Karl Malone sat in the corner of the lockerroom, a towel draped across his lap, his legs in a vat of ice water. If he were any more subdued and relaxed, he’d have a tall boy in one hand and a fishing pole in the other.

Instead, he reflected on what it was like to reach his third NBA finals. And in doing so, he acknowledged the youngsters.

“I just told our young guys, who are overlooked a lot of times, to just have fun,” he said shortly after the Lakers gained the NBA Finals by eliminating the Minnesota Timberwolves, 96-90, Monday night in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals at Staples Center.

“Let me have all the nerve-wracking things. Just have fun.”

Kareem Rush must have listened, because he had what coach Phil Jackson termed “a career game,” which isn’t too bad, since he’s only in his second NBA season. Rush bedazzled the T-Wolves by canning six of seven 3-pointers en route to 18 points.

Yet the Lakers are four victories away from their fourth title in five years not just because of Rush, but because of whichever role player or players decides to make it his night. These Lakers have long inspired debate over whose team it is, Kobe’s or Shaq’s. Even they occasionally squirt starter fluid on the embers themselves, causing it to rage anew.

Meanwhile, guys like Kareem Rush, Derek Fisher, Slava Medvedenko, Devean George and even Rick Fox have stepped up when called upon, contributing something huge in critical moments when the opposing defense has gone overboard on the Kobe-Shaq surveillance.

Just look at the four triumphs they scratched out against an intensely competitive Minnesota club: In Game 1, Fisher contributed 14 points and six assists, while Rush had five points; in Game 3, Fish had six points, six boards, three assists and three steals; in Game 4, Fisher again came up big again with 15 points while Fox dropped in five.

And in the clincher, it was Rush along with Medvedeko. Rush’s 3-pointers energized the crowd, pumped up the Lakers and demoralized the gutty T-Wolves. While that was going on, Medvedenko was four-for-four from the field for eight points, with three important rebounds.

“This game was indicative of the entire series,” Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders remarked. “The role players have determined who wins the game.”

Conversely, the Minnesota bench played adequately, but not nearly good enough against a Lakers team that was getting 25 points from Shaq, 20 from Kobe and 10 more from Malone. Fred Hoiberg and Wally Szczerbiak were a combined 5 for 12 Monday night.

But the role player issue goes beyond numbers. It’s more about being timely.

In the fourth quarter of Game 6, Rush had nine points and Medvedenko six as the Lakers pulled away and the T-Wolves could only watch in anguish.

“Kareem came in and did a heck of a job with 3-pointers,” Saunders said. “We did a good job on Kobe and Shaq and he knocked them down. It’s tough when he hits shots like that.”

Defending the Lakers isn’t easy, but to many it seems obvious. Contain Kobe and Shaq, the logic goes, and make the others beat you.

News flash to the eventual Eastern Conference representative: The others are beating teams.

“We are a team that is going to find a way to win a championship,” Fox said, “but it is not going to be the normal way that people have grown accustomed to seeing us do it.”

Like Kareem Rush going off for 18 points in 23 minutes.

“Kareem has a lot of confidence,” Bryant explained. “Everybody knows what a great scorer he was in college. But the thing that impresses me the most out of him is that he doesn’t seem to lack confidence in clutch situations. He works hard in practice, and when he shoots the ball, he expects to make it, which is a big key especially for a young player. He just played outstanding.”

Before Game 6, the role player getting the most attention was Fisher, who sprained a knee ligament and was questionable. He wound up playing 27 minutes, and while he made contributions elsewhere – he had six assists, four rebounds and one nifty steal on an inbounds from Hoiberg late in the game – he was just 1 for 7 from the field. Since starter George was only 2 of 6 for four points, somebody else had to step up, or else the Lakers would have faced the unappetizing prospect of another trip to Minneapolis for a Game 7.

Somebody stepped up.

On this team, somebody usually does.

“I just stay focused,” said Rush, once a scoring machine at the University of Missouri. “I did a good job when Kobe was out, so the experience is there. It’s just a matter of me getting playing time. Coach called on me tonight and I stepped up big.”

Malone noticed. Lately, because the end is near – the quest for his first-ever NBA championship, not the end end; I mean, he isn’t THAT old – the Mailman has been in a wistful, reflective mood. After Game 6, he waxed philosophical about the younger guys in the lockerroom. So much attention has been paid to the four future Hall of Famers, the kudos usually don’t trickle down to the supporting cast.

“Our young guys have been wonderful this year,” he said. “Sometimes I want to get on them, but then I realize that I have kids their age. The thing you need to do is just pat them on the back and let them know that it’s O.K. It hasn’t been as much work as people think it is.”

But for either the Detroit Pistons or Indiana Pacers, the workload will be enormous if the Lakers’ role players continue to star.

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