Lakers Will Take It Minute by Minute

A slim series lead isn’t the only thing the Lakers are protecting.

Game 2 against the Portland Trail Blazers comes today at noon at the Forum with two starters, only the point guard and the superstar center, being nursed along with monitored minutes.

That further disrupts a rotation that doesn’t need much outside help for that. Nick Van Exel and Shaquille O’Neal will play on, just not on and on and on.

This doesn’t appear to be anything other than precautionary with O’Neal, back two weeks after two months on the sideline because of ligament and bone damage in the left knee, but he clearly is not yet 100%. Soreness in the joint persists, even if it’s not as much as the soreness he’s inflicting on other teams, and he played only 35 minutes in Friday’s victory--the same or fewer than in two of the four regular-season contests after doctors lifted all restrictions on his time.

That’s about where Coach Del Harris would like to keep him, in the 34- to 38-minute range, a decision he said comes from common sense and not medical sense.

O’Neal was lifted after 4:11 of the first quarter. He played only 15 minutes the first half, even while proving nearly unstoppable with 21 points. He didn’t play double-digit minutes in any of the first three quarters, going seven, eight and nine. But then the Lakers got the payoff they wanted.

O’Neal went all but the final 46 seconds of the fourth quarter, making five of eight shots and scoring 14 points, including seven in a late 13-2 run that blew the game open. It eventually became a 95-77 final, a deceiving margin of victory.

“I want to make sure we keep him in and out and keep him fresh,” Harris said. “We don’t want to over-fatigue his knee.”

Said O’Neal, who finished with 46 points, a career playoff high, and 11 rebounds in the so-called limited action: “I’m just adjusting to whatever he does.”

As for Van Exel, his sore left knee has been a concern since it forced him out for three games earlier this month, but also an accepted one. The Lakers knew at the time it would plague him for the remainder of the season, until true rest could come in the summer, and that’s exactly what has happened.

Van Exel plays. Van Exel hurts.

“It’s real frustrating,” he said. “But like I’ve said, I’m not going to talk about the knee. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to help the team win.”

Harris tries to lighten the load as much as possible, but the problem is that it comes during the playoffs, when Van Exel would like to be relied on more, not less. It’s magnified because Harris is hesitant to put too much on a rookie in a tough series, a rookie such as backup Derek Fisher.

Van Exel also played 35 minutes in Game 1--the same or fewer than in three of his previous five games since the return. He averaged 37.2 each outing in the regular season.

It wasn’t only O’Neal and Van Exel, though. Only one starter, Elden Campbell, played more minutes in the playoff opener than they averaged in the previous six months. Harris used 10 players in the first quarter alone.

“Any time that substitutions are being dictated to you by foul trouble, injury, fatigue or attitude, it’s a problem,” Harris said, conceding the fine line he is walking and the problems it can bring.

“Coaches like substitutions to have to do with the flow of the game and matchup dictations. That’s actually coaching, as opposed to reacting.”

Not that his imprint wasn’t still on how the minutes were distributed. Or weren’t.

Kobe Bryant went from 19.7 minutes the final nine games of the regular season--and 10.2 points per game--to getting in for the final 46 seconds Friday, as the time at backup shooting guard went to Byron Scott. Bryant went in the same time as Corie Blount, the starting power forward five games earlier.

“Not that Byron is a better player than Kobe Bryant, because he isn’t better than Kobe Bryant,” Harris said in explaining his preference for experience. “But he’s got a lot of rings on those fingers.”

At least it wasn’t a surprise. Bryant was told by Harris before the series began that he would get only spot duty for a while.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TODAY’S GAME

Lakers vs. Trail Blazers

* Site: Forum

* Time: noon

* TV: Channel 4

CONFIDENCE GAME

Friday’s victory was key after the Trail Blazers dominated the regular season. C11