If the Lakers Hope to Make a Championship Run, They Need Eddie Jones to... : SHOW UP

“Players are made in the playoffs.”

--Eddie Jones

*

Or unmade.

The Lakers’ starting shooting guard arrives at the playoffs anew and finds his reputation there a work in progress, even after three seasons, five rounds, 23 games, the shiny performance in 1996 against Houston and the proud showing of 1997 against Portland. Because there are the counterbalances, especially noteworthy now since Jones’ disappearance in the second round last spring against Utah.

As reputation builders go, it doesn’t exactly rank up there with two-time all-star, finisher on the break, respected defender, solid three-point weapon, etc. Eddie Jones took a playoff vacation again--that’s what they said.

He knows it too. He heard it.

“I heard it all summer long,” he said.

He’d be back home in Philadelphia, call friends in Los Angeles, and they would tell him what some fan said on talk radio or who was cutting him up in what article. He winced, drove himself harder, and got off to a very impressive start in 1997-98, being named NBA player of the month for November.

So he knows he needs to pick it up this time around, starting with a rematch against Portland. His counterpart, Isaiah Rider, is talking trash, again. His critics are watching.

Jones insists the five-game performance against the Jazz--37.8% shooting, 10.2 points--doesn’t put extra pressure on him, that it motivates him more than anything else, that he can’t wait for Friday night at the Great Western Forum. It’s excitement. Not the need to prove.

“Actually,” he says, “I get sick of having to prove to somebody every single day that I’m this, I’m that. I feel like if I’ve got to continue to prove, somebody’s not really looking at Eddie Jones as a basketball player or a person.

“I think I have to go out and play well, yeah. I want to play well, just because I want to shut everybody up.”

There’s always that motivation. Silence.

“Oh, yeah.”

*

The first might have been the worst.

Lakers vs. SuperSonics, 1995. Jones went from being named most valuable player of the rookie All-Star game and making the all-rookie team and being the first rookie to lead the NBA in steal-to-turnover ratio--meaning he forced far more mistakes than he made--to a disastrous playoff initiation.

He shot 36.4% and averaged 6.5 points, all as a reserve after Coach Del Harris made a late switch and started Anthony Peeler, but the Lakers still won the series, 3-1, behind Nick Van Exel and Vlade Divac. Besides the more obvious benefits, the series victory gave Jones a chance to redeem himself against the Spurs. But he didn’t, shooting 37.9% and averaging 10.2 points in the 4-2 loss in the conference semifinals.

That was the last time he played as a reserve. In the first round against the Rockets in 1996, Jones not only started but starred in the midst of public infighting that became a public meltdown. He shot 55.1% while the other Lakers combined for 39.6%, made 10 of 19 three-pointers and averaged 17.3 points. He was so obviously the Lakers’ best offensive player that some players spoke out on the need to get him the ball more.

The very good showing in the next playoff series, the first round of ‘97, was especially sweet because Jones achieved it against the Trail Blazers and Rider, who was bigger and stronger and could post up and hit from the outside, and who must have been a better player because he kept telling everyone so.

Turned out Jones was so overwhelmed that all he could manage was 59.3% shooting in the 3-1 Laker victory. Rider couldn’t even shoot his mouth off with any accuracy, going 37.2%.

So, Jones had had two consecutive impressive outings, under difficult circumstances at that, one as his team went down in flames and the other in a tough matchup. He had become a dependable playoff performer, at last.

If only there hadn’t been that little matter of the next series.

“The ball just didn’t fall for me in the second round,” he said.

It didn’t fall for him 28 times in 45 shots.

“I wasn’t aggressive,” he added.

To put it mildly.

“I thought I got caught up watching Shaquille,” Jones said. “When you get a big part of your team coming back toward the end of the season, you start trying to get him more involved and let him make things happen for you. I think that’s what I got caught up doing.

“I think it was just me taking a back seat sometimes. Players tend to do that. Like I said, Shaq had just started coming back and we were giving him the ball. We were trying to get him going, let him create things for us.”

What resulted was criticism for Jones, who might have been struggling against the Jazz, but certainly had plenty of company.

“It figured to be hard for him to get in a good rhythm with all that,” Coach Del Harris said of O’Neal and his recent return after recuperation from a knee injury. “We all had a tough time with it. Eddie just ended up taking more of the blame than most of the players.”

He knows, he knows.

“I definitely think it was unfair,” Jones said. “But people are going to say what they want to say.”

*

One person wanted to say the strangest thing this week:

“I’m happy. I’m ready to play. Ready to play. I haven’t been like this in a while.

“I was happy during the season. But now, playoff time, I feel as though this is where players step up. Players are made in the playoffs. I just want to be there.

“I’m gonna be there. I’m gonna be there. If I have to kill myself, I’m gonna be there. That’s how bad I want it.”

Eddie Jones’ comments were relayed to Kobe Bryant, teammate and close friend.

“That kind of caught me by surprise,” Bryant said. “I’ve never heard him talk like that before.”

Jones normally doesn’t. His game might be full of pyrotechnics--slashes to the basket and alley-oop dunks--but his on-court demeanor is understated, beyond low-key and bordering on deadpan.

But he has heard enough. Enough about last spring and the Jazz. Enough from Rider.

“Eddie usually shrugs it off,” Bryant said. “He doesn’t say much or get into stuff like that. Myself, Shaq, Nick, we’d get a little rhythm going and then start saying something back. Eddie, not a word.

“He’s pumped up. He has a lot more energy now than during the regular season.”

Maybe by design. Because it’s not the regular season.

“I’m confident,” Jones said. “Very confident.”

Of the success that will come to the Lakers and himself. Of the silence that will follow.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

JONES FACTOR

Eddie Jones’ career statistics in the regular season compared to his career statistics in the playoffs:

REGULAR SEASON

Points: 14.8

FG%: .459

FT%: .774

Shots: 11.7

****

PLAYOFFS

Points: 11.2

FG%: .448

FT%: .719

Shots: 8.7

Jones in Regular Season, Playoffs

How Eddie Jones has fared in the regular season compared to the playoffs:

1994-95

REGULAR SEASON

Points: 14.0

FG%: .460

FT%: .722

Shots: 11.6

PLAYOFFS

Points: 8.7

FG%: .375

FT%: .714

Shots: 8.0

1995-96

REGULAR SEASON

Points: 12.8

FG%: .492

FT%: .739

Shots: 9.8

PLAYOFFS

Points: 17.3

FG%: .551

FT%: .625

Shots: 12.3

1996-97

REGULAR SEASON

Points: 17.2

FG%: .438

FT%: .819

Shots: 13.5

PLAYOFFS

Points: 11.2

FG%: .458

FT%: .743

Shots: 8.0

NBA PLAYOFFS

LAKERS vs. TRAIL BLAZERS

(Best of five)

* Friday: at Lakers, 7:30

* Sunday: at Lakers, noon

* Tuesday: at Portland, 7:30

* April 30: at Portland, TBA-x

* May 2: at Lakers, TBA-x

x-if necessary