Lakers Looking West, Not South

What, them worry?

The Lakers have left it to everyone else to organize the funeral procession and decide who Jerry West should pick in the lottery once this team without any talent other than Shaquille O’Neal becomes a pancake on the bottom of the standings. They are choosing to play on, as if they have a chance to survive.

Suckers?

Realists.

What looks to some as foolish optimism may actually be the calm of confidence. The Lakers know they’re in deep water, but they have also decided against taking a deep breath because no one’s going under. Down in the standings, maybe. Down and out, no.

The only ones counting them out today are the ones who haven’t been paying attention. Not only last week during the Shaq-less victory over the Chicago Bulls, but the last three seasons or so, other tests of their fortitude--lengthy injuries to Cedric Ceballos and Eddie Jones, a terrible finish to 1994-95 before they finished the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round--came and went with impressive results.

OK, so maybe this is a little more than a test, and maybe the roster is considerably different, but the heart beats in a couple of the carry-overs, Nick Van Exel and Jones.

In other words, they interrupt this free fall to play the rest of the season.

“The only thing we should fear is a letdown,” said Byron Scott, a veteran and a team captain. “We still have the ability to beat any team in the league. We’ve proven that with and without Shaq.”

Or as Coach Del Harris said when asked Thursday night--after the Lakers had been so devastated at news that their all-star center would be sidelined eight to 10 weeks that they tied the NBA season high by scoring 132 points--if he’s worried about the health of O’Neal:

“Of course we’re concerned. But on the other hand, we have to go about our business.”

The Lake Show must go on.

“This is the time when everybody has to reach down and figure out what kind of player they are,” said Derek Fisher, the rookie backup point guard. “It’s kind of an assessment time for us as a team and as individuals, to see if we can really respond like a championship team.

“We’re just going to have to figure out a way to win every night. That’s what good teams do.”

Which the Lakers still are. Just not quite as good.

It helps that they can look out on the horizon of the Western Conference in search of all these teams that will lap them in the standings and perhaps force the O’Neal comeback to begin without first-round home-court advantage . . . and still see some daylight.

It wasn’t lost on the Lakers, after all, that when the extent of the injury was learned Thursday afternoon they had a 1 1/2-game lead over Utah for the top spot, and were 2 1/2 games ahead of Seattle in the Pacific Division, without having come close to hitting stride.

They had looked real good two games in a row, what, maybe twice? If that. The Lakers were playing OK and were still No. 1 in a conference that goes four deep, 4 1/2, depending on what day you take the Portland Trail Blazers’ temperature.

That’s why they have no interest in talking about how the West was lost. Because, though no bold predictions are forthcoming, if only because Van Exel’s wallet is already committed elsewhere, they’re not so sure it has been.

The SuperSonics?

They’re at the Forum on Sunday afternoon, after getting emotional leader Nate McMillan back this week. Anyone who saw the difference his abbreviated presence made last spring in the finals knows he could be a significant addition. Then again, these are the SuperSonics--fuse in one hand, blowtorch in the other.

The Houston Rockets?

“They’ll be back,” Harris said.

They never really went too far away in the first place, even with that six-game losing streak heading into the All-Star break. By Thursday afternoon, when the various X-rays that came back gave the appearance that O’Neal’s left knee, with a partially torn this and a fractured that, had actually been in a demolition derby and not an awkward landing, Houston was all of three games behind.

But they know injuries too. Charles Barkley had just returned from his badly sprained ankle but Clyde Drexler could sit out one more month because of his hamstring problem.

“With all their components, I think Houston is probably the most dangerous there is, as far as catching us,” Laker forward Jerome Kersey said. “I don’t see anyone more dangerous, because of their experience and talent when healthy.”

The Jazz?

The only real news is that Coach Jerry Sloan just got a contract extension. Yawn. Meanwhile, Utah heads toward another 50-victory season, still not getting the respect of the Rockets and SuperSonics and, this season, the Lakers.

The Trail Blazers, having faded, are more of a concern for the Lakers in head-to-head meetings than in the standings. That makes it three teams trying to take over as king of the hill, regular-season division. Then the playoffs start, along with O’Neal’s projected comeback.

“Mainly, we just have to worry about our own games,” Harris said. “We can’t get caught up in the standings. If you take care of your own business, things usually work out.”

It’s that taking care of business that’s going to be the tough part.