Now, Lakers Need to Use the Broom

For most of four years he has steered this town’s professional basketball hopes with care and class.

But we awaken this morning to find ourselves in a ditch.

The front end is crumpled. The tires are blown. There’s smoke coming from somewhere.

A week ago, Los Angeles and its beloved Lakers were smiling, laughing, speeding happily toward the city’s first pro championship in a decade.

This morning, we are unrecognizable.

We will eventually crawl out, shake ourselves off, begin searching for reasons.

But ultimately, we must all look behind the wheel.

For most of four years, Del Harris has steered this team toward greatness.

But it appears somebody else will be needed to finish the trip.

In one sickening instant Sunday, everything changed, and for no one more than a coach who last week looked like he had finally reached his team.

Now it appears he never will.

It wasn’t only the Lakers who were swept by the Utah Jazz in four games in the NBA Western Conference finals.

Also disappearing was a buzz that had not been felt in this town since a distant October night in Dodger Stadium.

Swept was the goodwill generated by a brilliant series win against the favored Seattle SuperSonics.

Swept was the inspiration of a tough series win against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Do you remember how they clinched both series on the road? Do you remember how they were playing better than anyone in the NBA?

Do you remember how we dreamed?

At a fast food joint in Long Beach late one night after a victory against Seattle, a dozen customers suddenly put down their tacos and began cheering an ordinary kid as he walked through the door.

An ordinary kid wearing a Robert Horry jersey.

Do you still have the memories? Or did the brilliant, big-hearted Utah Jazz also sweep those?

It was written in this space that if the Lakers won the second-round series against the SuperSonics, Harris should keep his job because they advanced farther than last year.

This space never imagined that the Lakers would not win another game.

They were not realistically supposed to beat the Jazz, a team with the best record in the NBA.

But they were not supposed to be whipped in all major phases of the game, in four consecutive games.

It was not supposed to look, with the exception of a couple of quarters, like the varsity against the freshmen.

Del Harris was not supposed to look like he had been outcoached.

Yes, the Lakers advanced a step farther than last season, this is progress, one more step and they can win it all.

But they were eliminated by the same team as last season. And the Jazz beat them worse than last year.

Even though the Lakers were better than last year, and the Jazz were probably worse.

Ultimately, we must all look behind the wheel.

Even with 61 regular-season wins, Del Harris was unable to guide this team through one of the most difficult but important stretches in franchise history.

OK, so the front office gives him a couple of smarter or more dedicated players.

There is no apparent reason to think he wouldn’t spin out on this same stretch next season.

Right or wrong, the players turned a deaf ear to Harris during his biggest speeches of the season.

And right or wrong, it appeared that whatever he told them wasn’t working anyway.

Smart people say that pro basketball is a game of adjustments.

The Jazz, after beating big San Antonio, adjusted to the quicker Lakers.

The Lakers, after beating quicker Seattle, did not adjust to the more disciplined Jazz.

Some Lakers implied that Harris did not make those adjustments.

Harris said that he made them, but that the players didn’t execute.

No matter who is right, the coach ends up looking wrong.

Even if Harris made the proper changes, then the players aren’t responding to him. And to have that occur after two full seasons with a team is almost worse than Harris not making the changes at all.

Are the players also responsible? Absolutely. Sunday’s loss was another example of how, whatever Harris told them, they certainly weren’t listening.

Several times in the fourth quarter, after closing the gap to six, they would throw up a quick shot or commit a hurried turnover instead of working the ball into Shaquille O’Neal.

Often on defense, they would work hard for 20 seconds, then relax for the final four. It was during those final four ticks that the Jazz would do their best driving, slashing work.

Different score, but same game as the previous three games. Not only didn’t they adjust before the series, they didn’t adjust during the series.

They never quite figured out how to stop the pick and roll. They never had quite the right matchups that would exploit their speed against Utah’s age.

It was as if they played the entire series with a Seattle hangover. Like they were needing a strong and convincing presence to drag them out of bed and stick them under the shower.

Certainly, the players could have done some of the adjusting themselves. The roster absolutely needs to be retooled.

It needs more players who work as hard and play as smart as O’Neal, whose missed free throws cannot detract from the fact that in the past two months, he has become this franchise’s soul.

But the roster will need to be redirected.

Beginning with the Game 1 blowout, the Lakers played with only occasional passion. Even when they were ahead, it was as if they were behind.

The Jazz mirrored tough Coach Jerry Sloan in everything from their expressions to their stances.

The Lakers didn’t look like anybody.

After Sunday’s loss, Harris characteristically noted that, before the game his team led all playoff teams in scoring and field-goal percentage.

Then he uncharacteristically blamed the referees, referring to several late foul and lack-of-foul calls that hurt them.

“I don’t think that’s the way this game should have been decided,” he said.

It wasn’t. The game and the series were decided on brains and heart.

It would have been good to see this genuinely nice man get a little tough and acknowledge that. It would have been a start.

Meanwhile, the NBA finals will begin miles away next week while this city’s basketball hopes--maybe more shockingly than ever--have been left smoldering by the side of the road.

Ultimately, we must all look behind the wheel.