‘It Hurts,’ but Lakers Try to Put Loss Behind

There’s nothing like losing a game you should have won to bring out the. . . . well, what, in a team?

In fact, the Lakers don’t have any idea how they’re going to act in their next playoff game Friday night at the Forum. But since they’re down, 2-0, after losing to the San Antonio Spurs, 97-90, in overtime Monday night at the Alamodome, the Lakers are reduced to hoping for the best.

They just aren’t sure about it.

“This game hurts,” Sam Bowie said. “It hurts a lot.”

Inspections of the damage to Laker psyches are sure to start at the point of origin, the two free throws Vlade Divac shanked with 4.6 seconds left in regulation and the score tied, 83-83.

Fair or not, that’s the way the game shakes down, and as well as Divac worked defensively against David Robinson, it’s totally forgotten when you’ve got something as incendiary as those two missed free throws that could have won the game.

Laker Coach Del Harris said if you’re going to lose a game, it’s actually better to lose a close one than a blowout because you can take something positive out of it.

However, Bowie wasn’t convinced, and neither were most of the rest of the Lakers.

“Obviously that’s a coach’s job to make sure the players’ frame of mind is in the right place, but this was a very, very difficult loss for the ball club,” Bowie said.

“Let’s call a spade a spade. The Spurs were very fortunate to win. Now we’re down, 2-0, and it’s a difficult task ahead of us.”

The Lakers said they were weary for Game 1, but they also thought they could steal Game 2 from the Spurs. They almost were right.

San Antonio’s Doc Rivers said the Spurs were lucky. Can we make that very lucky?

“Yes, very lucky,” Rivers said. “They outplayed us, they got the loose balls, they did everything they needed to do--except win.”

Nick Van Exel did just about everything except sit down. Actually, he did sit for one minute, but played the other 52, which was long enough for him to work up a healthy dislike for the officiating and ponder just how the Lakers are going to deal with the defeat.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Hopefully, we’ll forget about it. I think we have a good chance to since Del is making a good move and giving us the day off. We get back to the Forum and get our fans behind us, I think we’ll do a little better.”

Maybe a change of venue will help Cedric Ceballos find himself because he hasn’t been around much so far. Ceballos is four for 15 and has nine points in two games.

It isn’t a pretty picture for Ceballos. Even Dennis Rodman, who likes hair dye a lot more than scoring, has outshot Ceballos, getting 28 points thus far.

But in the Laker camp, there was something in the air. Harris sniffed and quickly identified it.

“I’d say frustration would be the word permeating our locker room,” he said. “But I also expect we’ll come out more determined than ever in Game 3.”

That remains to be seen. Bowie saw the trouble all around him.

“The young guys, the Van Exels and the Eddie Joneses, they were hurt,” he said. “This loss affected their emotions. This game beat ‘em up. I think the veterans need to help them.

“It’ll be interesting to see how we come out from the opening bell Friday night.”

Jones lamented a lost chance and said he would listen to Bowie’s words of advice.

“Sam is the old head on this team,” Jones said. “But it’s very emotionally tough to forget. This is a game we could have stolen right here.

“I guess we just have to try to put it behind us. It’s done now.”