Worth Getting Jazzed About

Shaquille O’Neal did his locomotive thing inside again, Robert Horry continued his series-long outstanding play, the perimeter game proved great again, yadda, yadda, yadda.

The Lakers beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 110-95, Tuesday night at KeyArena and 4-1 in the Western Conference semifinals, winning two games on the road and four in a row in all.

It was as if this was the way they thought it would be all along, predictable in every way except the quick work.

The Lakers had figured they were better than the SuperSonics even after losing three of four in the regular season, some with fourth-quarter falters.

The Lakers, originally faced with the possibility of getting the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round, in many ways wanted to face the SuperSonics to prove a rightful place.

The Lakers knew they had the talent to improve on last season’s finish, even during regular-season struggles, and now have a spot in the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1991, facing the Utah Jazz, the team that knocked them out in the second round a year ago, beginning Saturday afternoon in Salt Lake City.

The finale against the SuperSonics might also become the finale of their coach, George Karl, after the first four-game losing streak of his 6 1/2 years in Seattle.

Tuesday’s showing came as O’Neal had 31 points, nine rebounds and eight blocks, four in the final period as the SuperSonics tried to make up an 18-point deficit in the first quarter and got within seven with 4:47 remaining. Horry contributed 13 points and 11 rebounds, the other starting forward, Rick Fox, 17 points and six rebounds while making five of eight three-point shots.

Nick Van Exel made four from behind the arc as the Lakers set a team playoff record with 13 three-pointers. They shot 56.3% overall.

Fox had been terrific in the first-round victory over Portland, averaging 16 points, five rebounds and 3.5 assists and shooting 52.2%, and then opened with 14 points, 10 assists and three steals in the Game 1 loss against the SuperSonics. What happened from there even he could not figure out, only that nothing was happening.

He went a combined three of 13 from the field the next three outings with one steal, both dramatic drop-offs. By the time Game 5 began, Fox was down to 34.6% for the series. He was pretty close to out too.

“I joked that Seattle had done a great job of locking me up,” he had said the day before. “If I’ve got to be a decoy one more game, I can do that.”

Or maybe not.

The first three-point basket came with the game a little less than two minutes old. Horry made one two possessions later before Fox struck again . . . and again . . . and again. Three of them in one stretch of six trips downcourt, a run that also included a three-point play from O’Neal, gave the Lakers a 16-point lead with 3:50 still remaining in the quarter.

That gave Fox four for the period, one short of the league’s postseason record held by Horry (a year ago against the Jazz, also in Game 5 of the conference semifinals), Gary Payton, Reggie Miller and Kenny Smith. Records are not kept for team shooting in a quarter, but the Lakers were at 78.9% overall, having made 15 of 19 attempts.

The second period wasn’t much different in that regard--eight of 12, 66.7%--except that the SuperSonics joined in this time, using a 12-0 run to get back in the game at 44-41. They had the momentum, the crowd back in the game and the Lakers on their heels.

Seattle never had anything but temporary control. When the Lakers came back with another run and another group of three-pointers--Van Exel, Eddie Jones with 6-foot-10 Detlef Schrempf running at him--the cushion was back at 12 at halftime, 62-50. The visitors were still at an incredible 74.2% (23 of 31) and 80% (eight of 10) from behind the arc.

It was difficult not to notice the irony. The SuperSonics were being methodically picked apart from the outside, the Lakers constantly beating their defensive rotations to hit open shots, after Karl had changed the opening lineup in hopes of getting some production at center. Jim McIlvaine, a minor role player despite the title of starter, went out and Sam Perkins went in, and it made no difference.

“It’s rotation,” Karl said. “It’s just trying to get your bench more comfortable matchups, trying to get the minutes in a positive way.”

That, or it’s the desperate move of a desperate man.

“I think it’s appropriate to make some changes,” Laker Coach Del Harris said. “He’s not locked into them. He can change back after a minute or two or three. It’s always worth a try if you’re not happy with the way things are going.”

Merely getting within striking distance had suddenly become the the Seattle goal, for the night and the series. Another opportunity came with a third-quarter rally that cut the Laker deficit to 86-76 heading into the fourth, offering at least a chance for the SuperSonics to extend their season and, likely, Karl’s tenure.

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MORE COVERAGE

* J.A. ADANDE

The season-ending defeat was the first time the SuperSonics have lost four games in a row under George Karl. And probably the last. C4

* GAME REPORT: C5

* BIRD HONORED

He might have been only a raw rookie with the Indiana Pacers, but he was a runaway winner of the coach-of-the-year award. C4