28.9 seconds left in regulation. TV replays showed Dwyane Wade hit him on the wrist of his shooting hand.

“I’m sure he didn’t shoot an airball. That’s unconscionable, that that call can’t be made at that point in the game,� Jackson said. “That’s the shooter and there it is.�

Unconscionable?

“That’s a great term,� Bryant said, smiling when told about Jackson’s observation. “I honestly stopped playing for a second. I thought I just didn’t hear the whistle.�

Bryant, however, forced overtime by making a pull-up 16-footer over Wade with 3.3 seconds left in regulation.

From there, it was all Miami.

“We just couldn’t get a stop,� Bryant said. The Lakers gave up 15 points in the five-minute session.

Wade finished with 27 points and 14 assists.

Gasol had 10 points on four-for-11 shooting and wasn’t on the court to start overtime, as per Jackson’s decision.

He entered with 2:13 left in overtime and said he played “not very well, obviously. Weird game.�

What isn’t weird is to see the Lakers’ occasional gaffes from the free-throw line. They came into the game tied for eighth in free-throw accuracy (77.3%) but made only 15 of 25 (60%) against Miami.

They trailed by two with 18.7 seconds left in overtime, but Bryant was called for an offensive foul on a drive to the basket, center Jermaine O’Neal sliding over and getting the call.

Jackson wasn’t upset about that one, saying “It looked like it was a good call.�

Said Bryant: “It happens.�

The Lakers turned slow starts turned into victories against Denver and Indiana, but didn’t get away with it this time. Gasol could only sigh.

“We do it to ourselves,� he said. “There’s no way around it. We have to see what we can do for 44 minutes prior to those four last minutes to play a better game.�

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