Rivals Marvel That Lakers Still Standing

One by one, they came through the Forum last week, trying to beat the Lakers while also trying to praise them.

Gene Littles, assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets, said Wednesday, “Nobody could imagine that the Lakers could possibly be finishing No. 1 in the Pacific Division after all that.”

Gregg Popovich, coach and general manager of the San Antonio Spurs, said Friday, “I think that might be accurate. When Shaq went down, I think a lot of people didn’t really feel they were still going to be a tough team. In some ways, they suffered from the same rap that we have, the way people talk about us not having the mental toughness that way, that it was Shaq who sort of gave them that toughness in a physical sense. And that’s obviously not been the case.”

Monday, Executive Vice President Jerry West, his Lakers having surprised and surpassed, couldn’t help but flash a grin.

“The rest of the league is shocked, huh?” he said in the wake of six victories in the last seven games. “Maybe they don’t know we have a pretty good group of players here.”

It wasn’t so much that no one knew. It’s that everyone knew the value of Shaquille O’Neal. So when he went down Feb. 12 because of a major knee injury, destined for what appears to be eight weeks on the sideline, it wasn’t much of a leap to assume the Lakers would follow. When another starter, Robert Horry, hurt his knee four days later, it wasn’t much of a step.

But here the Lakers are, two games after Horry has returned and maybe two games before O’Neal does. Here they are, at 15-11 since knees started becoming their Achilles’ heel, still standing.

Standing tall.

Thankful that the Seattle SuperSonics are still the SuperSonics, their instability raging, the Lakers have done more than just tread water, claiming a series of underwhelming victories but victories nonetheless. So guess who’s a half-game behind Seattle for the lead in the Pacific Division and tied with the Houston for third in the Western Conference?

“It’s a big surprise,” Littles said.

Maybe even inspirational?

“I don’t think there’s any question,” West said. “We’re proud of where we’ve gotten. It’s been unbelievable. It really has been.”

Inside the Laker locker room, they’re not so overwhelmed. They expected this. No, really. They swear.

“Not in here,” said Sean Rooks, who has done his part by averaging 16.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.67 blocks the last three games as the starting center. “But outside of this room, it seems like everyone is trying to be negative, about how many games we’ve lost since the injuries.

So mid-February--”When we had been left for dead by the roadside, with no hope and no pulse,” Coach Del Harris said--has turned into early April and the NBA version of a pennant race. The Lakers are close to seeing O’Neal back in uniform, and the entire team back together. He went through a full workout Monday at the Forum for the first time since the injury, just before the Rockets arrived for their practice in preparation for tonight’s game against the Clippers.

“They’ve got a good chance with him,” Houston’s Charles Barkley said of the Lakers the rest of the way, “and no chance without him.”