New Grit Could Go Long Way

All-stars, schmall-stars.

This wasn’t about that.

This wasn’t about dunks or finger rolls or chest thumps. This wasn’t about soft drink ads or cover stories or teen-age screams.

Showtime, schmowtime.

What the Lakers did to the Chicago Bulls at the Forum on Sunday was about something richer, deeper, something that comes from way down in the gut, like a growl.

Their 112-87 victory was about stitches.

Derek Fisher had three sewn into his right eyebrow after spending most of the afternoon atop somebody’s back.

It was about floor burns.

Fisher had those too, on legs and elbows that he promised were headed for the tub.

It was about a crab.

That is the creature tattooed over the left side of Corie Blount’s chest, one he definitely took to heart during 34 minutes of pushing and pinching and squeezing in the paint.

The Lakers have been bragging all week about the four players they will send to the All-Star game, but Sunday was about four vastly different things:

Rebounding. Defense. Fisher. Blount.

The Lakers didn’t run past the Bulls, they ran over them.

This beaten opponent was not only impressed at the Lakers’ athleticism, they were exhausted by their attitude.

In the final seconds of what was probably this great team’s final game together at the Forum, Michael Jordan was on the bench, biting a towel.

A few seats down, Dennis Rodman had already taken off his shoes.

This may not be the case in June. But for a couple of hours Sunday, many could hope.

“We were everywhere,” Blount said afterward, his smile still fresh. “We were rebounding, passing, playing defense . . . when we get going like that, nobody can beat us.”

The Bulls are the league’s best rebounding team, the Lakers rank 16th--yet the Lakers were outrebounded only by two with 46, five more than the Bulls usually allow.

The Bulls shoot 44% for the season--yet the Lakers held them to 38%.

Fisher had eight points, seven assist, seven rebounds, three steals--and only two turnovers.

Blount had 13 rebounds, seven assists, two blocked shots--and made both of his field goals.

So much for that beauty that has so enamored the basketball world.

The Lakers earned their most important victory of the season by showing a little beast.

Maybe this will finally convince them they can’t win a championship without it.

“We have so much talent, we sometimes become complacent,” said Fisher, starting in place of injured all-star guard Nick Van Exel. “The kind of effort we had today, we need this every time. Players need to see other players doing it. We need to realize its importance.”

Maybe others realized it about the time they saw Fisher throw a behind-the-back pass that led to a basket . . . while laying face down on the floor.

Or maybe it happened when they saw Blount toss aside Rodman like an ugly shirt, shortly before recording three assists with one blocked shot in a 19-4 run to start the second half.

Blount made Rodman look as bad as we wanted him to be. Better yet, he greatly increased the chances that fans will never have to watch Elden Campbell during important minutes again.

Heck, even though this was his first start of the year, Blount could stay in the starting lineup even when Robert Horry returns from an abdominal injury.

They won’t be as pretty, but they also may not lose to Golden State.

“I know I’m not going to create anything,” Blount said, shrugging.

Oh, yes, he is. He and Fisher create the atmosphere that six months worth of Del Harris lectures won’t.

A prototypical ‘90s team, these Lakers don’t believe anything unless they see it on the tube. You can bet they will be seeing this one, again and again.

“Everybody has to see this on film, that’s how everybody buys into it,” said Rick Fox.

Perhaps finally comfortable here, Fox preached discipline with his second consecutive game as the team’s leading scorer (25) while adding six assists and breathing all over Scottie Pippen.

“We talk about wanting to be a championship team, but talk is cheap,” Fox said. “What happened here today, that is how you achieve that.”

As hard for the players to accept, it will be equally hard for the Laker fans.

When Fisher left the game just before halftime with an eye bloodied by a Scott Burrell elbow, he had just completed a jaw-dropping sequence in which he twice grabbed loose balls, three times rebounded his own missed shot, and threw that face-flat pass.

Yet what were fans chanting as he walked to the locker room with a towel pressed to his eye?

“Ed-die, Ed-die, Ed-die . . . “

Hey, Eddie Jones had just dunked.

But they’ll get it. By this spring, everyone around here will get it.

Michael Jordan already gets it.

During a break in the game, he bent down to Fisher and said, “You’re everywhere.”

Fisher laughed at the recollection.

“I told him, I’m just out here working,” he said.

On a lazy Sunday afternoon with America’s most glamorous team, it was the perfect answer.