Laker Veterans Spark 112-110 Overtime Victory

They have lost a step or two over the years, but the Lakers’ veteran players haven’t lost their pride.

Asked by Coach Randy Pfund to rescue his team from a morass of missteps and missed opportunities, the experienced players responded Sunday against the Bullets.

Fueled by Sam Perkins’ first career triple-double, a season-high 22 points by A.C. Green and a game-high 25 points by James Worthy, the Lakers rallied for a 112-110 overtime victory before 14,704 at the Capital Centre, ending a three-game losing streak.

“If it came down to anything, it came down to leadership from the vets,” said Perkins, whose 16 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists is the Lakers’ first triple-double since Magic Johnson’s on April 2, 1991. “We kept playing hard, and they gave us a lot of chances.”

Perkins, starting his second consecutive game at center, took the accomplishment in stride.

“It’s something to cherish, but it’s going to go down as a stat,” he said. “It’s here today and gone tomorrow.”

Perkins could be gone soon, too. The Lakers are said to be actively trying to trade him, but his trade value couldn’t be any higher than his value during Sunday’s comeback.

“I challenged our veteran players before the game tonight,” Pfund said. “I said although sometimes last year we lost a number of games in a row, something we are not familiar with, it’s our veteran guys I was concerned with, the veterans who need to take charge. That’s why when we were down 13 late, the thing to do seemed to be to go with the veteran guys.”

The veterans knew what to do with the many gifts presented by the Bullets, who have lost five consecutive games. The most surprising gift of all was the missed free throw by Brent Price--a 96% free throw shooter--with six seconds to play and Washington leading, 105-104. Price’s first shot bounced off the rim before he sank the second, but the miss prevented Washington from pressuring the Lakers into needing a three-pointer to tie the game.

“If you play the percentages, he’s not the guy you want at the line,” Green said, “but you want to put a first-year player on the line because I really felt the rookie was going to give us one.”

Said Worthy: “We were talking to him, and I told him he’s not as good as Mark Price (Brent’s brother, of the Cavaliers). I think that got to him.”

Nothing rattled the Laker veterans, not even a Bullet lead that peaked at 97-84 with 5:49 to play. Pfund called a timeout and the Lakers responded with a 7-0 run, and pulled even at 106 when Green twisted away from Harvey Grant for a driving layup with three seconds to play in regulation.

On their subsequent inbound pass, the Bullets squandered a chance to win in regulation when rookie Tom Gugliotta lobbed the ball into into a crowd underneath the basket, where Green eventually grabbed it and hugged it to his chest as time expired.

Pfund went with Green, Worthy, Perkins, Byron Scott and Sedale Threatt for much of the fourth quarter and all of the overtime.

“I sensed in our captains (Worthy, Green and Byron Scott) and Sedale (Threatt) and Sam, a real determination,” Pfund said. “Sometimes when you’re trailing, at a timeout you have to work to stay positive. A couple of times at those timeouts, it wasn’t looking good, but those guys stayed positive.”

Said Green: “I remember the timeout we took with 4:10 left (and Washington leading, 97-91) and I hollered to the guys, ‘There’s too much time left. There’s like a whole day left.’ ”

The Lakers made it a successful day in overtime. Although Grant opened the scoring with a 17-foot jumper, Worthy tied it with an 18-footer. Gugliotta was charged with a three-second violation on his own rebound, giving the Lakers possession for a 19-foot jumper by Perkins. That 110-108 lead was the Lakers’ first since they had a 71-70 lead with 4:18 to play in the third quarter.

Pervis Ellison tied the score with a jumper from the baseline, but Threatt made a jumper from the top of the key and Chapman missed a jumper on the Bullets’ last gasp.

“They’re a veteran ballclub, and when we had the opportunities we didn’t do it and they managed to pull it out,” said Ellison, who had 18 points.

“They started trapping a lot late in the game, and those traps bothered us a lot. They took us out of our offense.”

Said Worthy: “The vets have been there a lot and pretty much know how to win. We want to conjure that up again.”

Laker Notes

Former UCLA standout Don MacLean hasn’t gotten off the Bullets’ bench in five of the team’s last six games. . . . Sam Perkins’ jersey was stolen in Utah, so he wore No. 40 Sunday. . . . A.C. Green’s 15 rebounds tied his season-high. . . . Vlade Divac played only 18 minutes, 10 of them during the first half. . . . All five Laker starters reached double figures, only the second time that’s happened in the last 10 games.