Lakers Fall Hard After the Buildup

The Lakers had rationalized the defeat, accepted it, understood it and handled it without too much difficulty, certainly far less than most would have expected considering the buildup the game had received, buildup that came greatest from within.

To which Sam Perkins of the Seattle SuperSonics offered a perspective of his own.

“Even though they say it’s one game,” he suggested of the Lakers, “it’s one big game.”

Big enough that the SuperSonics’ 101-95 victory Saturday afternoon before 17,072 at KeyArena made for the first strike in a hyped season series that had to wait until the 41st game to begin. Big enough that it puts their coach, George Karl, on the sidelines with the Western Conference all-stars and not Del Harris of the Lakers.

And, yet, still small enough?

Perkins has his theories, the Lakers have their own, the kind that, coincidentally, often seem to belong to losing teams.

“It’s not that disappointing at all,” Shaquille O’Neal said after his 30 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks could not extend the winning streak beyond four games. “We played hard all four quarters.”

Added Nick Van Exel: “They beat us this time. We feel good. It ain’t nothing.”

So it went. Going three of 24 on three-point shots (12.5%)--Van Exel was two of 12--and 20 of 34 on free throws (58.8%) was brutal. But losing in what even they had called a statement game was not.

Yeah, and they almost believe that part.

“We tried to approach it like it was one of 82, but that’s difficult,” Seattle’s Dale Ellis said. “We wanted to win this one badly.”

The SuperSonics did largely because that’s how the Lakers played in stretches. Badly.

They got one point from the starting forwards, that coming from Robert Horry while Rick Fox was shut out in 22 minutes, though Horry did have nine rebounds.

They had one stretch of six minutes 24 seconds, from late in the second quarter into the third, without a field goal. Going 3:54 with one basket--a spectacular alley-oop hookup between Van Exel and Kobe Bryant that Bryant turned into a reverse slam--would have seemed like nothing in comparison, except for one little thing.

It came in the final 3:54.

And still the Lakers had a chance to win and regain the lead in the Pacific Division, obviously worth little at this stage but something they have been pointing to nonetheless. Once down by 11 points late in the third quarter, they had closed to within 92-91 with 3:30 left and still trailed only 97-95 after Bryant got the last of his 18 points on the dunk.

But that’s where they fell apart. The chance to go for the tie or lead on the next possession ended when Eddie Jones was called for a loose ball foul on a defensive rebound, sending Hersey Hawkins to the line to make two free throws for a four-point cushion with 17.1 seconds remaining. A quick basket could have again made it a one-possession game, so the Lakers called timeout and advanced the ball to midcourt.

Play resumed with the pass going to Horry near the top of the three-point circle. Spotting Bryant on the right side, Horry fired it over. Literally. The pass at the knees whistled past Bryant and out of bounds, effectively ending the comeback dreams, a notion that became official when Detlef Schrempf was fouled intentionally and made two free throws with 10.6 seconds left.

“All of the sudden, it just shot out of my damn hands,” Horry said of the pass. “I don’t know what happened.”

Said a frustrated O’Neal: “We’ve just got to play smart. We made a silly play that cost us.”

There was a lot of that silliness going around the Lakers, the team that obviously did not have a three-point touch but still continued to fire away. The problems with the free throws, at least, they have become used to seeing.

It’s simply that they didn’t wait 40 games for this. On the other hand, they’ll have to wait only six more games before seeing the SuperSonics again, Feb. 13 at the Forum. It will be Just One Game, Part II.