Horry Rebounds Impressively

And then there was the encouraging news for the Lakers.

Friday night may have ended in disappointment, an overtime loss to Seattle, but only after Robert Horry grabbed 15 rebounds, a season high and only one shy of his career best. Not just that, but 10 came on the offensive end, making him the 10th Laker in history to reach double figures there.

Think the ever-growing army of Horry critics were happy? Not compared to Horry himself.

“I’m just happy I was able to get them,” he said. “Personal satisfaction doesn’t mean much when we don’t win. But I’m happy with the 10 offensive rebounds because I’ve never done that before in my career.

“I’d been waiting to get out of of single-digit rebounding. It’s been tough. But I found out what I had been doing wrong. Hopefully, no one else will find out what I’m doing right.”

If Friday was the breakthrough performance--the first double-figure rebound game for Horry since Jan. 6 at Vancouver--it did not come without a running start. The outing before that, he had eight boards in 33 minutes.

He has averaged 9.8 rebounds in only 32.3 minutes in his last four appearances of at least 20 minutes, discounting Tuesday’s limited showing because he played 16 minutes in the first game back from injury. In fact, he was hurt Jan. 28 against the New Jersey Nets, but only after grabbing seven rebounds in 22 minutes against one of the best teams in the leagues in that department. And that was on the heels of the nine rebounds at Seattle.

“He was really good,” Coach Del Harris said of Horry’s latest showing that came amid continued public criticism of the starting power forward. “Those were rather dramatic results. It just emphasizes the fact that he is, indeed, our second-leading rebounder.”

*

For one of the few times in a young career that has included numerous forced and out-of-control shots to the private consternation of teammates, a Laker was visibly upset with Kobe Bryant on Friday night, unusual in that they have usually shown considerable patience. A disgusted Nick Van Exel slammed his fist downward in obvious frustration after he was wide open on the left side for the three-point shot at the end of overtime that could have forced another tie, only to have Bryant miss the straight-away shot while being tightly guarded by Detlef Schrempf.

“I asked him about it, asked him if he saw Nick on his left,” Harris said. “He said, ‘Yeah, as I went up I saw him out of the corner of my eye, but I was already committed.’ Just one of those things.

“It’s not a criticism. I certainly would have wanted one of my better three-point shooters to shoot it, and that was him or Nick. That’s all right.”

TODAY

vs. Houston

* Noon

* Channel 4

Site--Great Western Forum.

Radio--KLAC (570), KWKW (1330).

Records--Lakers 35-13, Rockets 24-25.

Record vs. Rockets--3-0.

Update--The Rockets won consecutive games this week for the first time in two months, but at least they have Hakeem Olajuwon back after he missed 23 contests following knee surgery. They were 18-15 in that time. The new-look lineup also includes Kevin Willis starting at power forward and Charles Barkley coming off the bench.