Scott May Be Key to Laker Title Hopes

When Byron Scott has the ball in his hands, his conscience is clear, maybe because Laker Coach Pat Riley says Scott doesn’t have a conscience.

Shooters are often like that. It’s all part of the mentality. No distance is too great, no defense too tight, no shot unsinkable. You get the ball, you take the shot. Simple as that.

“There have been shots I’ve taken when I don’t think I can miss,” he said. “Anyone who is a shooter feels the same way. If I do miss a couple, I know I can roll off six or seven in a row.”

And when Scott has something to say, something like this, his conscience is still clear, usually because he means it, no matter the consequences.

In last season’s playoff series against Kansas City, Scott said the Kings had little or no chance, which of course was true, but Riley still cringed down to his loafers.

After Game 1 of this series with Denver, Scott accused Denver Coach Doug Moe of doing a lot of talking about the Nuggets’ running game, which was also true, but Riley said he wished Scott would learn to keep some of his opinions private.

“Humility is a virtue that can be very powerful, even in victory,” Riley said. “I just don’t want to see our players give an edge to another team because of what they say.”

Outside of that one small slip, Scott has been making more noise with his game than his mouth.

This has become apparent in the Laker series with Denver. Scott is the leading scorer against the Nuggets, averaging 24 points and shooting 69.5%. His steals-to-turnovers ratio is 24-15, best on the Lakers. In fact, he is the only Laker with more steals than turnovers.

You might think that would tend to build confidence in anyone, but Scott doesn’t need additional confidence any more than he needs a conscience.

“And if he ever starts developing one, he’s going to sit down,” Riley said. “Actually, though, he is a conscientious shooter. He has the correct persistence.”

If Byron Scott is anything, he is a shooter, which is important to the Lakers because they need a player to score from the perimeter in order to loosen up the defense inside for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.

Suddenly, it seems that Scott has become very big in the Laker plans for a championship series that is only one victory away. Should they beat the Nuggets tonight, the Lakers are in.

Stardom has found Scott, and it only took two years. Defenses have found him, too, if they only knew what to do with him. The press has also discovered Scott, who said that may be the toughest part of his game.

Now, Scott has a new problem. Free-lance talking has sometimes been a worry for Scott, but this is a little different. So he shoots first, then answers questions later.

“The thing that’s been really frightening for me is all the attention Byron Scott has been getting,” he said. “Last year after practice, I could go home. I could just sneak out. Now I see everybody crowd around Magic and interview him, then they head for me. I know if I keep playing like this, it won’t get any better.”

Scott brought it on himself. Last season’s ‘Baby B,’ as his teammates called him, has grown up. Now, he’s just plain ‘B.’

When he came to the Lakers before last season, no one was quite sure who he was or what to call him. He certainly wasn’t Norm Nixon, the player he replaced, and Scott’s entrance was about as awkward as Nixon’s departure.

Almost as soon as Scott got here, he was involved in a salary dispute, which was soon settled, but what he had to say about himself didn’t go away so quickly.

Scott said he was a better offensive player than Magic Johnson and just as exciting. The fact that a rookie who had yet to play a single game was saying such things didn’t go down so well with some of his Laker teammates, who set Scott apart and dared him to prove himself.

During a break in one early season practice, Scott got a cup of water and asked Abdul-Jabbar if he wanted some. Abdul-Jabbar never even looked at Scott.

“He wasn’t trying to be mean or anything,” Scott said, remembering the incident. “He just didn’t have too much to say to me. All new players who aren’t accepted go through the same thing. You just have to handle things like that.”

Scott said the acceptance process lasted his entire rookie season, until the final with Boston, when he sought out Johnson in the hotel room next door. Scott told Johnson how much he had learned from him and thanked him for his help. That seemed to change things for Scott.

“I’m just a very emotional person,” Scott said. “Magic didn’t have to help me at all, but he did anyway.”

Riley said Scott went through the kind of hazing pledges get when they join a fraternity.

“He had to pay his dues,” Riley said. “The veteran players were saying, ‘Let’s see what this guy’s got. Let’s see if he’s really one of us.’ ”

Scott wasn’t much of anything in the playoffs last season after he sprained ligaments in his right knee at Portland when the Lakers clinched the Pacific Division title. Riley started Mike McGee and then Michael Cooper in the backcourt instead of Scott, who said he probably came back too soon from his injury.

“I was really scared to test it,” he said.

Scott wasn’t a factor in the championship series until Game 6, when he came off the bench to score 11 points in 17 minutes to help the Lakers rally for the win.

After that game, Riley toyed with the idea of starting Scott with Cooper and Worthy in Game 7 to give the Lakers a smaller, quicker lineup.

“I just didn’t do it and history was made,” Riley said.

A year later, Scott is an established starter, and he is the player many believe to represent the biggest difference between last season’s Lakers and this season’s team. Scott thinks he is, too, and as usual, he says so.

“Magic and Coop have been talking to me that I may be the difference,” he said. “I appreciate that. But we’ve got so many talented players on this team, and I’m only one of them.”

Scott said he learned a lot about confidence from his mother, Dorothy, who told him there wasn’t anything he couldn’t do if he wanted to do it.

“That attitude just rolled over onto me,” he said.

It is that same attitude that General Manager Jerry West likes to see in Scott.

“Magic Johnson thinks he can get the ball beneath the crack at the bottom of a door,” West said. “Byron has the same kind of confidence, especially when he shoots. I’ll tell you, that shot looks awfully good when he takes it. When he shoots, a whole lot of people besides Byron think it’s going to go in, too.”