Lakers Beaten by Stoudamire Triple-Double

The line Friday night on Raptor point guard Damon Stoudamire: 21 points, 10 assists, 10 rebounds, his second career triple-double, pushing a quad with the seven turnovers.

The line on Laker point guard Nick Van Exel: one of 14 from the field, three points, four assists, four turnovers.

The line from Nick Van Exel:

“I need to do something. Right now, I’m killing the team.”

Not that there wasn’t plenty of blame to go around after Toronto built a 13-point lead in the second quarter and beat the Lakers, 93-92, before 27,357 at the SkyDome. Poor rebounding. Poor shooting, at 38.6%. Crucial turnovers, including an errant lob pass to Shaquille O’Neal under the basket that could have won the game in the final second.

But Van Exel took it upon himself to take it himself. Maybe not just for this one, the Lakers’ second consecutive loss after a 3-0 start, but for the season that has opened with him shooting 28.1% and averaging 9.2 points and 7.6 assists, the latter not so bad considering it’s on a club struggling to score.

“I haven’t been scoring and I need to score to help the team,” he said. “I haven’t been playing my game all season long.

“I haven’t been making shots. Just missing the shots. It’s not with the offense, just with me.”

So, he says, the level of frustration is high. He meant for himself, though no one could blame him for meaning the team as a whole, even as most around him dismiss this offense of three yards and a cloud of dust as the result of so many new players being integrated.

Believe who you want.

O’Neal, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds? “Am I worried? No, not at all.”

Van Exel? “Yeah, it’s somewhat of a concern. We haven’t scored 100 points all season. We came in here and let Toronto beat us. We can’t let that happen. It hurts. It’s frustrating. Especially for me when I’m not playing well.”

Coach Del Harris has searched for a spark, all the way to giving rookie Derek Fisher big minutes in the second half of recent games, and beyond: Friday, Eddie Jones, the starting shooting guard and sometime small forward, ran the offense for the first 4:27 of the fourth quarter in a close game.

Van Exel returned for the final 7:33. But when Stoudamire hit a 20-footer on one possession and then broke down Van Exel to get down the lane for a layup on the next, Harris made another move. He put Jones, his best backcourt defender, on Stoudamire and Van Exel on Hubert Davis.

That was with 2:57 left, after a Laker timeout. Stoudamire, off to a good start after being named rookie of the year in 1995-96, made a three-point basket about a minute later, his only shot after the defensive switch. But it turned out to be the only one the Raptors would need--it provided a 93-83 lead and the winning points.

“If you let me hold the ball for 20 seconds every possession, I’m sure I can do the same thing,” Van Exel said, noting the way Stoudamire can control the Toronto offense. “You let any point guard in that situation every time, I’m sure they could do the same thing.”

And this game in particular?

“He went around me that one time in the fourth quarter. All in all, he hit shots over me. I can’t do anything if he’s hitting shots over me.”

Said Stoudamire: “Some of those shots I hit were tough shots. Very tough. They played good defense all night.”

Good thing, because the offense wasn’t getting it done for the Lakers. Again.

As if getting outrebounded by a team that starts Zan Tabak and Benoit Benjamin at the power spots, as if giving up 10 boards to the 5-foot-10 point guard alone, wasn’t enough, there were the turnovers. Two within three possessions after the Lakers had closed within 86-83 with 5:14 to play hurt. The final one, on a night when they committed only 13, not only a season low but a good showing at any time, finished them for good:

Jones took the ball in after a timeout with 2.2 seconds remaining and lobbed it to O’Neal. Carlos Rogers deflected it to the baseline, where O’Neal retrieved it and sent up a wild shot at the buzzer that wasn’t close.

End of the game.

But the problems continue.

* CLIPPERS LOSE

The New York Knicks edged them in overtime, 88-81. C4

(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 5 OF 82

* Record 3-2

* Standing 1st place

Pacific Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 5 Overall 1987-88 5-0 62-20 1986-87 4-1 65-17 1984-85 2-3 62-20 1979-80 3-2 60-22 1971-72 4-1 69-13

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Note: The five teams above all won NBA championships THE SHAQ SCOREBOARD

Basketball Numbers

* Friday’s Game:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 36 .611 .429 10 0 25

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1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 39.0 .618 .512 13.2 2.4 26.2

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1995-96 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 36.0 .573 .487 11.0 2.1 26.6

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Money Numbers

* Friday’s Salary $130,658.53

* Season Totals $653,292.65

* FACTOID: Rookie Michael Cooper, starting for an injured Magic Johnson, scored the first Coop-a-loop of his career during game five of the 1979-80 season. The Coop-a-loop was a slam dunk from a lob pass. Getting the assist on the very first Coop-a-loop? Don Ford.