Sleepless in San Antonio, Lakers hope to rebound

Los Angeles’ lead was cut to one game when the Spurs romped in Game 3.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Lamar Odom had a sleepless night after the Lakers’ Game 3 loss to the San Antonio Spurs.

Pau Gasol said it’s always hard to get shut eye after a tough loss and Derek Fisher said he slept “decent enough.”

Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson wasn’t surprised.

“I like players to get their rest, there’s no doubt,” Jackson said Monday. “But any time you have a game of that importance and you don’t play well, you’re upset. It’s bothersome.”

Bothered might be an understatement for Odom.

“I got to the point where I couldn’t make a shot,” said Odom, who went 2-of-11 from the field and finished with seven points on Sunday. “But then I got to the free throw line and I wasn’t making free throws. That can’t happen.”

Odom, who hit just 3-of-8 from the foul line, wasn’t alone in his struggles in the 103-84 loss. Fisher scored just two points on 1-of-4 shooting and Gasol fared somewhat better, going 7-of-18 for 15 points.

“A little bit indecisive, not aggressive enough finishing,” Gasol said of his offensive performance. “I didn’t finish strong enough. I was just kind of floating a few shots and they weren’t going in.”

The Lakers hold a 2-1 advantage in the Western Conference finals. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is tonight in San Antonio.

Jackson said he’s “comfortable we can get Lamar back on track.”

“Once it gets going bad for him, there’s a lot of times he can’t turn his game around in the course of the night,” Jackson said. “So that’s one of the things we keep talking about, finding a way to recapture your ball game even though things haven’t gone well for you early.”

While league MVP Kobe Bryant may be as close to a one-man team as there is — his four fourth-quarter 3-pointers got the Lakers as close as 12 late in Game 3 — more help from Odom, Gasol and Fisher could go a long way toward the Lakers stealing one in San Antonio.

“I don’t think they did anything differently,” Bryant said of Gasol and Odom’s shooting. “I think they just missed a lot that they usually normally make, so you just chalk it up.”