Just Watching and Waiting

Nick Van Exel, a guard but obviously a forward thinker, did not hesitate with his response.

“Who do we want to play?” he said. “We want to play the Bulls.”

OK, but whom do they want to play now? Chicago can’t come until the championship series, if at all, and the Lakers are only up to the Western Conference semifinals. So options still remain, as do the preferences as Seattle and Minnesota meet today to determine L.A.’s next opponent.

Logic says the Lakers should want to face Minnesota, a matchup that would give them home-court advantage and the chance to face a team they beat by an average of 14.5 points in going 4-0 during the regular season.

“It isn’t because I’m against Seattle,” Robert Horry said. “I just prefer home-court advantage. Start at home and start it right.”

Bravado says the Lakers want Seattle, no matter that the SuperSonics won the season series, 3-1, and would have home-court advantage. Not only that, some of the Lakers say it.

“We have unfinished business with Seattle,” Rick Fox said.

Such is the dilemma as the Lakers gather this afternoon at the Great Western Forum before practice to watch the deciding Game 5 at KeyArena. They get the winner--probably starting Monday or Tuesday, but with an outside chance at Wednesday--but today get the chance to root behind closed doors.

“It balances out,” Kobe Bryant said. “You want to play Seattle because of the challenge. But you want to play Minnesota because of the matchups.”

*

Thursday’s win at the Rose Garden that included a comfortable lead most of the final three quarters and eventually gave the Lakers a 3-1 series victory was a disappointing showing for the Trail Blazers. It was the sixth year in a row they were eliminated in the first round, a league record, but Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy still passed through the visitors’ locker room afterward to offer congratulations.

“They played a great game and a great series,” he said of the Lakers, the team that has one holdover, Elden Campbell, from when Dunleavy was coach. “I think they are going to do very well the rest of the way and I wish them luck. I know they’re my pick to win it.”

To win the championship?

“I mean,” Dunleavy said, “put the ring on their finger.”

*

In Game 3, as he was continuing an impressive start to the series against a series of defenders, Walt Williams went by the Laker bench after scoring on Bryant and said something to the effect of, “Put somebody on me who can guard me.”

Said Laker Coach Del Harris, recalling the moment: “You don’t do that to a guy like Kobe Bryant.”

A guy like Kobe Bryant might turn the trash talking into a personal matter, which is exactly what happened in Game 4. Harris went to put him on shooting guard Isaiah Rider, but Bryant spoke up and said he wanted to take Williams at small forward.

“I got a little mad about that,” Bryant said. “Even though Rider’s tough to guard and an excellent basketball player, I wanted Walt.”

So he got Walt. Williams, shooting 62.5% coming in, made only two of seven shots. He was one for four against Bryant, not counting whatever shots he took when the two jawed.

“I was just basically telling him that he had an excellent series, he played well, knocked down some shots,” Bryant said. “But that he needed to leave me alone.”

*

Final tally from the most-watched individual matchup:

Eddie Jones averaged 12.8 points, three rebounds, two assists and 2.5 steals in 32.5 minutes and shot 37.9%.

Rider averaged 19.3 points, five rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.25 steals in 41.5 minutes and shot 41.8%.