Van Exel Burns the Suns

By SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER

March 9, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PHOENIX —

If Thursday at Sacramento was about history for the Lakers, Friday at America West Arena was about erasing some, or at least making it part of the very distant past.

Remember the last time they came here? It was Nov. 25, the 13th game of the season, the night the Lakers blew a nine-point lead with 57 seconds left and lost at the buzzer. In this, the first time back since the debacle, they crushed the Phoenix Suns, 119-97, before 19,023, making sure there would be no such collapse by running up a 23-point cushion in the third quarter.

Remember Nick Van Exel against the Kings, 24 hours earlier? He made one of eight shots while much of the attention was focused on Magic Johnson becoming only the second player in NBA history to get 10,000 assists, then got ragged during the late-night flight to Arizona by assistant coaches Larry Drew and Michael Cooper about how they hoped he wasn’t going to take the next game off too.

Van Exel didn’t. He had 28 points on 10-for-16 shooting, three three-point baskets, and 13 assists against only one turnover.

“I had to redeem myself,” Van Exel said.

Consider it done.

This was the Van Exel that scares other teams. The one that dominates.

The hip pointer from almost two weeks ago remains a bother, to the point that it still hurts to sneeze and that he has used a pad, held on by tape, that goes all the way around his stomach and back, the last four games. But there was no sign of any problem as he shredded whatever passed for a Phoenix defense.

He missed his first shot, a three-pointer, then took off. Fellow Lakers, having seen this kind of game before from their point guard, knew what to do.

“Give him the ball and get out of the way,” said Cedric Ceballos, who had another good game against his former team with 23 points and 10 rebounds. “He’ll get it done for you.”

Van Exel had 17 points and six assists in the first quarter, propelling the Lakers to 38-21 advantage. He was at 23 and 10, respectively, by halftime, when the lead was 20.

Even if he leveled out from there, the damage had been done.

“I was feeling it, so I wanted the ball,” Van Exel said. “I was trying to make something happen.”

What happened was, the Suns disappeared for good. Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons, with a Sunday afternoon game at Orlando ahead, waved the white flag early, taking out Charles Barkley with 5:51 left in the third quarter and keeping him on the bench the rest of the night.

Barkley played only 29 minutes, got 13 points and 13 rebounds and refused to talk afterward, maybe because he was frustrated by his team’s showing. Or maybe because nothing he could say would be louder than the Lakers’ statement.

Laker Notes

As well as the Lakers have played the last two months, and even with about six weeks still left in the regular season, their chances of catching Seattle for the Pacific Division title are all but mathematically finished. “I would say so, unless sickness or injury comes up [for the SuperSonics],” Coach Del Harris said. “We’re [8 1/2] games back and I don’t see them losing eight games the rest of the way.” At the same time, the Lakers also have an 8 1/2-game lead over the Suns for a second-place finish in the division and still have a chance to move up a couple of places in the Western Conference standings, which could be the difference between playing Houston in the first round or Golden State. “I think what we’ve got to do is play the best ball we can and win as many games as we can,” Harris said. “We can’t worry about the standings. In the end, the standings are not a total predicator. Houston certainly proved that last year.” . . . Elden Campbell, on being part of history by making the basket that gave Magic Johnson career assist No. 10,000: “I can add that to my highlight film. My kids won’t believe I ever had any.”

Johnson got his first real stretch at small forward, compared to spot play there before. Looking to power through the undersized Suns, who used both Danny Manning and Mario Bennett out of position at center, Harris played Johnson on the front line with different combinations among Vlade Divac, Derek Strong and Campbell. Michael Finley then had to match up with Johnson, giving away two inches and 35 pounds. Johnson finished with 12 points, eight assists, six rebounds and six turnovers. . . . Harris, who played at Milligan College in Tennessee and coached for nine seasons at Earlham College in Indiana, will be inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame Monday in Tulsa, Okla. He’ll miss Laker practice that day, but will be back for Tuesday’s game against Portland at the Forum.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Magic Marker

Tracking Magic Johnson’s comeback

FRIDAY’S GAME

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Min. FG FT Pts. Reb. Ast. 32 4-7 (.571) 4-4 (1.000) 12 6 8

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SEASON AVERAGES

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Min. FG% FT% Pts. Reb. Ast. 26.1 .482 .798 14.0 5.7 6.8

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CAREER AVERAGES