Lakers Lose Player and Game, but Their Confidence Remains

By SCOTT HOWARD-COOPER

March 22, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SEATTLE —

Flying this one out of the missing man formation, the Lakers of Thursday were nothing like the Lakers of Tuesday. Or maybe it’s that the SuperSonics weren’t either.

Seattle responded from the 23-point loss two nights earlier at the Forum to win the rematch, 104-93, before 17,072 at KeyArena, beating a Laker team that went without the suspended Cedric Ceballos and got only 28 minutes from foul-plagued Eddie Jones.

The Lakers, proving maybe they are the same after all, were barely fazed.

“We got off to kind of a slow start tonight, but I don’t think that team can beat us in a series,” Laker guard Nick Van Exel said. “ We feel great.”

And this came after the SuperSonics had pushed their lead in the Pacific Division to a commanding 9 1/2 games with 17 to play. They needed this one, though, for a tie in the season series, because the Lakers have beaten them in nine of the last 13 outings, playoffs included.

Magic Johnson, in his first start since the comeback, took Ceballos’ place at small forward and got 17 points and seven rebounds in 39 minutes, the latter tying his season high. Vlade Divac added 21 points and nine rebounds, while Van Exel had a game-high 26 points. The other starting guard, Jones, the star in Tuesday’s victory, had seven points and five fouls.

The beginning was a struggle for many of the Lakers--they committed 11 turnovers before intermission, four by Elden Campbell, and they shot only five free throws. The SuperSonics, meanwhile, were 19 of 19 from the line.

Seattle led, 59-46, at that point and pushed the advantage to 18 late in the third quarter. With Van Exel scoring 11 of his points in the fourth period, the Lakers made a run from there, getting as close as 93-88 with 2:19 remaining.

The deficit was still a workable 98-91 with 1:04 left. It could have become even closer, but Van Exel’s three-point shot on the next possession rattled out, and the Lakers had to start fouling to stop the clock.

The SuperSonics didn’t give them another chance. Shawn Kemp made two free throws, part of his 18 points and 11 rebounds, and then Hersey Hawkins and Gary Payton both made a pair, the last for a 104-93 cushion with 16 seconds to play. The Lakers, using what legs they had, were finally finished.

They didn’t want to think about what could have been, if Ceballos had been here.

“You’re missing the 20-something points, plus the rotations short a man,” Johnson said. “But Cedric was gone. We played hard. We played well.”

Then, responding to another Ceballos question, he began to sound more terse.

“I’m not worried about who’s here and who’s not here,” Johnson said. “I don’t want to hear about if we had Cedric. Forget Cedric. He’s not here. We’re going to worry about who’s in this locker room. That’s it. Point blank. You don’t want to be here, don’t be here.”

Eleven Lakers, it appeared, wanted to be here.

“We knew what to do,” Divac said. “We’re professionals.”

Laker Notes

The Lakers came in having committed the fourth-fewest turnovers a game, at 14.5, behind only walk-it-up Cleveland, Chicago and Orlando. Then they had 20. . . . Seattle’s Hersey Hawkins: “It was a win, but it wasn’t the type of win that we were real happy with. We wanted to let them know we were going to protect our home court.” . . . Magic Johnson said his tender right leg survived the 39 minutes without any problems. . . . Fastbreak points: SuperSonics 14, Lakers 0.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Magic Marker

Tracking Magic Johnson’s comeback

THURSDAY’S GAME

*--*

Min. FG FT Pts. Reb. Ast. 39 7-18 (.389) 2-4 (.500) 17 7 3

*--*

SEASON AVERAGES

*--*

Min. FG% FT% Pts. Reb. Ast. 27.8 .474 .816 14.2 5.3 6.8

*--*

CAREER AVERAGES