Michael Ventre

Ordinarily when an individual angrily yells at another and gestures with his hand across his own neck in cutthroat fashion, the setting is someplace like the recreation yard at Rikers Island, and the result is a homemade shiv to the rib cage later in the laundry room.

But this is the NBA. Amazing happens, and it did again Wednesday night at Staples Center when the Lakers and Rockets met up in Game 2 of their current playoff series. There was more ugliness than there used to be at a Mike Tyson press conference, and it might be just what the Lakers needed to find their mojo again.

The Lakers won this donnybrook, 111-98, to square the Western Conference semifinal series at one game apiece, with Games 3 and 4 set for Houston Friday and Sunday. The residue of Wednesday night’s game will be more than just the usual musings over what a handful Yao Ming is, or more tributes to Kobe Bryant. There is a storm brewing, and it’s headed for Texas.

“This looks like it’s shaping into a physical series,” said Bryant, who pumped in 40 points in 40 minutes. “It’s fun. ’80s style.”

The game will be remembered not so much for the swings in momentum or the matchups but rather some incidents that could result in scores being settled down the road other than the final score.

The major eruption occurred with 6:57 left in the game and the Lakers holding a 10-point lead. In brief, Kobe and Ron Artest got tangled up fighting for the ball. The foul went against Artest. He wasn’t happy. After pleading to the officials, he then snapped like a pit bull, getting in Bryant’s face and jawing with passion. Then, as he was pushed away, he made the old hand across the throat gesture twice toward Bryant, indicating that he thought Kobe had elbowed him, and was ejected.

That came after an incident at the end of the third quarter, in which Houston’s Luis Scola had words with Lamar Odom, Luke Walton and Sasha Vujacic, then shortly thereafter was himself decked by the Lakers’ Derek Fisher when he tried to set a screen. Fisher was assessed a flagrant 2 foul and ejected.

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The fallout could be suspensions. “Hopefully Stu (Jackson, the NBA’s vice president of operations, who metes out justice in these cases) and the league will review it and there won’t be any suspensions,” said Fisher, who said he had only been tossed one other time in his career, estimating it was 1998 against the Spurs.

Artest could himself be suspended for a game. His nasty rant was reminiscent of the Malice at the Palace, when he was at the center of the league’s most infamous brawl while a member of the Indiana Pacers. When the Rockets took a chance on Artest by swinging a trade with Sacramento last summer, they knew he was a few jellybeans short of a full jar, but they felt the risk was worth it.

It may turn out to be in the long run. But when he unravels on national TV and in front of a crowd of 18,997 in a tight playoff game, it might be a sign that maintaining good mental health is indeed an ongoing process.

Bryant was surprisingly magnanimous about Artest. “To be honest with you, I think it’s great,” he said. “I don’t think he should have been kicked out at all. It’s good competitive basketball.”

Rockets coach Rick Adelman was tight-lipped on the topic. “It’s a team situation. I’d rather not comment on it right now,” he said, which is code for, “We know he’s nuts, but we don’t know what to do about it.”

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