Lakers Were Outplayed in Every Way

In one locker room, the point guard questioned his coach, Del Harris.

“We never had a good offensive game plan,” Laker guard Nick Van Exel said, “other than to throw it into Shaq [Shaquille O’Neal]. But it’s tough to play one way all year and then try to change at the end.”

In the other locker room, one member of the three-headed monster who guarded O’Neal declared unquestionable loyalty to his coach.

“He’s not exactly a guy you’d try to fight,” said Antoine Carr of his coach, Jerry Sloan. “He’s not a guy you’d try to choke. He’ll fight back. If you go to war with a guy like that, you’re not scared.”

In one locker room, the fingers were pointing. “Guys just have to step up,” O’Neal said. “They have to find out what’s important to them. If they don’t want to play, then they need to ask for a trade. If they don’t want to play, then get off my team.”

In the other locker room, the talk was about how well they had worked as a unit. “When you put your mind together as a team,” forward Karl Malone said, “you can accomplish a lot of great things.”

Besides a difference in attitude, there were several other keys to the outcome of the Western Conference finals, those being:

* DEFENSE

After watching the Seattle SuperSonics double- and triple-team O’Neal only to get blown out by the Lakers in the preceding series, Sloan decided to put one big body on the Laker center most of the time, concede him his thirty-something points and concentrate on shutting everybody else down. The strategy worked to perfection.

* BENCH

The mural outside the Delta Center features Malone and Stockton. That is the image many have of the Jazz. But that illusion was shattered in this series.

There ought to be a new mural in place for the NBA finals, a mural featuring Howard Eisley making three-pointers, , Shandon Anderson on the front of a fast break, Chris Morris pulling down a rebound, and Carr and Greg Ostertag smothering O’Neal.

Stockton didn’t score his first points in Sunday’s Game 4 until little more than eight minutes remained to play. His only standout game, in which he looked like the Stockton of old, was Game 2. Yet because of the strength of the Jazz bench, there was no dropoff in the team’s effectiveness.

The Lakers, on the other hand, got little off their bench. Kobe Bryant played as if he were on a playground, oblivious to his teammates. Van Exel shot only 23.8% from the field in the series. And Elden Campbell did little more than take up space.

Despite the fact that Van Exel came off the bench to play more minutes than Derek Fisher in the series, 112-81, the Laker reserves were outscored by their Utah counterparts, 145-96.

* PICK AND ROLL

It has probably been around, in one form or another, since Dr. James Naismith invented basketball.

It has certainly been a staple of the Utah Jazz since Malone and Stockton first stepped on a court together 13 years ago.

So the Lakers can’t claim ignorance of the pick and roll. Merely incompetence at handling it. There is no shame in that. The families of Malone and Stockton live very well because of the ability of those two players to take a simple play and turn it into a complex system.

But if they couldn’t handle it, the Lakers could have at least emulated it. Rather than throwing the ball in to O’Neal every time and then standing around, admiring his ability to fight off whatever the Jazz threw at him, the Lakers might have tried a few pick and rolls of their own, some ball movement, anything to keep the Utah defense honest.

* COACHING

One team creaks with age and appears vulnerable in the middle. The other is young and loaded with talented. But when the old guys are creative, aggressive, inspired and adaptive enough to win the war, the general has to get at least some of the credit.

* SHOOTING

The Lakers knew that effective outside shooting would prevent the Jazz defense from collapsing on O’Neal, who, although facing single coverage most of the time, usually encountered one or two defenders coming over to help out when he made his move to the basket.

In the first round against Portland, the Lakers shot 50% from the field. In the second round against Seattle, they shot 51.7%. Against Utah, they shot only 39.9%. The Jazz shot 51.4% from the field in the series.

* BALANCE

No wonder the Jazz were able to single cover O’Neal most of the time. Subtracting his 51 baskets in 91 attempts in the series, the Lakers shot only 33%.

* BENCH

Despite the fact that guard Nick Van Exel came off the bench to play more minutes than Derek Fisher in the series, 112-81, the Laker reserves were outscored by their Utah counterparts, 145-96.