In the End, Ball Fails to Find the Hot Hands

SALT LAKE CITY — Oh, if only Byron Scott could have gotten that last shot, because he had such a hot hand. Or, if only Robert Horry could have taken that last shot, because he could do no wrong.

If only somebody could have shot that last shot.

But in the span of a couple of seconds, Nick Van Exel couldn’t get one off, and all the arguments in the world that Karl Malone had hacked him were of no use, because the Lakers had lost Game 2 of their series with the Utah Jazz, 103-101.

What a waste. Together, Scott and Horry came through Tuesday night with outstanding performances that no Laker or Salt Laker could have expected. No amount of film-watching or strategy-planning could have prepared the Jazz for 24 points (in 25 minutes) from Scott, or for seven three-pointers (without a miss) from Horry, of all people.

When things are going your way like that, it doesn’t much matter that Eddie Jones goes scoreless for the entire evening, or that Elden Campbell gets the ball into the basket only twice. You get 45 points from Scott and Horry, you think it’s got to be your night.

It wasn’t. Shaquille O’Neal, who played well but shot poorly, missed a shot in the final minute that could have won this thing for the Lakers. Instead, Malone got the rebound and John Stockton got the ball to Antoine Carr, who got caught in an O’Neal-Horry sandwich with 2.1 seconds to play.

Carr swished both free throws. That left the Lakers with a timeout to talk things over, and whatever got said, Jerome Kersey’s in-bounds pass went to Van Exel, at least 25 feet from the basket.

And there to swallow him alive was Malone, eight inches taller and 85 pounds heavier. The Mailman didn’t loiter around the hoop. He came out to wherever the ball was, smothering Van Exel before he could even release a shot of any kind.

Furious, feeling he was fouled, Van Exel snapped at every official he could find, as did O’Neal. But the loss was already in the books, meaning that the Lakers will need to sweep Games 3 and 4 at the Forum if they are to stand a reasonable chance of winning this series.

“We were lucky to survive this one,” Malone said. “They were ready for us tonight.”

Everything was in place for the Lakers to even up this Western Conference playoff at a game apiece.

Right off the bat, it was good to see the Lakers ring up 55 points in the first half, after scoring 77 in Sunday’s entire game.

Three players were primarily responsible:

--Horry, about one bad game away from being reported to the Missing Persons Bureau, finally found that shooting groove from his Houston Rocket days.

Horry connected on seven consecutive three-pointers--nothing but net, on most of them--as the Jazz practically dared him to shoot. Horry’s offense had virtually disappeared (five baskets in six games), but he came through with his greatest game as a Laker since joining the team on Jan. 10, playing more minutes than any man on either side.

--Scott, appearing in his 148th NBA playoff game, brought along his Showtime trigger finger.

Banging away from long range, Scott scored nearly as many points (12) in one half as he did in his five previous playoff games (13). Del Harris--a great believer in hot hands--stuck with Scott in the second half. He responded with a vintage performance that must have made Magic Johnson and James Worthy feel like youngbloods again.

--O’Neal, insulted by an impression that he had been “shut down” by Greg Ostertag, took the ball to the hoop much stronger than he did two days before.

O’Neal had 17 points by halftime, matching his Game 1 total. The only downside was, Shaq had to sit for much of the third quarter, because of foul trouble. But that was because he came out playing so much more aggressively.

Utah was afraid of that.

Ostertag had actually spoken of O’Neal in glowing terms, comparing his strength to a truck’s and hoping to hold him under 40 points. Shaq, however, had become convinced that Ostertag was “bragging about how he shut me down,” which made even Karl Malone uneasy, not eager to see his old Dream Team partner get any more riled than necessary.

Looking to generate more offense, the Lakers were happy to see O’Neal motivated, no matter how, and absolutely thrilled to get some production from Horry. Plus, there stood Scott, shooting Utah’s lights out. Absolutely everything was going the Lakers’ way.

All they needed was one more shot, to make the night complete.

They never got it.