Lakers Starting to Click

Some high-priced equipment broke down Tuesday night at San Jose Arena: San Jose Arena.

The expensive machinery that is supposed to be the potent Laker offense, meanwhile, continued to generate toward full power, or at least toward finding a stride. It may have come against the Golden State Warriors, the worst the NBA has to offer in stopping the ball, but the 112-109 victory before 18,742 came with 57.5% shooting from the field and marked their third consecutive game in triple digits, practically cause for celebration considering how the season started.

Practically.

“We’re doing better,” Coach Del Harris said. “I don’t want to make any rash statements. We’ve got to do it day to day. Our goal is to get better. And we are getting better.”

Nick Van Exel had 27 points and 12 assists against three turnovers in 45 minutes as the Lakers won for the fourth time in five outings, improving to 8-3. Shaquille O’Neal added 26 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. Eddie Jones contributed 18 points, helping to offset the game-high 33 by Golden State’s Latrell Sprewell.

The Warriors trailed, 107-104, with 48 seconds remaining, but relying on defense isn’t much of an idea, not with a team that came in giving up the most points per game and the highest shooting percentage in the league. Now, they needed a couple of stops.

Their hopes started well--the Lakers were forced to call a 20-second timeout when Corie Blount couldn’t get the ball in bounds. But after the huddle, Jerome Kersey threw to Jones, allowing L.A. to get up the court. Van Exel got the ball high on the right side.

Kersey came out for the screen and roll, set the pick and peeled off. Van Exel flipped him a pass, then left the rest up to Kersey, who drove the final 15 feet, practically uncontested, for a dunk. With 27 seconds remaining, the Lakers were up, 109-104.

Then it was their turn to play defense, with one difference. They have Shaquille O’Neal.

His third block of the game came with about 18 seconds left, a swat of Mark Price’s runner down the left side that also turned away the Warriors for good. Golden State only appeared within striking range because of a three-pointer by Sprewell at the buzzer.

O’Neal knew going in it could be a big day--the chance to play a team that had already surrendered 30-point games to five big men the first nine games coming within hours of the release of his third rap CD.

“Would I listen to it? Yes,” Coach Del Harris said, laughing. “Would I continue to listen to it? Probably not.

“But notice, the key word is probably. I’m willing to be open minded. Getting the tattoo was my concession to the ‘90s. But I don’t think my next step is to become a rapmaster.”

How about an electrician? As if the Warriors’ season hadn’t seemed long enough already, what with the 3-6 start, there was the first quarter in the Silicon Valley, allegedly a center of technology: The clocks were screwed up.

The 24-second buzzer went off during a Laker possession when there should have been plenty of time. And it went off . . . and off . . . and off. For about 40 seconds in all before there was piece and quiet. Temporarily.

The malfunctions continued--there was no shot clock for a stretch, so the public-address announcer gave 10-second warnings over the loudspeaker--with play being stopped four times the first 10 minutes because of similar glitches, two resulting in seven-minute breaks. In the second such break, they finally brought balls back out so the players could shoot and stay warm.

This, of course, was no reasonable explanation for what came next. Rumeal Robinson, with the fewest appearances among Lakers on the roster all season, with 18 minutes in all, suddenly went in ahead of Kobe Bryant, coming off his best game, at shooting guard. Not only went in, but dominated.

He took four shots and made four. Two were three-pointers. One was a hanging 12-footer in the lane at the buzzer. He blocked Price’s driving layup.

From the end of the bench to the forefront of the game, Robinson played a huge role as the Lakers went from seven points down at his arrival to five up at the end of the first quarter. No power shortages there.

The electrical problems disappeared at the start of the second quarter, and, soon enough, so did the Laker lead as Sprewell followed his 13 points of the first period with 11 more before halftime. It was 57-57 at intermission, then an 88-82 edge for the Lakers after three and, come to think of it, they didn’t really need a 24-second clock anyway.

(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 11 OF 82

* Record 8-3

* Standing 2nd place

Pacific Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 3 Overall 1987-88 3-0 62-20 1986-87 2-1 65-17 1984-85 1-2 62-20 1979-80 2-1 60-22 1971-72 3-0 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 45 12-19 2-8 12 3 26

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1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 38.8 .605 .506 12.5 2.4 24.9

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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: $1,437,243.83

* FACTOID: In the 11th game of the 1987-88 season, the Lakers defeat Denver at the Forum, 127-119, as A.C. Green has a career-high 28 points and 16 rebounds. Green is the lowest-paid Laker starter, making $200,000.