NOTES : Fox Becomes Mr. Tough Guy

Try as Coach Del Harris did the day before--”It has nothing to do with Greg Foster, or Foster Grant. It has to do with two basketball teams going at each other”--his Lakers were not going to let the opportunity pass. Or at least one was not.

To the surprise of no one, it was Rick Fox who put Foster on his back at the earliest possible moment Sunday at the Great Western Forum, needing only until the fifth Jazz possession to deliver a flagrant foul as the Utah center came down the lane for a dunk.

“It was just a guy going to the basket and I decided to make sure he didn’t get an easy shot,” Fox said.

Uh-huh. He didn’t notice it was Foster or anything like that.

“Let’s just say it was a coincidence,” Fox said. “That’s what Rod would want to hear.”

As in Rod Thorn, the NBA high sheriff in charge of discipline. As it was, Fox’s two-hand shove into the chest earned a flagrant foul, but also some redemption for Foster’s throat-slitting motion at the Laker bench late in the Jazz win the previous game. A hard screen that smacked Foster minutes earlier also earned a smile from Fox, the most upset among his teammates from the March 28 incident at the Delta Center.

“I’m sure it won’t be the end of it, which is good,” Fox said. “Now they know we’re going to meet force with force.”

*

Nick Van Exel returned from his two-game suspension in a big way, getting a warm reception from the fans and then finishing with 20 points on seven-of-10 shooting and seven assists in the victory over the Jazz.

*

The Lakers left after the game for Palm Desert and open mini-camp today. They’re at College of the Desert until Wednesday, return to Southwest L.A. College on Thursday and open the playoffs against the Trail Blazers on Friday.