DR. PHIL'S DIAGNOSIS: SAD LAKERS LOSE AFTER A FRIGID FOURTH QUARTER INDIANA 95, LAKERS 84.

Byline: ROSS SILER Staff Writer

INDIANAPOLIS -- Who knew that seasonal affective disorder could produce such profound effects on a basketball team, leading to a fourth-quarter collapse and shouting matches between teammates?

That was the diagnosis Lakers coach Phil Jackson offered after watching the Lakers score just six points in the first 10 1/2 minutes of the fourth quarter and fork over a 95-84 victory to the Indiana Pacers on a frigid Friday night.

The Lakers started the fourth quarter with a lineup of Lamar Odom, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Maurice Evans and Brian Cook and coughed up a seven-point lead while Kobe Bryant was resting on the bench.

Not only did the Lakers fail to score a point during the four minutes without Bryant, but Odom and Vujacic came to the bench shouting at each other with 8:07 remaining and exchanged words throughout the timeout.

``We kind of lost the lead,'' Vujacic said, ``so the nerves went up and we just had a misunderstanding. Nothing huge. It's nothing big.''

In addition, center Kwame Brown volunteered before the game that he would be seeking a second opinion on his sprained left ankle. Brown will return to Indianapolis after practice Tuesday to see the same specialist who once treated Devean George.

Now the Lakers would have to sweep the remaining five games on this road trip to finish with the 6-2 mark that Jackson talked about before leaving LosAngeles. Where, by the way, the temperature was not in the single digits Friday.

``I think they just had SAD tonight,'' Jackson said.

``It's sunlight deprivation. When you get here and it's all gray and you have all these California boys, they just get depressed and can't take it.

``They were very sad tonight.''

Bryant had one of his worst shooting nights of the season, finishing with 22 points but making just 7 of 25 shots. Smush Parker finished with 20 points and six steals but the Lakers were trounced 32-14 in the fourth quarter by Indiana.

The Lakers took a 70-63 lead into the fourth quarter, with Parker providing a lift by turning two steals into easy dunks in the last 3 1/2 minutes of the third. But Bryant went to the bench and the Lakers immolated in the fourth.

``I might have been putting too big a responsibility on Lamar out there with the younger kids,'' Jackson said. ``They've done pretty well over the course of the season but they weren't ready for that tonight.''

It started with Farmar missing a 3-pointer, Cook losing the ball and Odom missing a 3-pointer. The play that will be remembered, though, came as Darrell Armstrong -- the NBA's third-oldest player at 38 -- blocked Vujacic on a fast break.

``That's his first taste of Darrell Armstrong,'' Bryant said. ``He does that stuff. We saw it coming the whole way. I just couldn't say, `Nooooo.' I was over on the bench and I tried to warn him but he couldn't hear me.''

The Lakers struggled just to beat the 24-second clock on their next couple of possessions. Odom and Vujacic jawed at one another during the next timeout and Bryant had to calm down Vujacic on the bench.

``Sasha cares so much about doing the right thing,'' Bryant said, ``he gets wrapped up in the game emotionally. He's got to step back from that and be a little bit calmer.''

Asked what the Lakers should have been doing, Odom answered: ``Get it to players where they're comfortable with the ball. It's like our recognition is bad. We don't know who we're playing with.''

Even with Bryant back, the Lakers' could not stop their demise. Odom missed all three shots in the fourth quarter and had two turnovers, including losing the ball to Jeff Foster with the Lakers down 82-76.

Bryant made just 1 of 5 shots in the quarter before burying back-to-back 3-pointers after the Lakers fell behind 89-76. The Lakers went nearly four minutes without a point in the fourth and were outscored 24-6 in the first 10 1/2 minutes.

``They sucked,'' Jackson said. ``That's about all you can say.''

After scoring 43 points and making seven 3-pointers Wednesday in Boston, Bryant made just 1 of 8 shots in the first half and went 0 for 5 in the second quarter. He was able to draw a three-shot foul just before halftime as the Lakers closed to 44-41.

The Pacers went right at Andrew Bynum with Jermaine O'Neal, who scored their first 11 points of the game. Jackson wound up using 11 players, including Shammond Williams from the end of the bench, in the first 14 minutes.

The Lakers bottomed out in the first quarter when Odom committed turnovers on three consecutive possessions and was benched with 2:55 left. Odom threw away a lob pass to Bynum, then a shovel pass to Bynum, and followed with an offensive foul.

Odom finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds but had six turnovers.

The Lakers committed 21turnovers in the game, although the Pacers finished with one more.

The news, meanwhile, was not encouraging for Brown, who missed his 16th game Friday with a sprained ankle. Brown said his agent requested the second opinion; the doctor who will be consulted was at the Super Bowl this week with the Colts.

``Any time I ramp up exercise it starts flaring up and I can't complete a workout,'' Brown said. ``We've got to find out what's going on.''

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Indiana's Jermaine O'Neal, left, goes up for a dunk against the Lakers' Andrew Bynum during the first quarter Friday.

(2) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant, left, puts up a shot while being defended by Indiana forward Danny Granger in the first quarter Friday. Bryant had 22 points of 7-of-25 shooting.

Darron Cummings/Associated Press