Lakers’ Gang of Four Overpowers the Bucks

The committee meeting was called to order Tuesday at precisely 7:40 p.m. A quorum was present, unanimous attendance at that, all four members. The minutes will reflect that they immediately went to new business, without objection.

So ordered. Power forward by committee, Coach Del Harris’ working title for his patchwork foursome there, everyone’s polite title for No Consistently Dependable Person, played a strong role in the Lakers’ 98-81 rout of the Milwaukee Bucks before 18,717 at Bradley Center, offering solid play and encouragement, both rare commodities of late.

The Lakers came in with five losses in their previous seven game, four losses in a row on the road, and maybe even with some doubts.

“Unfortunately, it makes you doubt everything you’re doing when obviously you’re doing a lot of things right,” Harris noted.

Beyond that, the position that has been under the most scrutiny this season was fluid. That’s a polite way of saying the coach was selecting his power forward like Rubik’s Cube, spending days searching for the right combination.

Robert Horry was still inching his way back from a painful injury.

Corie Blount was either the fill-in starter or fourth on the depth chart.

Mario Bennett was either the backup there or the backup to everyone, the 12th man.

Elden Campbell was Elden Campbell, which meant the others had nothing on him in terms of fluctuation.

Then came Tuesday, the second stop on the season-long six-game trip, the one after the four had combined to grab 13 rebounds in 56 minutes in Orlando, some of which came at center. Campbell’s contribution was 10 boards in 24 minutes off the bench. Horry’s was not doubling over in pain.

That Horry continued to regain stamina after the dilated vein near his groin had cost him four entire games and big chunks of two others was obvious. Down to an average of 16 minutes in the last three appearances, with one of the absences mixed in there, he played 31 against the Bucks, good enough for 13 points and eight rebounds.

“It’s been a while,” he said. “I can’t remember exactly. It’s got to be the Seattle game [Feb. 13]. I’m amazed.”

At?

“How long it’s been since I felt this good.”

Said Harris: “Robert was very effective and active tonight. I think this was the first night he did not complain about the pain in about two weeks. I think one time I saw him make a face. I took him out, but I didn’t ask [if it was the injury]. I didn’t want to know.”

It wouldn’t have mattered if he had asked. Horry couldn’t remember a particular flinch. That’s the good news for the Lakers, the signs of improvement. Of course, he also couldn’t remember a particular flinch because they can still come on a fairly regular basis. That’s the bad news.

“Right now, I just go,” he said. “I’m not even trying to think about it.”

The 10 rebounds for Campbell, meanwhile, a portion of which came in the 12 minutes he played behind Shaquille O’Neal at center, marked his biggest production in that category since Jan. 9 at the Sports Arena. Tuesday’s showing played a major role in the Lakers’ beating the Bucks on the boards, 53-49, despite the 20 by Tyrone Hill, tying his career high.

“I needed to get a good rebounding game,” Campbell said. “I’ve been doing so-so at it.”

Actually, he may have been doing better--an average of 7.3 boards in only 24.3 minutes the previous four outings.

“I wanted to get better,” Campbell said.

So he did.

Bennett retained his new-found role as the first power forward off the bench and then played four minutes, and Blount, the starter there as recently as two weeks earlier, went 10 minutes, after lasting five and eight the previous two games.

And this doesn’t figure to be the last of it either, with Harris searching for an energy boost there and some big-time rebounders still ahead on the trip. At least he can always count on O’Neal, who had 12 boards along with a game-high 21 points and three blocks against the Bucks.

Eddie Jones added 20 points as the Lakers blew the game open early in the third quarter and led by as many as 22 in the fourth, especially noteworthy because it came against an opponent that had won three in a row.

It was also a victory for the defense that had come under much in-house criticism. The 81 points given up was their second fewest of the season, one more than Sacramento managed Dec. 30, and the Bucks didn’t shoot better than 41% in a period until the fourth, by which time the game was all but over and the Indiana Pacers were about to become the new business.