Van Exel Is a Shadow Of His Shooting Self : Pro basketball: Guard’s slump and Lakers’ road woes continue in 97-82 loss to the Knicks.

This must be the rope-a-dope.

Twenty-one games into the Laker season and Nick Van Exel, his signature shadow boxing after a big basket forced into temporary retirement, has yet to break through for more than a night’s worth of flurries. He’s not even consistent enough with his shot yet to be inconsistent, all the way down to 36.3% after he made only three of 13 tries Tuesday night in the 97-82 loss to the New York Knicks before 19,763 at Madison Square Garden.

Van Exel has always been streaky, but this is something else. This has been much more than a shooting slump. This has been the entire first quarter of the season, except for a couple of games.

“There’s no way to soft-pedal it,” Coach Del Harris said after the Lakers opened a six-game trip by falling to 2-8 on the road. “His shooting percentage has been down. It’s just a fact. He needs to continue to work on his shooting.”

And, more and more, his mind.

“It’s very frustrating,” Van Exel said, “because I know I can play better. I’m not helping the team. When I play better, we play better.”

Theories abound on the cause. He’s shooting flat. He’s too often forced to take an undesirable shot simply to beat the 24-second clock when the rest of the Laker offense breaks down, something Harris figures happens about twice a game. Defenses are learning how to play him after two full seasons.

Or, all of the above?

“I’ve got to start penetrating, being more aggressive, going to the basket,” Van Exel said. “Whatever. I don’t have a clue.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good as far as shooting the ball goes. They’re just not going in. Tonight, I missed a lot of layups and easy shots.”

He tried to compensate--nine assists against only one turnover, six rebounds. But it wasn’t enough.

For a game, at least, he wasn’t alone: Eddie Jones, the other starter in the backcourt, made two of six shots. Anthony Peeler, back after sitting out five games because of a sore right foot, made two of five. Sedale Threatt, one of six.

That Peeler played at all, however, was significant. The Lakers were not even sure until after Sunday’s game that he would accompany them on the early legs of the trip, and by Tuesday afternoon he felt good enough walking around his hotel room to give the foot a try.

“I need to know what kind of pain it will take, instead of not playing at all,” he said.

Come the game, Peeler found out. He felt enough discomfort in the six minutes to cause concern that he can not go long term this way, but was pleased he went out for a test drive.

“Might as well get used to the pain,” he said.

Anyway, the four Laker guards were a combined 26.7% (eight of 30). The Lakers as a whole were 37.8%, and that was with Cedric Ceballos going 12 of 23, en route to a game-high 26 points, and Elden Campbell eight of 16.

All this kept them in the game until midway through the third quarter, with the starting forwards accounting for five of the first six Laker baskets in the period. They were within seven at 60-53. The Knicks were even concerned enough to call a timeout.

From there, though, New York went on a 13-0 run over a stretch of 2:09, pushed the lead to 20 and put the game away. The Lakers did their part by going scoreless for 4:29.

Laker Notes

Doug Christie, traded from the Lakers to New York before last season, is hoping for another deal soon, one to spring him from the end of the Knick bench. The former Pepperdine star has not played in 10 of the last 11 games, and the lone appearance was four minutes on Dec. 3. He has only six appearances, worth 26 minutes, in the Knicks’ 21 games. . . . The three officials--Jack Nies, Lee Jones and Leroy Richardson--were greeted with loud applause during pregame introductions as the NBA’s regular referees returned following the lockout. “I took it easy on them for a couple of calls tonight because it was their first night back,” New York’s Patrick Ewing said.