Blount Sharpens His Game

Three days off had given way to one practice the day before and then, suddenly, a spot in the opening lineup and 39 minutes Wednesday. And the ankle held.

“It was sore,” Corie Blount said as he soaked the lower part of his left leg in a bucket of ice water. “But not sore enough to stop playing.”

Not after waiting all this time, and certainly not on a night like this. Having finally rejoined the rotation about a week and a half earlier, Blount took it to the next step against Golden State, all the way to his best night as a Laker with 17 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks in a 109-101 victory over the Warriors before 17,009 at the Forum.

The victory came with 26 points and seven rebounds from Elden Campbell; 24 points, seven rebounds and seven assists from Eddie Jones; and 14 assists from Nick Van Exel, and despite 37 points from Latrell Sprewell. But mostly, it came because Blount tied his career highs in scoring, rebounding and minutes, and because he filled the same void that Travis Knight had filled before him as starting power forward by default.

It came two games after he sprained the left ankle after landing on Kevin Willis’ foot, one game after being relegated to the sidelines because of the injury, and two days after Blount was still kept out of workouts. He was finally able to take part again Tuesday, performing well enough even after the layoff to convince Coach Del Harris to make him a starter.

“It’s Corie’s game ball,” Harris said.

“It wasn’t just the stats. He did a lot of the little things--keeping balls alive, doing an adequate defensive job on Joe Smith, who’s a good player.”

Harris went through with the move he had been considering the day before and made Blount the starting power forward in place of Knight, who had been out of practice the previous two days because medication to check an eye injury caused minor problems and he has been out of sync for the last couple weeks. It was a switch that was prompted, however, by the inactivity and not the slump.

“I think he had a really good game against Golden State the last time,” Harris said of Knight, “and I would have stayed with him, as a matter of fact.”

A really good game--16 points and 15 rebounds, 11 on offense, in the Lakers’ Jan. 24 victory. Hoping to duplicate that, also off the bench, Knight instead copied his Monday and Tuesday. He watched a lot.

Knight entered with 3:34 left in the first quarter, then got his first foul 15 seconds later. Then got his second foul 22 seconds after that. He was able to finish the period without any more difficulties in kind.

In other words, Knight waited until a minute and two seconds into the second quarter for his third personal, and a seat on the bench. Having decided against using protective eyewear--Knight-vision goggles?--after an inadvertent elbow Sunday from New Jersey’s Eric Montross caused bleeding in the right retina, other problems had become more pressing.

Blount, meanwhile, was doing his best to make sure this wasn’t a temporary switch. His return to prominence, two months after a thumb injury put him on the injured list and a month after he returned but to the end of the bench, already had included 7.3 rebounds and 6.3 points in just 22.5 minutes his previous four appearances. Now, returning after a one-game absence because of a sprained ankle, it included nine boards the first half alone.

That helped the Lakers to a 55-51 lead at intermission. That and Golden State’s Joe Smith missing two slam dunks in the second quarter.

Blount already had turned his third start of the season into his second pro double-double by the end of the third quarter, duplicating the feat of March 4, 1994, while a member of the Chicago Bulls. And his 16 points to that stage left him just one away from his career high, set that same night against the Trail Blazers.

The Lakers only wished they were in a position to celebrate, their 14-point cushion with 2:26 remaining in the period having been cut to six by the start of the fourth. The Warriors were still within 103-97 with 2:18 left in the game, and then 105-99 with 1:28 to play, but could get no closer.