Then they got torched in the court of public opinion.

Tuesday night, they took the first step back toward respectability, running the Rockets off of Upset Road with a never-in-doubt 118-78 victory.

As most expected, the Lakers regained control of the Western Conference semifinals, 3-2.

Whether the Lakers have the right amount of passion, relentlessness and concentration to win the NBA title against tougher competition than Houston remains to be seen.

Just don't go by Tuesday.

It was less about what beats in the Lakers chests and more about cold-blooded execution. They were the much smarter team on this night, and took advantage - this time - of all the mismatches they have against the depleted, undersized and under-equipped Houston team.

They used their height to score over the Rockets' stubby interior defenders and dominate on the boards.

The Lakers' two 7-footers, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum, combined for 30 points and 19 rebounds.

They were much quicker to help defend Houston's water bug point guard, Aaron Brooks, who was unable to skitter at will through the Lakers' defense - and this time you could call it defense.

Knowing Houston's only prayer was to have another huge shooting night, the Lakers actually ran at the Rockets' jump shooters, rotating much more quickly than they did Sunday.

It also helped that Houston missed a lot of the wide-open ones, too, making just 33 percent on the night.

Not surprisingly, Lakers leader Kobe Bryant took things into his own hands early, scoring 20 first-half points.

All in all, it was pretty much the game most people expected Sunday when Houston showed up without its best player, 7-foot-6 center Yao Ming, lost to a broken foot.

Of course, we all know what happened. Instead of laying down their swords and surrendering, the Rockets stunned the Lakers with a big show of never-say-die.

Lying down was identified as the Lakers' sin.

For the next two days, you couldn't walk past an open window without hearing about the "no heart" Lakers .

And that was just the amateurs complaining. Us professional pundits had a field day ripping the team - from columnists to bloggers to talk radio hosts to network analysts.

The opinions included finger-wagging, scolding the Lakers for taking Sunday off, and assuming a lazy effort would be good enough to beat the hurting Rockets.

ESPN analyst (and, oh yeah, minority owner) Magic Johnson used the "embarrassing" word on national TV.

Others considered Game 4 a crystal ball, suggesting there was deeper meaning to the lopsided loss, that it revealed the Lakers lacked the necessary fire to be champions.

"It doesn't matter if you win or lose some of these games, but is this team legitimately trying to set a statement and win?" questioned TNT's Charles Barkley. "The Lakers are just winning games on talent."

Of course, despite the attitude issue, no one was predicting the Rockets would survive the series.

Lakers coach Phil Jackson stayed stoically composed, refusing to publically chastise his team, and insisting that they "respond pretty well to adversity."

Before Tuesday's bounce-back game, he admitted that his team had a "human element" that when in control of a series, can be lulled into "relaxing, feeling secure."

Uh-oh.

Needing only one win to wrap this series up, who knows what the Lakers will take with them to Houston for Game 6 Thursday.

But, for now, a steely show of skill can still be enough.

Reach Gregg Patton at 951-368-9597 or gpatton@PE.com