Inglewood Playoff Games Provide Russell a Forum

For a guy who calls the Great Western Forum “just another building,” Bryon Russell sure makes himself at home there.

He broke out for a playoff career high 29 points and 10 rebounds in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals at the Forum last season, helping the Utah Jazz take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Lakers in that series. He scored eight points in the first quarter Friday night during Game 3 of this year’s conference finals, preventing the Lakers from sprinting out to a big lead.

Then he made the game-clinching shot, a three-point basket that put the Jazz ahead by seven with 1:31 left in the fourth quarter.

And if Russell was comfortable at the Forum in the past, he really looked at ease Saturday afternoon, sitting courtside on a chair and the cushion of a 3-0 lead in the series.

The former San Bernardino High and Long Beach State player downplays the homecoming aspects of his games at the Forum. To him, it simply means the additional task of acquiring 20 tickets for his mother, aunt, cousins and friends.

Beating the Lakers brings no greater satisfaction than beating the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs in previous rounds. Russell understands that it’s not about statements or proving anything to anyone. It’s about rings.

“I want to win a championship,” Russell said. “It means more in the playoffs than it does in the regular season.”

For that, Russell should be glad. His regular season was a disappointment, bordering on a waste. Fresh off his stellar performance in the playoffs, he signed a five-year, $20-million contract last summer and didn’t live up to it. After six games he was out of the starting lineup (his choice), and over the course of the season his shooting percentage dropped to .430. His scoring averaged dipped by almost two points, to nine a game.

Russell said his slow start came from “probably trying to do too much.”

“I think I was out there thinking I had to take some of the weight,” Russell said. “[John] Stockton was hurt. I was forcing shots and doing all the wrong things. Then I just calmed down and got it all together.

“I wasn’t clicking right away. I felt I needed to make a change. Coming off the bench was a change I felt like I could make.”

It took the entire team a while to shake off the collective hangover from their first trip to the NBA finals last June. With Stockton recovering from knee surgery, the Jazz got off to a 5-6 start. It finished the season with a 62-20 record, tied with the Chicago Bulls for best in the league.

“We were coming in thinking we could just breeze by everybody,” Russell said. “It was hard, until we found out that we had to do the things that we needed to do.”

For the Jazz, that means contributions from everyone. Stockton and Karl Malone can’t carry the team by themselves. They are great, but not dominant players. Opponents often take their chances with the support players. Laker Coach Del Harris said before Game 3 that their objective was to make the small forwards beat them. So Shandon Anderson scored 13 points, Chris Morris had 15 and Russell scored 17.

“If they want to make us beat them, we’ll stick the dagger,” Russell said.

Russell and his sheath have returned to the starting lineup in the playoffs.

“If you’ve got confidence in yourself, you can get [your starting spot] back,” Russell said. “I just told coach, whenever he’s ready. And playoff time, he was ready.”

There can be no doubts Russell has confidence in himself.

“Teams better watch out,” he said. “I’m coming to play. If a team thinks I’m BSing, that’s on them. I’m going to bring it every night.”

When you play well when it matters, in the playoffs, you can say things like that. His career playoff scoring average is 10.2 points a game, compared to 6.9 for the regular season. Those aren’t Michael Jordan or Jerry West numbers, but they show he doesn’t shrink in the face of pressure.

Afraid? This is a guy who was ready to go at Shaquille O’Neal after O’Neal caught him with an elbow in the fourth quarter Friday.

He also played some good defense on Jordan during the finals last year, about as daunting an assignment as there is in pro sports.

It looks as though Russell and the Jazz will get another shot at the Bulls in the finals. This time, the Jazz would have home-court advantage because they swept the regular-season series.

Russell’s wife, Kim, is pregnant with twins; she is due in July.

“I’m up for the challenge,” Russell said.

After guarding Jordan, twin babies should be easy.