Rooks Makes a Nice Contribution

He helped a team and a psyche at the same time. And Sean Rooks thought he simply would be filling in for Elden Campbell.

“I don’t suppose we would have won any of these last four without Sean,” Laker Coach Del Harris said.

If Rooks has been a huge boost for the Lakers in the last week, after Campbell went out with a bruised buttock after a hard fall, imagine what it has meant to him, having only waited the first six months to make a contribution anywhere near this. In for games before Wednesday night at Utah, he had been averaging 17.3 points, 8.8 rebounds, two blocks and shooting 62.8%.

“Being able to go out and contribute and just help us overcome the the bad run we’ve been having with injuries, that’s a very good feeling,” Rooks said. “I’m just glad to go out and do some positive things until the starters come back.”

Even when one came back, Campbell on Tuesday at Golden State, and Rooks moved back to a reserve role, he still got 20 points to tie a season high and seven rebounds.

“The more time I get, the better I feel out there,” he said. “The guys are having more confidence in me.

“I can tell. The way they’re talking to me and the whole aura. I guess I’m feeling more confident, so I probably also feel that the guys have a lot more confidence in me.”

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Wednesday was the Lakers’ 28th consecutive game without Shaquille O’Neal--and maybe the last. It’s unlikely an announcement on his activation would be made more than a few hours before the return, but Friday against the Phoenix Suns remains a good possibility because an examination is scheduled for earlier in the day.

That plan will be derailed if doctors decide the knee has not responded well to the increased activity of the last week, much like the return of Robert Horry was adjusted twice. So far, though, all the reports have been positive.

“He’s been ready,” Harris said, “but they [doctors] want to be extra cautious.”