Lakers Decide to Look Inside for the Answers

The road-weary Lakers, who have enjoyed traveling lately about as much as The Accidental Tourist, finally have returned home for more than just a brief stopover.

They can put away the Dramamine and flight-insurance vouchers for a while and concentrate on trying to locate their previously successful game, which, like an abandoned suitbag, could still be on a revolving carrousel in Indianapolis.

That city was the first stop in the Lakers’ recent glut of road games. After beating the Pacers, the Lakers have lost 7 of their last 8 road games and have had a 6-game road losing streak interrupted only by a blowout victory over the Sacramento Kings at the Forum.

Repair work begins tonight, when the Lakers, 8-0 at the Forum but 9-10 on the road, meet the Philadelphia 76ers. It will not be an easy assignment for the Lakers, coming off consecutive blowout losses to the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns.

After a 2-hour practice Tuesday at Loyola Marymount, in which the Lakers worked on rudimentary principles such as the transition defense and the low-post game, Coach Pat Riley issued a warning of sorts to his players.

“They’d be making the biggest mistake of their basketball lives if they assume that just by playing at home they’ll play better,” Riley said. “They will not win again unless they work at it.”

Riley put the Lakers through a full day’s work, even though they had just returned from road games on consecutive nights. And, had it not been for the change in ambiance and venue, the Lakers looked as if they were back in training camp in Hawaii.

“In the next few days, we’re going to go back further to training camp stuff,” Riley said. “We need to get back to where we were.”

In returning to the fundamentals, Riley said he wants his team to return to its low-post, half-court offense that it abandoned somewhere along the road in favor of perimeter shooting.

“We haven’t sustained our post-up game, because we haven’t gotten the position,” Riley said. “I think it’s going to take another week or two (of practicing it), but we’ve got to get back to that mentality. We can’t go from being a low-post team for 9 years to a perimeter team just like that.”

This renewed Laker emphasis on the inside game seemingly means a more significant role for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who has been little more than a last option when he has been used at all. But it also means that Mychal Thompson and slumping forward James Worthy will be positioned inside.

“How (Abdul-Jabbar) demands the ball and the position he gets down low will determine how much a part of the offense he is,” Riley said. “But I want to get back to that post-up mentality.”

Riley also is trying to revive the Lakers’ winning mentality. Although the Lakers clearly are not playing well, Riley says he has not lost perspective.

“I was more upset in the early part of the trip, when we lost all those 1-point games,” Riley said, “because we got close but didn’t deserve to win. I think the residue of the last 10 games is because we really weren’t playing well when Magic (Johnson) was winning all those 1-point games for us. I keep perspective because I know we can turn it around.”

Riley’s faith comes from looking at the schedule. After playing 19 of their first 27 games on the road, the Lakers enter a stretch in which they play 16 of their next 23 at home.

Certainly, it could not come from looking at the statistics from the Lakers’ last 9 road games.

Not counting the home victory over the Kings, the Lakers have shot just 46.6% from the floor and averaged only 102.4 points in those 9 games. They also were outrebounded in 8 of the games, opponents holding a 395-341 advantage.

No Laker is playing well at this point. Worthy is shooting 43.3% in his last 6 games. Not counting the Sacramento blowout, Johnson has averaged 9 assists in his last 5 games. Thompson is the only help off the bench, but he is logging more minutes than Abdul-Jabbar.

Riley said he has encouraged Worthy to post low instead of settling for perimeter shots, which have not fallen.

“James is not posting strong right now, but we put more pressure on James than anyone on the team,” Riley said. “We ask him to defend inside, to rebound, to run on the break and then to come across the lane, where he gets banged all the time. I think it discourages him from going inside and getting a post spot. But we need him to do that.”

Worthy doesn’t attribute the team’s slump solely to his shooting slump.

“Sometimes, we have won 10 in a row, and I still shoot like I have,” Worthy said. “Players go through slumps like that. I’ve been getting shots inside, but it’s just a matter of getting them to fall. I think it’s a matter of time.”

Laker players believe a prolonged stretch at home will eventually result in improved play, if only because they will be able to practice regularly and will not have to deal with the rigors of travel.

“We’re home and we’re going to get a nice, fresh start,” Thompson said. “Maybe we’re just tired of wearing those purple (road) uniforms. This is a veteran team. We’ve been through too much, have too much experience to panic now.”

If not panic, there is at least concern among the Lakers.

Said Johnson: “It’s been a tough road for us. But we haven’t given up. We’ll start over again against Philly. Now, if we were under .500, I’d be worried. I’d be mad. But we’re 17-10, and that’s not too bad.”

This is not entirely new terrain for Riley, who said his goal was to be 19-10 after the first 2 months of the season. It was about this point last season when the Lakers were suffering through another slump on the road, though not as severe.

Worthy was bothered by tendinitis in his knees, and the Lakers lost 6 of 9 games in mid-December. That was followed by a 15-game winning streak that ran through mid-January.

Not even the most optimistic Laker expects a repeat of that streak, but they are hoping for steady improvement.

“It’s just a matter of time before we’re back playing like we were before,” Michael Cooper said. “It may take 4 or 5 games, but I think you’ll see it come slowly. It’s like building a foundation. You do it step-by-step.”

WOES ON THE ROAD How the Lakers have fared on the road this month:

Date Opponent Score Dec. 6 at Clippers W, 111-102 Dec. 10 at Indiana W, 112-105 Dec. 11 at Milwaukee L, 95-94 Dec. 13 at Cleveland W, 111-102 Dec. 14 at New Jersey L, 118-113 Dec. 16 at Boston L, 110-96 Dec. 18 at Washington L, 115-110 Dec. 20 at Chicago L, 116-103 Dec. 25 at Utah L, 101-87 Dec. 26 at Phoenix L, 111-96