Nothing Is Missing in Jones’ Game

Eddie Jones made every shot he took Sunday. That silenced everyone who wondered if everything was all right with him, and it had the Forum’s fans chanting his name again, glad to see the old Eddie.

“It seems like they were waiting for me to do something,” Jones says.

When you average 17.2 points during a season and suddenly can’t crack double figures, it is natural that people want to know what’s up. Del Harris, the Laker coach, was as aware of this as anybody, saying, “I know there’s been a lot of talk on, you know, ‘What are you going to do about Eddie?’ ”

Jones had made only three shots in the Lakers’ last game at Portland. Then he tried only three shots in Game 1. The questions quickly became: Do the Trail Blazers have his number? Is there something Isaiah Rider is doing to hurt Eddie’s offense? Hey, is Eddie OK?

“In one ear, and out the other,” Eddie says.

Even so, he and backcourt partner Nick Van Exel spoke on Saturday night, and Van Exel says he told Jones that neither of them might score much against Portland in this series.

Why was that? “Because they don’t double-team,” Van Exel said of the Trail Blazers.

It would be different if the Blazers sagged back on Shaquille O’Neal and left a Laker guard alone to shoot, but they don’t. Jones averaged only 12.3 points against Portland during the season. When he was held to five points Friday, it became a topic of conversation.

Of course, Shaq was doing most of the shooting.

“I just can’t come out and force shots,” Jones says. “If we’re winning, I’m cool. So what if I get three shots? I don’t care if I don’t even shoot the basketball. I don’t want to shoot just to get my shots. We’re winning with what’s working.”

Even so, Eddie came out fast and loose for Game 2, scoring 19 points and sitting out the fourth quarter.

Jones took five shots before halftime and made them all. First came a 26-foot bomb for three points that tied the score at 12-all. Next trip downcourt, Jones buried one from 16. Then he scored twice more on running jumpers, late in the quarter.

It was a sight for Forum sore eyes: Jones in a zone.

As soon as the second half began, Eddie pumped in another three-pointer, putting the Lakers on top, 52-51. They never looked back. Midway through the third period, when Jones rolled in a lay-up on a nice pass from O’Neal to make the score 66-57, the game was in such control, Jones didn’t need to score another point.

Harris replaced him with Byron Scott with 2:23 remaining in the third. Jones took the rest of the day off.

The Laker coach said after Game 1 that he knew of talk that Portland had kept Jones in check “because they had J.R. Rider . . . or Isaiah, or whatever his name is.”

Unpredictable as ever, Rider reportedly telephoned his coach, P.J. Carlesimo, prior to Game 1, for a prank, saying he was calling from somewhere in Mexico. The coach joked in return that he knew Rider wasn’t really in Mexico “because he wouldn’t have phoned me.”

Jones--who prides himself on his defense, anyway--did effective work in Game 2 against Rider, who was six of 14 shooting over 40 minutes.

He impressed J.R., or Isaiah, or whatever his name is, up to a point.

“I take my hat off to him. He’s a great player. But Eddie isn’t doing nothing by himself,” Rider says. “It’s not like Eddie Jones is stopping me, defensively. If you’re watching the basketball game, they run Elden Campbell at me, and Shaquille O’Neal, and [Travis] Knight. As soon as I touch the ball, it’s a double-team.

“I think he did a good job of moving without the ball today. He had a good offensive game. Eddie and Nick made us pay today, for paying attention to Shaq.”

The Blazer strategy made sense. O’Neal got 46 points in Game 1 alone. Jones had scored 54 in his last five games against Portland.

L.A.’s fans were worried about him.

Now, Portland’s are.