A Little Yelling Helps to Silence All the Boos

The crowd booed in the second quarter, it booed heading into halftime. The Lakers, down 17 points to the Atlanta Hawks, were getting ripped on the court and around the court. They needed to get to the locker room. They needed sanctuary.

They got each other instead.

“Byron [Scott] was yelling, Nick [Van Exel] was yelling, I was yelling, coach was yelling,” Shaquille O’Neal said.

So why was it that the Hawks left the Forum on Sunday night with the splitting headache? Their 3-0 Western swing had crumbled into a second-half migraine, complete with an injury to Steve Smith. That, plus another impressive offensive output by defensive specialist Eddie Jones, and 19 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks by O’Neal combined to rally the Lakers to a 92-85 victory before 16,097.

The self-inflicted intermission outburst became the spark for the Lakers’ best half of the season, the first sign of a real pulse since Tuesday and for one of the few extended stretches all season. Now, to determine if it was a fluke or the wake-up call 5 1/2 games late--the 6-0 Rockets are next up.

“Now that second half is the kind of emotion and energy we’ve been looking for,” Coach Del Harris said.

Added Jones: “We knew we had to get something going. We were just standing around, letting them out-hustle us, out-rebound us, doing everything it takes to win. We know what we have to do.”

So Jones did it. Two games after making seven of eight shots and scoring 16 points at Charlotte and two nights after getting 25 points at Toronto--both Laker losses--he scored 13 in the third quarter Sunday as the Lakers outscored the Hawks, 32-15, to surge ahead for good.

“When you’re down 14, you want to make something happen,” Jones said. “That’s basically it.”

Or maybe there’s more. Jones has always been a talent on offense, a slasher and high-flier who became a crowd favorite because of his thrilling play. But his true reputation has been made on defense. He finished eighth in the league in steals last season as a second-year player and, despite his 190 pounds, he continues to have success against bigger players when moved to small forward.

But now he has started 1996-97 by averaging 16.2 points, second on the team behind the 25 of O’Neal, and about four points better than last season. With the same defense.

“I just think I’m being more aggressive,” Jones said. “A lot more aggressive, taking shots when I have them and not turning them down.”

The start for all the Lakers wasn’t what Harris had in mind. He had been looking for a good beginning, or at least a beginning with some energy “instead of waiting to see if we have to play hard that night.” What he got was the Hawks jumping out to a 12-4 lead, not to mention O’Neal getting two fouls in the same time, compounded since Sean Rooks had two personal fouls by the end of the first quarter and Corie Blount was out because of a bruised thigh.

The Lakers recovered to make it 22-22 heading into the second, and it was still tied at 30-30 with 7:53 left in the half. But not for long. The Hawks went on a 19-2 run from there, getting a three-point play followed by a pair of three-point shots.

The last of the daggers, from Mookie Blaylock, came after one of three consecutive Laker bad passes, two of which came in the backcourt. The crowd booed then and again three minutes later heading into halftime, when the Hawks had a 52-38 cushion.

The Lakers closed to 59-54 with 6:25 to play and then 62-61 with 3:07 remaining after Jones, isolated on the left side, beat Tyrone Corbin off the dribble, drove in and dunked in Dikembe Mutombo’s face.

Having all but lost the lead by then, the Hawks lost Smith with 5:09 left in the period. The sprained right ankle ended his night.

“I don’t think they would have beat us if I didn’t go down,” Smith said. “We were executing our game plan perfectly and we would have continued to dominate.”

About four minutes later, when Van Exel came down the right side and floated in a high-arcing bank, the Lakers had the lead back, 66-64. It was 70-67 heading into the final quarter, a buffer that grew to 10 points in the fourth.

* CLIPPERS: Rodney Rogers scored 22 points as the Clippers improved to 3-3 with an 81-70 victory over Minnesota. C11

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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 6 OF 82

* Record 4-2

* Standing 1st place

Pacific Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 6 Overall 1987-88 6-0 62-20 1986-87 5-1 65-17 1984-85 3-3 62-20 1979-80 4-2 60-22 1971-72 5-1 69-13

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Note: The five teams above all won NBA championships

THE SHAQ SCOREBOARD

Basketball Numbers

* Sunday’s Game:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 39 .450 .250 18 4 19

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* 1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 39.0 .587 .489 14.0 2.7 25.0

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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

* Sunday’s Salary $130,658.53

* Season Totals $783,951.18

* FACTOID: In game six of the 1987-88 season, Magic Johnson broke Jerry West’s club record for career assists and the Lakers got off to their best start in franchise history with a 147-130 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.