Lakers Snooze, but Refuse to Lose

Sunday arrived, and all the Lakers were safely tucked away in their hotel rooms. Or so they say. This was deadline-by-honor system, after all, one imposed by Coach Del Harris for the first time, though he left it to players to pick the limit. They went with midnight.

The first quarter arrived about 1:15 in the afternoon, and the Lakers were on their heels, falling behind by 17 points within 11 minutes and trailing by 18 in the second period to a Detroit Piston team that was seven games under .500 and had lost five in a row. Lights out, indeed.

The second half arrived, and then so did the Lakers. They cut the deficit to two points by the end of the third quarter, trailed for all but 54 seconds of the fourth before gutting out a trip to overtime, in which they finally got past the Pistons, 105-103, before 22,076, completing a sweep of the four-game Eastern swing.

Shaquille O’Neal, continuing to post huge numbers on offense, had a game-high 35 points along with 12 rebounds and Nick Van Exel scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime, but the Lakers couldn’t manage their first lead until 99-98 with 2:41 remaining in overtime. And they never pulled more than four ahead, that 104-100 cushion coming when Rick Fox was fouled intentionally and made the one free throw that turned out to be the difference.

O’Neal played 49 minutes, one off his season high, while Fox went 47 and Eddie Jones 45. Robert Horry almost surely would also have reached the 40s had he not limped badly early in the fourth quarter before the strained Achilles’ tendon ended his day. Good thing they were all rested.

Whether they were all in agreement with Harris’ new form of clock management, that’s another matter.

“If you’re doing something all year long and then you change it, I don’t think it’s good,” Van Exel said.

Most players, including the point guard, had no problem with the concept. Of course, they also dared anyone to show it was a good move, getting off to a horrible start, if not their worst start of the season. It was 20-8 after six minutes and 30-13 after 11 minutes. The Lakers had as many turnovers as field goals, six.

Even at their worst moment--the tough part being deciding exactly when that was, given the numerous options--they had reason to remain optimistic. The Pistons were the team that were trashing them.

Two days earlier, Detroit had blown an 18-point lead in the final 8:46 and lost at home to the Boston Celtics. A game that may ultimately cost Alvin Gentry the chance to be named permanent coach came just after the Pistons had lost by two against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which came just after the Pistons had lost in overtime to the Chicago Bulls.

Not that the Lakers were aware of this or anything.

“We knew that they were capable of caving in,” Harris said.

It got worse for the Lakers before it got better, but only slightly worse, the deficit reaching 18 several times in the second quarter but mostly holding steady. It hit 18 again early in the third before they decided to make an appearance.

A 17-2 charge soon after got them a 65-65 tie with 5:21 left in the third period, the first time they had not trailed. Another slip was saved by another rally--from nine down with 4 1/2 minutes to go in regulation to a 13-4 rally, capped by Kobe Bryant’s free throw with 34 seconds remaining that forced overtime.

Van Exel, weaving through traffic, got layups on consecutive halfcourt possessions for a 99-98 edge. The Pistons took the lead back once more before O’Neal went to work with back-to-back huge offensive rebounds. The first came as he turned a missed three-pointer by Bryant into a slam dunk, the second as Bryant missed another from nearly the same spot and O’Neal, unable to fully control the carom, spiked the ball into the ground and out to Fox.

Fox penetrated and passed to Jones, who dunked with 59.4 seconds left to make it 103-100. Fox added the late free throw, offsetting the three-pointer by Lindsey Hunter with 1.6 seconds remaining.

Cave-in.

The Pistons had lost for the 20th time after being tied or ahead at the start of the fourth quarter. The Lakers had won for the fifth game in a row and the 10th in the last 11 outings. Just as much, the Lakers had survived, apparently awake enough to realize as much.

*

* CLEVELAND 94, CLIPPERS 93

L.A. was only one foul short in the closing seconds of an unlikely comeback against Cavaliers. C5