As Season Nears, Players Are Jazzed

The Lakers, after six consecutive days of practice, return to exhibition action tonight when they play the Clippers in St. Louis. Three more games follow as the trip winds back West, then two contests at the Forum, then five more days of workouts.

Then, the Utah Jazz in the season opener Oct. 31.

The team that eliminated the Lakers from the playoffs last spring. The team whose center, Greg Ostertag, ripped Shaquille O’Neal after the series, saying, “Hakeem [Olajuwon] is a classier guy” and, “Nobody thinks I’ve done anything all year. Especially Shaq. But I guess that’s why he’s playing golf right now and I’m in the Western Conference finals.”

“That’s the way I like it as a player,” said Eddie Jones, disappointed only in that the Jazz will be short-handed because of John Stockton’s knee injury. “The team that beats you, you want to face them fast.”

Added Robert Horry, “It’s the first game of the year, so I’ll be hyped anyway. But it’s a lot of things. It’s the team that put you out, the team that went to the finals, the first game. There’s a lot of things that go into the thinking. It’ll be a big game.”

Especially for some centers.

“I’m not worried about Ostertag,” O’Neal said. “He can’t hold me. Ostertag is a scrub. My knee was bothering me [during the playoffs]. I had that big brace. But that’s OK. He blocked some shots. That ain’t real life. Real life is here.

“If he’s so tough, I dare him and [Coach] Jerry Sloan not to double-team me. I dare them.”

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Nick Van Exel, his left knee feeling tender again, did not practice Thursday, but he is expected to face the Clippers after sitting out the first two exhibitions. His return should mean fewer minutes for Jon Barry at point guard, a position he rarely played his first five years in the NBA but one the Lakers would like him to feel more comfortable playing.

A natural shooting guard, Barry was signed as a free agent with the hope that he could also provide emergency service at the point if needed, behind Van Exel and Derek Fisher. But uncertainty over Van Exel’s knee makes it all the more important that Barry improve at the position.

“I’m going to have to get a hell of a lot better than I was,” he said of the exhibitions against the Denver Nuggets and Phoenix Suns, when he played mostly point guard. “I was horrible.

“I wasn’t focused. I just rushed. I couldn’t get us into our offensive sets. Horrible.”