LOS ANGELES — Two days after failing to launch at all, the Los Angeles Lakers had Houston gagging on their exhaust on Tuesday night. And only moments after liftoff, too.

So continued the spastic voyage of the shuttle self-discovery, the Lakers trying to find their way and themselves in a playoff run that still might not be halfway completed.
As bad as they were in Game 4, that’s as good as they were in Game 5. The passion was back. The energy was obvious. The urgency was sensed.
It was almost like they came out for the opening jump and said a collective “We’re sorry” to their fans, who were subjected to a miserable non-performance Sunday.
The details aren’t terribly important because they rarely are in games that are over at halftime.
Let’s just go with Kobe Bryant was fantastic, Pau Gasol was his typical solid self and Andrew Bynum rejoined the effort.
Beyond that and the fact Lamar Odom wasn’t forced to count too heavily on his bruised back, the only relevant development was the final score, 118-78. And it wasn’t even that close.
Oh, there also was this: Midway through the fourth quarter, apparently in an attempt to entertain themselves while witnessing a game devoid of drama, the fans did the wave.
The wave? Too cool Lakers fans? We would have predicted seeing Jack Nicholson pole dancing during a timeout first.
So Tuesday is done, and the larger issue now concerns what the Lakers will be in the future and just how much they can be trusted moving forward. Who knows really? They certainly don’t.
“We just had one game and we play another game Thursday,” Phil Jackson said when asked about his team’s playoff maturation. “A lot of it has to do with our opponents.”
But more of it has to do with the Lakers, who again proved their bodies can reach notable heights when their minds lead the way.
With Bynum starting for the ailing Odom, the Lakers jumped on the Rockets and buried them in effort.
Jordan Farmar’s buzzer-nipping three-pointer at the end of the first quarter helped, as well.
“Drew was obviously amped up,” Jackson said. “Lamar looked a little gimpy and, knowing how active we’d have to be at the start, we thought Andrew would be best.”
With all the talk of winning a title this season, it’s important to recall that only two of these
Lakers actually have experienced a championship. It’s also worth remembering that Jackson and his nine gaudy coaching rings can’t make a single shot or pass.
So what the Lakers give us — or don’t give us — game after game is the only thing anyone knows for sure.
Otherwise ...
The Cavaliers appear to be on a serious rampage; the Lakers appear to be on a mysterious journey, one that could end up at the end of a parade rout or in a pile of hissing wreckage in Denver.
The Nuggets appear to be on a purposeful mission; the Lakers appear to be on a distracted scavenger hunt, the direction of their pursuit as inconsistent as their concentration.
Even the Celtics, wounded and playing regularly from behind, appear to be thriving on pride; the Lakers, relatively healthy and heavily favored, appear to be searching for their soul.
But let’s move beyond this series because the shorthanded Rockets have so little chance, and this never has been about Houston anyway. This is about the Lakers and their ability to win the NBA championship. Period. Nothing more. Or less.
It’s bigger picture time, and the bigger picture is a blurrier one today for the Lakers than when these playoffs began.
Jackson likes to preach the importance of improvement at this time of the season, taking each series individually. He was, for example, pleased with the growth his Lakers displayed in beating Utah in the opening round.
He can’t, however, be as sold on what has happened against the Rockets. The Lakers were terrible in Game 1, very good for three quarters in Game 2, brilliant in Game 3 and terrible again in Game 4.
In Game 5, they restored their brilliance, and a similar performance Thursday night in Houston ends this series and has Jackson pleased again.
But then what? How will this act play against a Denver team that became a lot more threatening the moment Chauncey Billups arrived?
The Lakers are struggling to dispose of Chuck Hayes, Luis Scola and Carl Landry. Are they going to fare measurably better against Nene, Kenyon Martin and the freakish Chris Andersen?
They still might figure all this out in the next month. They have the talent and the time to do so.
But their solving the Nuggets and then the Eastern Conference representative will be possible only if they solve the Lakers first.