Knight Helps Rescue Lakers

The Lakers on Tuesday night finally broke 100, then didn’t stop there, if only because the game wouldn’t stop either. They broke thousands of hearts. They broke an opponent’s impressive winning streak. They broke in a rookie, the one you don’t know, against Hakeem Olajuwon at that, then watched him shoot an airball free throw with the outcome still undecided.

This came as they were holding together, without their two best players down the stretch, and holding off the Houston Rockets in a showdown of Western Conference powers that lasted three hours and four minutes, before the Lakers finally claimed a 126-115 double-overtime victory before 16,285 at the Summit and a national-television audience.

The team that had struggled, losing to Toronto and Charlotte and being booed off the court at halftime at home two nights earlier, the team that couldn’t even score more than 100 points, beat the team that was 6-0. With Shaquille O’Neal and Eddie Jones on the bench after fouling out with 17 seconds and 9:46 left in regulation, respectively. With Nick Van Exel having come to life. And, with Travis Knight.

“It was improbable,” Coach Del Harris said, his shirt soaked in sweat. “All the outcomes.”

Van Exel, for example. He came in shooting 31.3% overall and 16.7% on three-point tries and groping to find the slightest sign of his game, then went two for 11 from the field in the first half.

Then he made eight of 16 shots from the start of the third quarter. In the two five-minute extra periods, he was four for six, including two of three from behind the arc.

“It was a big game against a good team,” he said after finishing with 29 points on 10-for-27 shooting and a season-high 14 assists in 54 minutes without a turnover. “I played decent, so I’ll take it.”

Knight will take anything. His first six games: three appearances, five minutes, total.

Next thing he knows, O’Neal fouls out after 34 points (20 in the opening quarter) and 15 rebounds. Sean Rooks fouls out with 3:08 remaining in the second overtime. Corie Blount is still in street clothes nursing a bruised thigh. Kurt Rambis is still an assistant coach.

“It was the only option I had,” Harris said. “We had to have somebody tall. It was Kurt or him.”

Harris went with Knight, the 7-foot rookie from Connecticut who has promise but is supposed to reach it through practice and garbage time. Now, with 3:08 showing in the second overtime, the Lakers clinging to a 118-113 lead, he was sent in against Olajuwon.

“This is the last place I expected to be,” Knight said. “But strange things happen sometimes.

“I wasn’t really scared. Just thinking a lot. My mind was going 100 mph. Sometimes it’s hard to play basketball like that. I was thinking a million things.”

The Rockets, not surprisingly, went right into Olajuwon, who was immediately met by Knight, Cedric Ceballos and Byron Scott with a triple-team. Tied up there, Olajuwon got a three-second violation.

Charles Barkley, en route to 33 points and 16 rebounds while playing all 58 minutes, missed a three-point try that would have cut the deficit to 118-116 and Van Exel responded with a three-pointer to give the Lakers a 121-113 edge with 2:04 left.

The Rockets called timeout, then attacked Knight again. Olajuwon got the ball on the left post, then spun away from the gangly rookie before help could arrive, finishing along the baseline with a layup. That was the only damage inflicted on Knight, and he had a chance to get the points back when fouled with 1:33 to go.

He stepped to the line and shot.

And hit nothing.

“It kind of lightened the mood,” he said. “I knew the guys were going to give me a bad time about it, so I had to relax.”

The second try swished, putting the Lakers up, 122-115. When the Rockets called another timeout, Harris practically ran to midcourt to high-five Knight. He did it again in the huddle, encouragement that paid off again when Van Exel’s driving layup missed, but the rookie tipped it in with a minute remaining.

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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 7 OF 82

* Record 5-2

* Standing 1st place

Pacific Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 7 Overall 1987-88 7-0 62-20 1986-87 6-1 65-17 1984-85 3-4 62-20 1979-80 5-2 60-22 1971-72 6-1 69-13

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Note: The five teams above all won NBA championships

THE SHAQ SCOREBOARD

Basketball Numbers

Tuesday’s Game:

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Min FG FT Reb Blk Pts 42 15-24 4-8 15 2 34

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1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 39.4 .594 .490 14.1 2.6 26.3

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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

* Tuesday’s Salary $130,658.53

* Season Totals $914,609.71

* FACTOID: In game seven of the 1984-85 season, Alex English scored 28 points as the Lakers’ slow start continued with a 146-130 loss to Denver. After the game, the Lakers put 7-5 center Chuck Nevitt, a crowd favorite, on waivers, to make room for Earl Jones.