Scouting Report

About Lakers: They went from averaging 15.3 turnovers in the regular season to 11.8 in the four games against the Trail Blazers, especially impressive since it came without the noticeable slowdown that often arrives with the playoffs as teams become more conservative to put a premium on each possession. The Lakers may have taken about six fewer shots in the first round, but a large part of that was that they also got about seven more free throws a game. In all, they scored 104 points per outing, after 105.5 in the regular season, and jumped all the way from 48.1% from the field, already the second best in the league, to 50% versus Portland. The big factor was the five-man front-court rotation, in which starters Shaquille O’Neal, Robert Horry and Rick Fox and reserves Elden Campbell and Kobe Bryant combined to shoot 55.8%. But the guards who were so effective at taking care of the ball--Derek Fisher, Eddie Jones, Nick Van Exel and Bryant--managed only a combined 37.3%.

LAKERS STATISTICS: Final Regular Season

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Player G Min Fgm-Fga Pct Ftm-Fta Pct Pts Avg HG O’Neal 60 36.3 670-1147 .584 359-681 .527 1699 28.3 50 Jones 80 36.4 486-1005 .484 234-306 .765 1349 16.9 35 Bryant 79 26.0 391-913 .428 363-457 .794 1220 15.4 33 Van Exel 64 32.1 311-743 .419 136-172 .791 881 13.8 35 Fox 82 33.0 363-771 .471 171-230 .743 983 12.0 31 Campbell 81 22.0 289-624 .463 237-342 .693 816 10.1 25 Horry 72 30.4 200-420 .476 117-169 .692 536 7.4 23 Fisher 82 21.5 164-378 .434 115-152 .757 474 5.8 21 Bennett 45 7.9 80-135 .593 16-44 .364 177 3.9 21 Blount 70 14.7 107-187 .572 39-78 .500 253 3.6 12 Rooks 41 10.4 46-101 .455 47-79 .595 139 3.4 15 Barry 49 7.6 38-104 .365 27-29 .931 121 2.5 13 Seals 4 2.3 1-8 .125 2-4 .500 4 1.0 2 Totals 82 241.8 3146-6536 .481 1863-2743 .679 8652 105.5 132 Opponents 82 241.8 2984-6800 .439 1669-2281 .732 8017 97.8 117

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Rebounds, Assists

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Player Off Def Tot Avg. Ast Avg. PF DQ Stl TO Blk O’Neal 208 473 681 11.4 142 2.4 193 1 39 175 144 Jones 85 217 302 3.8 246 3.1 164 0 160 146 55 Bryant 79 163 242 3.1 199 2.5 180 1 74 157 40 Van Exel 31 163 194 3.0 442 6.9 120 0 64 104 6 Fox 78 280 358 4.4 276 3.4 309 4 100 201 48 Campbell 143 312 455 5.6 78 1.0 209 1 35 115 102 Horry 186 356 542 7.5 163 2.3 238 5 112 99 94 Fisher 38 155 193 2.4 333 4.1 126 1 75 119 5 Bennett 60 66 126 2.8 18 0.4 61 0 19 21 11 Blount 114 184 298 4.3 37 0.5 157 2 29 51 25 Rooks 46 72 118 2.9 24 0.6 68 0 2 19 23 Barry 8 29 37 0.8 51 1.0 33 0 24 22 3 Seals 3 1 4 1.0 0 0.0 1 0 1 0 0 Totals 1079 2471 3550 43.3 2009 24.5 1859 15 734 1256 556 Opp. 1123 2339 3462 42.2 1841 22.5 2151 32 660 1281 423

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THE STARTERS: LAKERS

GUARD: 2 Derek Fisher

GUARD: 6 Eddie Jones

CENTER: 34 Shaquille O’Neal

FORWARD: 17 Rick Fox

FORWARD: 5 Robert Horry

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* About SuperSonics: They go from one tough series, their first-round victory over Minnesota, to another with only a day and a half to prepare. The good news for the SuperSonics is that it won’t have to be a crash course, since they are so familiar with the Lakers. The biggest adjustment will come if Coach George Karl gives an expanded, or actual, role to Jim McIlvaine. There is nothing to indicate as much, given that McIlvaine played only 41 minutes despite starting all four of the regular-season meetings and the SuperSonics won three of those. The SuperSonics rarely beat themselves. They committed the second-fewest turnovers in the league during the regular season, had the third-best shooting percentage and the best on three-pointers. But they are a bad rebounding team.

