It’s Time to Make Way for the ‘Seinfeld’ Finale

There’s a scene in “Good Will Hunting” in which Robin Williams’ psychologist character tries to counsel the troubled youth played by Matt Damon. Damon makes a crack about Williams’ wife--who, it turns out, is dead--and Williams grabs him by the neck.

Disrespect my wife again, Williams tells Damon, and “I will end you.”

I will end you. What a great phrase. Such finality.

That’s the mentality the Lakers should have when they take the court in KeyArena tonight for Game 5 of their series against Seattle.

End the SuperSonics. End George Karl’s tenure as their coach.

There’s plenty in it for the Lakers. They can get some rest before their next series against Utah. They can avoid putting themselves at risk of injuries. And they can avoid putting their fans through the dilemma of choosing between Game 6 or the final episode of “Seinfeld” on Thursday night.

“You have to really come ready to do warfare,” Laker Coach Del Harris said. “You have to do your best. We need to reach down and give everything we have.”

Nothing declares a team’s readiness to win a championship as much as closing out a series when the opportunity first presents itself. Especially on the road.

The Lakers blew their last chance, in Game 3 of their first-round series against Portland. What did that signal? Well, consider this: Since the current playoff format began in 1984, 11 of the 14 champions swept their first-round opponents.

The Chicago Bulls were the only team to sweep in the first round, and they still look like the favorites to win it all this year.

Yes, the Lakers put on an awesome display at the Great Western Forum this weekend. But they’re giving up an average of 97 points a game in the playoffs. That ranks 13th among the 16 teams that qualified, and the three teams that rank below them are already home.

The Lakers are doing enough things well that they at least stand a good chance of playing the Bulls, which is more than most would have expected a month ago. They have come so far in the last week alone that we can realistically expect them to win this series in five games. After losing Game 1, that would effectively amount to a sweep, and no one predicted a Laker sweep going into this thing.

Then again, no one predicted Eddie Jones would do . . . this.

The most repeated phrase in the NBA right now is “Eddie Jones set a playoff career high.” Name the last time someone in this city produced such a solid string of sequels. Perhaps there’s some truth in advertising behind those billboards around town that show Jones morphing into the Air Jordan logo. (Perhaps we’re getting carried away.)

Hopefully this run of 23, 29 and 32 points has taught Jones a lesson: greed is good. Get yours, Eddie.

Let other people worry about passing. That’s what they’re paying Shaquille O’Neal $120 million to do--or at least it seemed that way Sunday, when Shaq had seven assists.

For once this is no time to complain about an athlete being “selfish,” the word Jones used to describe his play lately. The fact is, when Jones scores 20 or more points this season, the Lakers are 28-3. Good things happen when he is aggressive and looking for his shot.

The first time he touched the ball in Game 3 he went straight to the hoop. He missed the shot, but the defense had shifted because of his penetration and O’Neal had the rebound all to himself for an easy basket.

Everything about Jones seems to be working out right now, like the decision not to trade him for Mitch Richmond.

Richmond hasn’t been missed at all. Neither has Kobe Bryant, who has been able to drag himself out of the sickbed just long enough to play one three-minute stint in the last three games.

Bryant’s play in the first half of the season appeared to make Jones expendable. Now Jones is a vital part of the team’s success, and Bryant looks like nothing more than a nice accessory. To make it worse, the SuperSonics are saying the Lakers play better without Bryant.

(Hang in there, kid. When you were in diapers, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would miss a few games, the Lakers would start a little winning streak and people would start talking about how the team was better without him. You see how many championship banners they’ve hung up since he retired, right?)

No matter what the SuperSonics say, there isn’t a team in the league that couldn’t use Bryant’s 15 points a game. Bryant playing the way he did in Game 1 against Portland would make the Lakers even more formidable.

They need him healthy. They’ll need every weapon they can get against Utah. That’s just one more reason for them to end Seattle tonight. A victory would mean the Lakers wouldn’t play until Saturday at the earliest, which would give Bryant a chance to regain his strength and stamina.

“If we play smart and do what we’re supposed to do, we should be fine,” O’Neal said. “And we all can come home and watch Jerry.”

Shaq himself is more likely to watch Jerry Springer than Jerry Seinfeld. Take care of business tonight and the Lakers can watch whatever they want. We have a pretty good idea of which is the better team in this series. It’s time to change the channel.