Lakers’ Perkins Makes a Winning Move

Laker forward Sam Perkins drove the baseline against Tom Tolbert, switching the ball from his right hand to his left. The move faked out Tolbert and Perkins made a layup.

Even Perkins was surprised by the improvised move.

“That’s the first time I’ve done that, and I was pretty excited about it,” Perkins said.

After using the same move to fake out Tolbert on another possession, Perkins dunked over him.

Perkins got to try out a lot of other baseline moves against the overmatched Tolbert and the Warriors’ other would-be defenders, scoring 27 points--two under his career playoff best--as the Lakers beat Golden State, 123-107, Sunday at the Oakland Coliseum Arena to take a 3-1 lead in their NBA Western Conference semifinal series.

Exploiting the Warriors’ size disadvantage, the Lakers went inside to Perkins, who made 10 of 13 shots and seven of 11 free throws. He also had nine rebounds and two assists.

“Coach (Mike Dunleavy) emphasized at the beginning of the game that we had to take it inside, and once they saw the mismatch and I was hitting some shots, they decided to stay with me,” Perkins said. “When the Warriors had their little team in there, we took advantage of it . . . and when they went big, we still took advantage of it, because they were pressing us and we were able to go to the low post any time they doubled.”

With the Lakers trailing, 52-46, after the Warriors opened the second quarter with a 20-4 run, Perkins helped the Lakers regain command, scoring five consecutive points on a 13-2 run to end the half.

Perkins, who scored 13 first-half points, helped carry the Lakers in the third quarter, scoring 12 more. He made four of five shots and sank four of six free throws.

The Warriors started center Alton Lister against Perkins, but Lister was ineffective. So they went to Tolbert, who tried to use his strength to push Perkins out of the spot where he likes to set up on the right baseline.

But Tolbert’s strong-arm tactics didn’t work. On one possession, Perkins elbowed Tolbert to the floor and made a layup.

“Each guy played me differently, and I had to adjust,” Perkins said. “They all push me, but you’ve just got to work hard and make sure that you don’t get called for a foul.”

Shorter and smaller than Perkins (who is 6 feet 9, 257 pounds), Tolbert (6-8, 240) was unable to contain him.

“He’s got long arms and he’s taller than I am, so he can shoot over me,” Tolbert said. “He’s tough for anybody to guard. I felt the only thing I could do was to push him out.”

Although Perkins has given the Lakers consistent production throughout the series, he has been overshadowed by forward James Worthy, who averaged a team-high 28 points in the first three games, including 36 in Friday’s 115-112 victory. But Sunday the Lakers went to Perkins instead of Worthy, who missed 12 of 18 shots and scored 16 points.

“We have a lot of versatility on this team,” Worthy said. “Sam can post up and I can post up.”

After averaging 13.5 points and 7.4 rebounds during the regular season, Perkins has increased his output in the playoffs to 17 points and 7.7 rebounds.

And his play has been even more vital for the Lakers in this series because center Vlade Divac, playing with a wrist injury, has been ineffective. After averaging 16 points and 10.3 rebounds when the Lakers swept the Houston Rockets in the first round, Divac has averaged only eight points and 5.7 rebounds against Golden State.

After acquiring Perkins from the Dallas Mavericks, it took the Lakers the first half of the season to realize that he was such a potent force on the low post.

“We are looking for him more in the playoffs,” Laker guard Magic Johnson said. “We didn’t know he had this. When he was with Dallas, he didn’t show us this. We were going to the other guys, and in the last two months of the season we went into him a lot more.”