SUPERSONICS STATISTICS: Final Regular Season

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Player G Min Fgm-Fga Pct Ftm-Fta Pct Pts Avg HG Baker 82 35.9 631-1164 .542 311-526 .591 1574 19.2 41 Payton 82 38.4 579-1278 .453 279-375 .744 1571 19.2 31 Schrempf 78 35.2 437-898 .487 297-352 .844 1232 15.8 26 Ellis 79 24.5 348-700 .497 111-142 .782 934 11.8 23 Hawkins 82 31.7 280-636 .440 177-204 .868 862 10.5 29 Perkins 81 20.7 196-471 .416 101-128 .789 580 7.2 21 Kersey 37 19.4 97-233 .416 39-65 .600 234 6.3 18 Anthony 80 12.8 150-349 .430 53-80 .663 419 5.2 16 Williams 65 11.6 115-220 .523 66-85 .776 296 4.6 20 McMillan 18 15.5 23-67 .343 1-1 1.000 62 3.4 9 McIlvaine 78 15.5 101-223 .453 45-81 .556 247 3.2 10 Cotton 9 3.7 8-21 .381 8-9 .889 24 2.7 8 Wingate 58 9.4 66-140 .471 15-29 .517 150 2.6 9 Zidek 12 5.3 7-29 .241 14-16 .875 29 2.4 9 Howard 13 4.1 8-21 .381 9-18 .500 25 1.9 6 Totals 82 240.9 3052-6458 .473 1521-2109 .721 8246 100.6 138 Opponents 82 240.9 2896-6491 .446 1449-2001 .724 7658 93.4 112

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Rebounds, Assists

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Player Off Def Tot Avg. Ast Avg. PF DQ Stl TO Blk Baker 286 370 656 8.0 152 1.9 278 7 91 174 86 Payton 77 299 376 4.6 679 8.3 195 0 185 229 18 Schrempf 135 419 554 7.1 341 4.4 205 0 60 168 19 Ellis 51 133 184 2.3 89 1.1 128 0 60 74 5 Hawkins 71 263 334 4.1 221 2.7 153 0 148 102 17 Perkins 53 202 255 3.1 113 1.4 158 0 62 62 29 Kersey 56 79 135 3.6 44 1.2 104 1 52 36 14 Anthony 18 93 111 1.4 205 2.6 97 0 64 91 3 Williams 48 99 147 2.3 14 0.2 119 0 19 50 38 McMillan 13 27 40 2.2 55 3.1 41 0 14 12 4 McIlvaine 96 163 259 3.3 19 0.2 240 3 24 54 137 Cotton 2 4 6 0.7 0 0.0 3 0 1 6 1 Wingate 19 60 79 1.4 37 0.6 58 0 21 37 3 Zidek 4 13 17 1.4 2 0.2 10 0 0 4 2 Howard 6 6 12 0.9 3 0.2 13 0 3 6 1 Totals 931 2225 3156 38.5 1986 24.2 1812 11 804 1145 376 Opp. 1141 2314 3455 42.1 1825 22.3 1824 14 640 1394 403

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THE STARTERS: SEATTLE

GUARD: 20 Gary Payton

GUARD: 33 Hersey Hawkins

CENTER: 42 Vin Baker

FORWARD: 7 Jerome Kersey

FORWARD: 11 Detlef Schrempf

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* Keys to series: As much as O’Neal can be counted on to be dominant, he can’t be counted on to carry the full load. The Laker backcourt must shoot better than it did against the Trail Blazers--and must shoot better than it did against the SuperSonics during the regular season (36.9%). And they need the turnover success, or at least something close to it, from the first round to carry over to the second. The Lakers averaged more per game versus Seattle than any Western Conference playoff team.