JUST ANOTHER DAY TO WAIT AND DEBATE HISTORY NOT ON LAKERS' SIDE WHEN FACING 2-0 DEFICIT.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

EL SEGUNDO - On bright, searing spring day that seemed to presage the inevitable - the rapid arrival of summer - the Lakers gathered briefly, checked each other's pulses and then quickly dispersed, each to his own custom sports car, SUV or pickup truck.

One by one, they left the team practice facility Thursday with the same stoic expressions, perhaps wondering how many more times they will pass through these doors before fate, personal agendas and salary-cap realities scatter them in a dozen directions.

Their day of reckoning could come as soon as Tuesday, unless they find the wisdom and the will to beat back the steamrolling San Antonio Spurs in the next few days.

The Lakers' predicament is familiar and troubling: down two games to none in their best-of-seven series against the Spurs for the third time in five years. It has ended badly before - with a Spurs sweep in 1999 and a six-game Spurs victory last May, each collapse ushering in a long offseason of change.

Against that backdrop, and the well-known statistics about how seldom teams come back from 2-0 deficits, coach Phil Jackson brought in his players for a film session, then let them go clear their heads.

Game 3 is Sunday at Staples Center, and there is time yet to make this a series.

By then, the Lakers probably will muster the brave faces and defiant words, but on Thursday, they had no desire to force it. Derek Fisher and Devean George walked briskly past waiting reporters without a word. Kobe Bryant greeted the line of cameramen with a flat advisory: ``You might as well put them down now.''

Shaquille O'Neal was just as blunt: ``Don't follow me. I'm taking the day off.''

Only Karl Malone and Rick Fox stopped to offer their thoughts, their voices tinged with as much regret as optimism.

But Jackson, who has never been swept in 46 playoff series as an NBA coach, maintained a basic, constructive message.

``Usually the things that come out of this are encouragement, animated play, some slippage that's corrected more than answers,'' he said. ``This isn't a mystery. This is no rocket-science project going on here. We can try a few wrinkles to see what happens the next game, but for reality's sake, it's about taking care of the basketball and getting back on defense pretty much.

``We feel like we're OK. I mean, we're ready to play this ballgame (today), if we could play it. Waiting until Sunday is going to be a long wait.''

While they reconsider strategies for containing Tony Parker (25 points per game) and Tim Duncan (27 points per game) and disrupting a Spurs offense that shoots 49.3 percent and makes few mistakes, the Lakers will close their ears to the more damning stats.

Only seven teams in NBA history have won a best-of-series after trailing 2-0, and none since the Houston Rockets in 1995. The Lakers have been there 14 times, been swept six times and won only once - in 1969 against the San Francisco Warriors.

``It's not insurmountable,'' Fox said.

Yet even Jackson, the winningest playoff coach ever, is a three-time loser when down 2-0. His Lakers lost in six games to the Spurs last year. Jackson's Chicago Bulls fell to Detroit in the 1990 Eastern Conference finals and succumbed to the New York Knicks in the '94 semis.

However, history also says the Lakers will stick around a little longer. No Jackson-coached team has ever exited a playoff series in fewer than six games.

Naturally, everyone wanted to gauge the Lakers' ``mood'' on Thursday, but Malone wasn't sure how to respond.

``Describe my mood?'' he repeated, before finally concluding, ``Good. It's a good day today. It's gotta get better,'' Malone said. ``That's how we look at it right now.''

Encouraging signs are hard to come by, but the Lakers found a few, starting with Shaquille O'Neal's breakout 32-point, 15-rebound performance in Game 2.

Jackson and Fox both noted that the Lakers won Games 3 and 4 to tie the series against the Spurs last year and were in position to win Game 5 when Robert Horry's late 3-pointer rattled out. And then there is Wednesday night's 95-85 defeat. After what Jackson called ``a withering start'' that had the Lakers down 33-17 after the first quarter, they rallied to win the final three quarters 68-62. In Game 1, they had a five-point lead early in the final quarter. But the most critical, stressed-out minutes have been won handily by the Spurs - 15-7 in the final six minutes of Game 2 and 15-7 in the final 6:36 of Game 1.

And unlike the Lakers of the past few springs, this team has neither the cohesion nor the collective experience that carries a team through the rough times.

Howard Beck, [phone]

howard.beck(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

2 boxes

Box:

(1) LAKERS vs. SPURS: Spurs lead best-of-seven series 2-0

(2) TAKING ON HISTORY, TOO