A New Mourning Dawns at Forum

With a 27-point, 11-rebound performance Sunday night against the Lakers, Charlotte’s Alonzo Mourning led the Hornets to their first victory at the Forum, 105-101.

Given how thoroughly Mourning dominated the second half, it probably won’t be their last triumph on the Lakers’ home court, where they had lost their previous five games.

“I’m a rookie and I’m going to have plenty of years here, God willing,” said Mourning, who scored only two points in the first quarter and had 11 at the half, when the Hornets trailed, 61-51. “And hopefully, we can be successful in this place. This was a good way to start my career here.”

Mourning started the comeback that enabled the Hornets to overcome a 20-point first-half deficit and overpower the Lakers, who started the game without Elden Campbell (sprained left foot) and finished it without Vlade Divac.

Divac was assessed the first ejection of his career with 5:16 left in the third quarter, apparently for throwing the ball to Mourning at the free-throw line as Divac headed to the Laker bench.

“I think that’s not the time for that,” Divac said of his ejection. “If I hurt him or something, maybe, but to throw the ball behind him because I was walking to the bench, I don’t understand. I was surprised.”

After the technical fouls on Divac and one on Coach Randy Pfund, Muggsy Bogues made two free throws to give Charlotte a 69-68 lead. The game seesawed, and the Lakers rallied late in the fourth quarter to take a 97-96 lead with 2:10 left, but Mourning was too much for the Lakers.

“He was very impressive,” Pfund said of Mourning, the second pick in the draft last year. “He’s a big guy with a lot of strength and they (the officials) let him throw his weight around down there.

“To force a player like Vlade to miss that opportunity to be a factor in the game was very unfortunate. We were very unfortunate to lose a player on an inconsequential type of thing. We were in a situation without Elden where we were light on the front line, and losing Vlade was the killer.”

The Lakers, who came undone in the third quarter when they were six for 26 from the floor, last led at 99-98. When Byron Scott’s three-point attempt caromed off the rim, Bogues grabbed the rebound and fed an alley-oop pass to Larry Johnson, who jammed it in for two of his 20 points and a 100-99 Charlotte lead with 1:18 to play.

After a Laker timeout, James Worthy’s jumper was rebounded by the Hornets. A jumper by Johnson hit the rim but Kendall Gill tipped it in.

Anthony Peeler missed a three-pointer from the left side and Mourning made a pair of free throws for a 104-99 lead. A Worthy dunk cut it to 104-101, but Gill made a free throw to provide the final margin.

“He works so hard. He’s just relentless on the boards,” Charlotte Coach Allan Bristow said of Mourning. “He got into his rhythm and started dominating defensively. When our defense holds up, we have a chance. Zo makes us a team that’s respectable defensively.”

Laker Notes

Doug Christie’s debut will probably be Friday at Philadelphia, which would be exactly two weeks after he signed his contract. However, that depends on how much five-on-five practice time he can get before then. . . . Vlade Divac’s ejection meant playing time for James Edwards, his first appearance in five games. . . . Charlotte forward Kenny Gattison was not with the team because of personal reasons.

Benoit Benjamin was three of 10 for eight points with eight rebounds in 23 minutes. “One thing that really sticks in my mind is your offense can be consistent and it can be inconsistent, but you can be consistent defensively night in and night out, and that’s how I want to be,” he said. “I think my offense will get better as time goes on. I just want to continue to improve and be positive and let the chips fall where they may. If I can get out on the court and give the effort every game, that’s all you can ask. If that’s not good enough, I don’t know what you can do.”