TWO SUPERSTARS (KOBE BRYANT AND SHAQUILLE O'NEAL): MINUS KEY ROLE PLAYERS (JANERRO PARGO AND MARK MADSEN): PLUS TITLE-HUNGRY VETS (KARL MALONE AND GARY PAYTON): ADDITIONS SUBTRACT FROM TEAM CHEMISTRY AND LEAVE LAKERS WITH LINEUP WORTHY OF... HALL OF BLAME.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

EL SEGUNDO - It's too soon to say the Lakers' season is over but not too soon to assign the blame.

Shaq? Kobe? Malone? Payton? Jackson?

No, the fault lies one floor above them.

In the beginning, last summer, before anybody could find Eagle on a map of Colorado, when everybody was still presumed to be thinking clearly, there was a colossal misjudgment by people who are paid to know better.

The Lakers brain trust drew up contracts for Karl Malone and Gary Payton and tore up the formula that had produced three NBA championships in the previous four years.

In the title seasons, it had been Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and a revolving cast of players who embraced specific roles. Now it was going to be four superstars. The Lakers weren't oblivious to the pitfalls.

``You kind of wonder, `Is it too much?' But it's something you have to do,'' general manager Mitch Kupchak said on the July day after the Lakers took advantage of Malone's and Payton's willingness to suit up for a combined $20 million less than they'd made with Utah and Milwaukee, respectively. ``I think there's a greater chance that it (will) work out.''

The new players' financial sacrifice, their hard-earned wisdom, their desperation for a championship - Kupchak thought those things ``bode well for a harmonious team.''

And Jerry Buss signed off on the plan.

Oops.

A year ago, in the second round of the playoffs, the Lakers faced the San Antonio Spurs with a lineup of O'Neal, Bryant, Devean George, Robert Horry and Derek Fisher, with Jannero Pargo and Brian Shaw the first guards off the bench. They fell behind 2-0 in the series and were eliminated in six games.

This year, in the second round of the playoffs, the Lakers face San Antonio with a lineup of O'Neal, Bryant, George, Malone and Payton, with Fisher the first guard off the bench. An upgrade? They've fallen behind 2-0 and had better win Sunday and Tuesday at Staples Center.

Payton's style doesn't fit Phil Jackson's offense, Malone's 40-year-old right knee gave out and cost him 2 1/2 months and - amid the distraction of Bryant, whose arrest was revealed a week earlier - the All-Star lineup never jelled.

You wonder if the Lakers could be any worse off if they'd kept Pargo (for the quick defense against San Antonio's Tony Parker), Horry (for the 3-point shots) and Mark Madsen (for the energy) and resisted the temptations of Payton and Malone.

Strip away the lofty talk about the Fab Four, about future Hall of Famers and the most talented lineup of all time, and what the Lakers had last summer was no better than an attempt at a quick and temporary fix after Buss neglected to pay for youth and athleticism a year earlier.

Is it premature to write off the Lakers after their 88-78 and 95-85 losses in San Antonio? Maybe.

``We think they played well on their home court,'' Jackson said of the Spurs after the Lakers' practice session Friday afternoon. ``We have a chance to put things back on an even keel here.''

But that keel is slicing through choppy historical waters. Not since the 1969 quarterfinals against the San Francisco Warriors have the Lakers come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series. Jerry West was the leading scorer in all seven games. The only previous time in their 44 seasons in Los Angeles that the Lakers lost the first two games of a series by double digits, in the 1971 semis against the Milwaukee Bucks, they went on to lose in five. The late Happy Hairston's team-high 27 points weren't enough in Game 5.

Is it second-guessing for a columnist who liked the Malone and Payton signings in July to knock them now? Guilty.

But Kupchak and his front-office staff are supposed to know what will work and what won't. I'm sure they're having their own second thoughts these days. Wondering why they didn't see what's obvious today.

Oh, well, they'll learn from this experience. They won't make the same mistake again. They'll be more skeptical the next time a pair of superstars walk into the lobby offering to sign for practically nothing.

CAPTION(S):

7 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- 6 -- color) The Lakers' poor showing against the Spurs proves Kobe Bryant (8) and Shaquille O'Neal (34) have trouble jelling with future Hall-of-Famers Karl Malone, left, and Gary Payton, right, and worked better with role players such as Janerro Pargo (12) and Mark Madsen (35).

Edna T. Simpson/Daily News

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(7) Hall-of-Fame lineup including, from left, Karl Malone, Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton and Kobe Bryant look like it's a bust in the postseason.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

Box:

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