Laker Defense Really Makes Overtime Pay

The statement came not in the first half as Shaquille O’Neal powered David Robinson around the lane. It did not even come around the midway point of the fourth quarter, when the Lakers were down by 10 points to a team that could match their size and athleticism up front.

It came later, after the Lakers forced overtime. There, finally, they made Thursday night’s loudest proclamation, one that got an exclamation point when it led to the 109-100 victory over the San Antonio Spurs before 20,557 in the Alamodome.

The Lakers blocked three shots in the five-minute extra period.

They allowed the Spurs to make one basket, a 22-footer by Sean Elliott with 24 seconds remaining that proved insignificant.

They surrendered only four points in all, a pair of early free throws by Robinson, part of his 27 points and 14 rebounds, and the Elliott jumper.

“That was the will the guys had,” Eddie Jones said after playing all 53 minutes. “We were not going to let anything go unchallenged.”

So they didn’t, putting another stamp on the early season as a team that wants to be known for defense. That this sixth consecutive victory to start came after the Spurs shot 59.4% the first half--”We were rather embarrassed,” Coach Del Harris said--made the improvement that came later all the more obvious.

Not that this was the first such example. No team had hit triple figures in the first five games, and the Spurs were at 96 heading into overtime. In shooting defense, the Lakers were No. 6 in the league at the start of play Thursday, with only one club having broken 44%.

San Antonio, with center Robinson back and star-in-the-making Tim Duncan riding shotgun at power forward, came in with a 6-1 record and a four-game winning streak and finished at 49.3%. It’s just that they didn’t finish well.

“They did the job, no question,” Robinson said. “We were up by 10 and were not able to keep our rhythm going. We had some good looks and missed them, but you’ve got to give them credit.”

Counting the end of regulation, the Lakers dominated the final 7:06, outscoring the Spurs, 19-4. Which is how it came to be that the team that is most feared for its potent offense, and even disregarded by some as true championship contenders because of defense, improved to 6-0 and earned the second-best opening in its Los Angeles era.

“I thought our guys displayed a tremendous will to win this basketball game,” Harris said. “And that’s what we look for more than anything on our team.

“The early returns are good. I’m very proud what our team has accomplished the first six games. But never more than tonight.”

The Lakers displayed other things in the process. Jones finished with 26 points, seven assists and three steals. O’Neal, continuing to increase his playing time with each outing, went 43 minutes this time and collected 34 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks, although there were also seven turnovers. And Nick Van Exel played.

That could have been impressive enough, lasting 38 minutes, including the final 13:53, two days after painful back spasms forced him from the game at Dallas late in the second quarter and a day after sitting up was a tough enough task and practice wasn’t even a consideration. But then Van Exel, after missing seven of his first 11 attempts, got the Lakers to overtime by directing O’Neal to the left side of the court, getting the right side all to himself, and making a 20-footer with 7.1 seconds remaining.

“I knew they were going to foul him [O’Neal],” said Van Exel, who was kept company by a heating pad most every time he was out of the game, usually while sprawled by the bench on his stomach. “So I told him to clear out. He gave me the room to do what I needed to do.”

All the Lakers did that soon enough.

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Milwaukee’s Glenn Robinson scored 32 points, his third game in a row of 30 or more, to lead the Bucks to a 102-94 victory. C3