Lakers Earn a Little Break

The welcome-back party on Wednesday night coincided with the going-away celebration. And those weren’t even the biggest bashes.

That came months ago and proved to have an extended shelf life, Isaiah Rider saying Eddie Jones couldn’t handle him. Hardly novices at this Let’s-find-some-motivation thing (Tim Hardaway, is that you?), the Lakers were sure to remind Jones of the comments earlier in the day, then watched for the reaction.

It came right according to their schedule, with Jones scoring a game-high 28 points in the 122-115 victory over Rider and the Trail Blazers before 15,389 at the Great Western Forum. Proving that reading can be fun-damental.

“Definitely tonight,” Jones said. “All the things he’s said. You hear it and you let it go.”

Just not too far.

“Isaiah got some confidence and then ran his mouth,” Shaquille O’Neal said.

The Lakers mostly just ran, piling up 38 fastbreak points and shooting 55.1%, though the drawback came when a 23-point lead in the third quarter was cut to eight when the game was still in doubt, before the margin finished at seven. Nick Van Exel played for the first time in a week--he returned from the strained hip flexor and finished with 23 points, 11 assists and no turnovers.

In other words, he’s healthy enough for the all-star game. Van Exel heads to New York on a good note, joined in both cases by the other Laker representatives who will play Sunday at Madison Square Garden: O’Neal had 21 points (despite one-for-nine free-throw shooting) and 10 rebounds, Jones got the 28, and Kobe Bryant contributed 26.

Van Exel’s return moved Derek Fisher back to a reserve role, but only after he had played well enough that it might not have been a big step back.

Fisher had nine assists Friday against Stephon Marbury and the Timberwolves, even if he did spend the fourth quarter on the bench in favor of Bryant. Then he added eight points, seven assists, seven rebounds and three steals in the rout of the Bulls on Sunday.

“The way Derek has played will probably give him more confidence and his teammates more confidence and even me more confidence to have him in longer,” Coach Del Harris said. “Hopefully, in the second half [of the season], I can fulfill my promise and keep Nick’s minutes down.”

Wednesday offered an encouraging start, though some of that was also due to the desire to keep Van Exel’s minutes down in the first game back, Harris having targeted somewhere in the high 20s to low 30s. Van Exel played 34 minutes in all, 15 in the first half when he got 12 points, five assists and two steals.

Fisher, meanwhile, played nine minutes. The second-most significant stat, other than the receipt of quality time after his role with Van Exel in the lineup had decreased, was that he committed one turnover. Of course, as an indication of how well the second-year player had been doing in that department, that one could be considered falling apart--Fisher began the night with only one turnover in the previous 101 minutes, a span of six appearances.

“I just try to do things I’m not capable of doing,” he said. “I don’t think of myself as someone with an exceptional amount of talent. I consider myself like a guy who’s going to go out and outwork his opponent. As a point guard, I try to stay under control.”

The showing by both point guards, flashy and otherwise, along with the 15 first-half points from shooting guard Jones, sparked the Lakers to a 58-42 advantage at intermission. It came as L.A. committed only five turnovers and shot 50%.

This wasn’t just a big lead, of course. It was a successful follow to the showing against the Bulls, in approach and intensity. On the scoreboard too, all the way to a 23-point cushion on two occasions in the third quarter.

“We always get up for good teams,” O’Neal said. “And we consider Portland a good team.”

Their real problem is elevating for the not-so-goods.

“We just have to learn,” O’Neal said.

So began the all-star break, with the lesson plan for the next months firmly in place.