The Lakers Have a Lot in Reserve

All you need to know about Sunday night at the Forum was that Sean Rooks, Rumeal Robinson and Kobe Bryant played in the fourth quarter. Together.

Which is more than can be said for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who came in without Kevin Garnett and then simply came apart at the seams. The Lakers’ contribution was shooting 61% the first half and 52.6% in all, claiming their first easy win of the season, 110-86, before 15,212. Shaquille O’Neal had 22 points and 10 rebounds and Nick Van Exel scored 23 points.

“It’s been a long time since we had a game with breathing space and gave a lot of time to the bench players,” Coach Del Harris said.

It has been even longer since they had a game with breathing space and didn’t end up in a struggle. Without getting too specific about the exact date, it was last season.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, especially with another stretch of three games in four nights starting Tuesday, Harris played O’Neal 35 minutes, Eddie Jones 32 and Van Exel only 30, while Jerome Kersey was pulled after 17 when his strained Achilles’ tendon flared again. Elden Campbell was held to 26--but not because he was being disciplined.

That made for several winners. The Lakers and the Laker reserves.

Derek Fisher, in the rotation anyway, got experience against lottery pick Stephon Marbury, making four of five shots and finishing with nine points, four steals and two assists.

Bryant, held out of two of the three previous games, got 22 minutes, more than any non-starter.

Robinson, having gone from the starting shooting guard to third string, played seven minutes, not much, especially since they were all in the fourth quarter, but more than in two of his previous three outings.

Rooks, having disappeared from the radar screen long ago after entering the season as the No. 1 big man off the bench, played eight minutes.

“Minnesota is by no means a slouch team,” Fisher said. “They play hard and physical. We felt like when we played them the first time, they defended us the hardest of anybody.

“We’re at a time in the season when we want to see some improvement every game. We may not win every game, but if we can get better all the time, we can be satisfied.”

Their improvement Sunday was obvious.

“Putting a team away when we had them down,” Fisher said.

The Lakers’ biggest win of the season before this was by 14 points, done twice against the Phoenix Suns. There had been three other double-digit victories, although one was a double-overtime game at Houston and hardly comfortable.

But there had been more about the ones that got away, prompting players early on to lament their own lack of killer instinct. Never was there a more glaring example than exactly one week earlier, when the Lakers led the Nuggets by 20 points at halftime and 26 with 3:55 left in the third period and then had to make a fourth-quarter stand.

The time, the Lakers, leading from the start, needed a little less than four minutes to go up by 10 points and not even the first quarter for a 20-point cushion. That came at 37-17 with 23 seconds remaining on the third of Van Exel’s four three-pointers in five tries.

They shot 73.7% (14 of 19) the opening period and only slightly slowed down the second, to 50%, but also while widening the lead to 23 points on several occasions. The Timberwolves couldn’t even walk to the locker room for halftime without running into problems--Coach Flip Saunders got a technical.

At 61 points, the Lakers had their highest-scoring half of the season, bettering the 57 at Golden State on Nov. 19. The impending collapse never materialized.

“I call that one the bully instinct,” O’Neal said. “We didn’t let the lead get away.”

The Timberwolves got no closer than 20 points the rest of the way, ultimately ending in the 24-point defeat, just after losing to Utah and Seattle. Their chance to recover comes at home against Houston or at Chicago, and the sprained foot may keep Garnett sidelined for both.

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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 22 OF 82

* Record 15-7

* Standing 2nd place

Pacific Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 22 Overall 1987-88 16-6 62-20 1986-87 17-5 65-17 1984-85 14-8 62-20 1979-80 14-8 60-22 1971-72 19-3 69-13

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Note: The five teams above all won NBA championships

THE SHAQ SCOREBOARD

Basketball Numbers

* Sunday’s Game:

*--*

Min FG FT Reb Blk Pts 35 10-14 2-4 10 1 22

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* 1996-97 Season Averages: *--*

Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 38.9 .587 .476 13.2 2.7 24.9

*--*

* 1995-96 Season Averages: *--*

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

*--*

Money Numbers

* Sunday’s Salary: $130,658.53

* Season Totals $2,874,487.66

* FACTOID: Phoenix’s Paul Westphal scored 25 points in game 22 of the 1979-80 season and the Suns handed the Lakers their third consecutive loss, 126-112. “We’re all starting to get concerned,” Laker forward Jamaal Wilkes said. “We have showed we have potential, but we aren’t a championship team yet.”