Divac Is Shut Out but Wins

Vlade Divac was having no impact on the game, a sight the Lakers were probably real shocked to see, but he was having quite a time.

He stood near the bench, removed the towel from around his neck and swung it around as the Charlotte Hornets--his Charlotte Hornets--took control down the stretch. He high-fived Coach Dave Cowens during the final seconds of their 88-78 victory over the Lakers on Wednesday night, of which Divac’s contribution was 17 minutes, zero points and four rebounds. He high-fived every teammate within immediate reach.

Seven years as a Laker, culminating with an off-season trade to the Hornets for Kobe Bryant, had been overtaken by one game against the Lakers, the enemy for the night. Divac being Divac, though, he couldn’t really muster the fire, soft-hearted to the end and then beyond, caught up in playing against his buddies, not an opponent.

“Totally weird,” he said later, after the Lakers dropped to 3-1 amid the roar of 24,042 inside Charlotte Coliseum. “I’ve never found myself in this situation. I’m looking this way, I’m looking that way. It was so confusing. I thought too much about this game, all day long.”

He visited some of the Lakers at their hotel in the afternoon, then saw some more before tip-off. He was getting worked up, all right, but in all the wrong ways.

By tip-off, he was pressing, big time. And that was the bright spot, his first quarter: seven minutes.

“When I tried to do a lot of things in a short period of time, then I confused myself,” Divac said. “That’s what happened to me. It felt like something was in my stomach all game long.”

The Lakers, their season-opening win streak broken at three, know the feeling.

They held the Hornets to just 33 points and 33.3% shooting the first half, but still led by only eight. Even minus two injured starters--top scorer Glen Rice and top ballhandler Muggsy Bogues--adversity wasn’t overwhelming Charlotte any more than the Lakers.

The pace turned in the third quarter, when the Hornets scored 37 points in those 12 minutes alone, with Matt Geiger getting 14 of his team-high 22 points. Suddenly, they were not only breathing, but ahead by seven.

The Lakers were in trouble other than on the scoreboard. Not only have they yet to find any real sign of an offense, just brief glimpses that had previously been enough to get by, but now the defense was being shredded by Geiger, whose previous claim to fame was a hard foul last season that cost Shaquille O’Neal 22 games because of a fractured right thumb.

Wednesday, he caused a pain somewhere else, a power forward-center going four of six on three-pointers after not having attempted any this season and having made eight his first four years as a pro.

And it wasn’t just Geiger, who also had 10 rebounds, playing O’Neal to a statistical standoff in that category and scoring. Tony Smith, another ex-Laker, played a pivotal role with 14 points and seven assists in 23 minutes off the bench at point guard, a position he used to play only in emergency situations but now plays regularly.

“I thought he played a terrific game and was probably their most influential guy,” Laker Coach Del Harris said. “I think you’re counting on [Anthony] Mason and Geiger for big numbers.

“Tony gets 14 and seven. That’s pennies from heaven. You weren’t counting on those.”

Said Smith: “I wanted to play well, obviously. But not because I played five years in L.A. More because they’re one of the best teams in the league. But it might have helped a little bit.”

Ditto for George Zidek, who didn’t play for the Lakers but did play in Los Angeles, at UCLA. He had 10 points and six rebounds in 19 minutes, getting much of Divac’s time, as the Hornet reserves outscored their counterparts, 27-7.

“Their bench whipped our bench so well, it was hard to overcome,” Harris said.

The Lakers’ serious attempt lasted until midway through the fourth quarter, when they were still within 72-71. But Charlotte, pulling away despite shooting 41.3% for the game, went on a 10-0 run from there, earning an insurmountable 82-71 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left. Smith had five of the points.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

A Season of Expectations

The Lakers acquired nine new players this season, including Shaquille O’Neal and his $120-million contract. In turn, with big acquisitions come big expectations. Throughout the season, The Times will monitor O’Neal’s numbers along with how the team compares to some of the best Laker teams in history.

GAME 4 OF 82

* Record: 3-1

* Standing: 1st place Western Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 4 Overall 1987-88 4-0 62-20 1986-87 3-1 65-17 1984-85 1-3 62-20 1979-80 2-2 60-22 1971-72 4-0 69-13

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Note: The five teams above all won NBA championships

THE SHAQ SCOREBOARD

Basketball Numbers

Wednesday’s Game:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 42 .555 .400 10 2 22

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1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 39.0 .620 .529 14.0 3.0 26.5

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1995-96 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 36.0 .573 .487 11.0 2.12 26.6

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Money Numbers

* Sunday’s salary: $130,658.53

* Season Totals: $532,634.12

* FACTOID: Michael Cooper, after the Lakers fell to 1-3 by losing to Seattle in the fourth game of the 1984-85 season; “Sometimes we look like we don’t know what we’re doing out there.”