They Don’t Back-to-Back Down

On his first attempt in the NBA slam dunk contest during all-star weekend, Byron Scott will . . .

“You crazy?” he said. “I don’t enter that stuff. That’s for young people. That’s for kids.”

Wednesday night at the Forum, it was for 35-year-olds too. One in particular, whose drive down the lane and slam despite the challenge from two Indiana big men was part of the 15 points by Scott off the bench and a big part of the Lakers’ 79-76 victory over the Indiana Pacers before 16,139.

“I thought it was the turning point,” Coach Del Harris said of the stuff from Scott. “I felt it turned on the crowd and it picked our guys up.

“We followed that with another basket, and they had to take a timeout. And in that timeout, we were rejuvenated.”

The dunk came with 4:56 remaining, put the Lakers ahead to stay and started the rally that clinched their first four-game winning streak of the season, their first victory on the second night of a back-to-back, and their return to first place in the Pacific Division.

Scott also played stretches on Reggie Miller, when Eddie Jones had foul trouble and when the Lakers went small, playing a key role in Miller making only three of 15 shots and scoring only 14 points.

It was a close game throughout, with the Pacers leading as late as 68-67 with 5:14 remaining. But that’s when Scott’s dunk helped the Lakers take control for good with a 10-2 run for a 77-70 lead with 2:15 left.

Appropriately enough for a game in which only one starter made at least half his shots--Shaquille O’Neal at 13 of 22 for 33 points along with 10 rebounds and six blocks--both offenses sputtered from there. The Pacers didn’t score again until 58 seconds remained.

“I felt our guys had the proper mind-set,” Harris said. “They knew it would be a defensive battle and a physical battle and it was. What you saw was two rams going at it for control of the mountaintop and it was our mountain tonight.”

As if it wasn’t enough that the Lakers were playing a second consecutive night again--although the opponent was as well for the first time in the six back-to-backs--Jones was finishing an especially tough double.

Mitch Richmond to Miller.

All-star to all-star.

Outside shooter to outside shooter.

Physical inside player to player who can get inside with drives.

“That’s definitely tough,” Jones said. “Guys who can turn around and give you 50 on a night. It’s a big challenge, but that’s why I’m in the NBA, to play the best. It just so happens you’re going against the best on back-to-back nights.”

He earned the compliments of Harris the night before after Richmond, averaging 21.4 points a game, was held to 17 on six-of-17 shooting in 42 minutes while committing six turnovers.

Miller also came in at 21.4 a game, making him the only real scoring threat on a Pacer team squeezing out 93.1 points an outing. Jones’ afternoon of preparation consisted mostly of nothing--doing nothing so he could save as much energy for later.

Even when the Lakers went through an early-evening shootaround, opting for that rather than the usual morning game-day session because of the midnight return from Sacramento, he returned to the locker room right after to sit some more, knowing two hours of being run through picks was ahead.

Then came the payoff. Miller, after a four-of-13 showing the night before at Utah, opened two of seven the first half, good for seven points. Not that it was only him--the Pacers, normally an average-shooting team, were 12 of 43 (27.9%) before intermission, with Dale Davis missing all six tries and Erick Dampier also at two of seven.

To think how close it came to being a home game for Davis. The Lakers, after all, almost had him instead of O’Neal, pretty much coming to terms on a seven-year, $43-million contract with the underrated power forward early in the free-agent bidding process before deciding to gamble and keep after the ultimate prize.

Davis, tempted after originally figuring it was close to a lock he would stay with the Pacers, decided not to wait for the Lakers, who wanted to package him with another available big man like Brian Williams or Chris Gatling. He went back home again to Indiana for a similar deal.

“I think about it every blue moon,” Davis said. “It’s just one of those things. I’m happy with the way things worked out.”

Not on this night.

The Pacers had only 30 points at halftime, though that only put them seven behind the Lakers, themselves at 31.4%. The L.A. lead was 56-53 after the third quarter, both teams playing for the sixth time in nine days and looking the part.

(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 24 OF 82

* Record: 17-7

* Standing: 1st 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

Wednesday’s Game:

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Min FG FT Reb Blk Pts 42 13-22 7-13 10 6 33

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1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Blk Pts 39.1 .578 .484 13.1 2.9 25.3

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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

* Wednesday’s Salary: $130,658.53

* Season Totals: $3,135,804.72

* FACTOID: In Game 24 of the 1987-88 season, the Lakers went on a 29-6 run in the second quarter and easily defeated the Kings for the 34th consecutive time, 117-103. When asked why he didn’t call a timeout during the Lakers’ run, Sacramento Coach Bill Russell said: “Because I could have called timeouts from now until Easter and it wouldn’t have helped.”