Best Things in Life Aren’t Free for Divac

Game 2, 1995 Western Conference semifinals, Lakers-Spurs, 83-83, 4.6 seconds remaining. Vlade Divac at the line.

He had two chances to put the underdog Lakers ahead in the game and, barring greater heroics by a Spur, even the best-of-seven matchup and steal home-court advantage just as the series was about to shift from San Antonio to Los Angeles.

Divac, to that point seven for 10 in the first two games, took the ball for the biggest free throws of his life. His shot hit the front of the rim.

He had a second chance. Both benches and 26,127 in the Alamodome stood. Divac, ball in hand, took a deep breath, exhaled, and released. Long, hitting the back of the rim.

Divac would later say that had the Lakers won, he would have guaranteed a victory in the series and a trip to the conference finals to meet, as it turned out, Houston, a team they had swept during the regular season. Instead, his miss gave the Spurs enough life to win in overtime, to prompt Spur guard Avery Johnson to say, “They gave us back the game,” and for San Antonio to advance in six games.

In one sense, the Lakers recovered from the emotional drain of that night, playing well the rest of the way and temporarily gaining the momentum with an overtime victory in Game 5 back in Texas thanks to Nick Van Exel. In another, they could never really rebound, not from a 0-2 deficit against a team that had dominated them, even intimidated them, during the regular season.

Either way, the Lakers headed into the summer and Divac headed into a state of depression.

“I was thinking all summer long about it,” he said. “I said, ‘Give me just one more chance to go. Same kind of scenario.’ ”

He’ll probably always feel it. “It still bothers me,” he said. “Always will.”

How much depends on the day.

“Depends on how things go with the team,” Divac said. “If we’re winning and everybody’s happy, then I don’t think about it. But when things are struggling, I try to figure out what’s wrong and I always come back to: ‘That thing back a year ago started all those things.’ But that’s part of basketball.”

That thing became such a part of Divac’s game that he went into a tailspin at the line, going from a respectable 72% in his career on free throws to 63.4% the first 35 appearances of this season.

The moment frozen in time has now, finally, begun to thaw. It started Jan. 9 against Minnesota, when he connected from the line with 12.2 seconds remaining to complete a three-point play and give the Lakers a 104-101 lead in an eventual 106-104 victory. Three nights later against the Rockets, he made 12 of 15 free throws, including one with 38 seconds left that became the winning point.

In the 11 games since coming through against Minnesota and Houston, he has improved to 65.6%, not a major jump but at least a step in the right direction.

“Now, when I go on the court, I feel so good,” Divac said. “I feel powerful, like nobody can stop me. I want to go to the basket and force the team to foul me. Then they’re going to put me on the line and I’m going to make it.”

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The Line on Vlade

Vlade Divac’s free-throw percentage has taken a substantial drop this season.

Season: Percentage

1989-90: .708

1990-91: .703

1991-92*: .768

1992-93: .689

1993-94: .686

1994-95: .777

1995-96**: .637

*--Played only 36 games because of back injury.

**--Through 47 games.