Lakers try to regroup

Well, neither team has forfeited yet.

The Lakers only shrugged at the mounting criticism from national and local media, the ridicule and scorn multiplying quickly around the team favored to win the championship when the playoffs began a month ago.

The Houston Rockets certainly weren't going to give up despite their last trip to Staples Center ending in a 118-78 punch line that became the Lakers' largest margin of victory in a playoff game in 23 years.

Game 7, it is. Somebody will be done Sunday afternoon.

A day after another humbling loss to Houston in the Western Conference semifinals, the Lakers began acting like the team with a 1-2 record since Yao Ming went down because of a fractured foot.

They weren't as loose as they were in the immediate aftermath of Game 6, with Coach Phil Jackson saying Friday they were "somber" and "sullen" at their training facility.

"I think there's definitely a feeling of sobriety about the fact that we had such a big win on Tuesday and another poor performance on Thursday," he said.

It wasn't known if Kobe Bryant was still in a laughing mood -- he didn't speak to reporters Friday, as has been his recent custom on non-game days -- but the Lakers weren't exactly trading one-liners, and it had little to do with arriving back in Los Angeles at 2:30 a.m. Friday.

"I think everyone's a little upset," guard Jordan Farmar said. "Nobody really said much today."

That the Lakers fell to the Rockets in Game 6, 95-80, was obviously still on their minds as they watched video before a light shooting session.

Lamar Odom's bruised back was still an issue, as were the Lakers' shooting woes and ineffective inside attack in Game 6.

Odom slipped out a side door Friday without talking to reporters, though he flashed a thumbs up and said "I'm feeling good," before disappearing into the back seat of a sport utility vehicle that pulled out of the players' parking lot.

The national media wouldn't even give the Lakers one thumb up these days.

Scott Howard-Cooper, writing for Sports Illustrated, said the Lakers would be a "historic disappointment" if they didn't win Game 7 and "forever remembered as one of the great underachievers."

TNT analyst Charles Barkley, appearing on Dan Patrick's radio show, said the Lakers' habit of going through the motions was "going to bite them in the [rear]."