Rodman Chooses to Sit in Win

Sometimes mystifying, sometimes magical, always mind-blowing, the Lakers’ run of meandering, experimental mix-and-match basketball continued Friday.

Shaquille O’Neal made the big baskets, but Dennis Rodman refused to report back into the game in the fourth quarter after sitting out for much of the second half.

Rookie Tyronn Lue was given a long, nine-minute outing late in the second half, but veteran Derek Harper was given the responsibility to take over in the end.

The Lakers beat the injury-ravaged Minnesota Timberwolves, 96-89, before 17,505, but could anybody figure out what exactly was going on out there?

Or are the chemical compounds just too unpredictable to understand or control right now?

“When I wanted to put him back in the game, he said he was too stiff,” Coach Kurt Rambis said of Rodman. “So, that was that.

“I understand ballplayers being stiff. But that’s your job, to be ready to come into the ballgame when you’re called. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve played two seconds or 48 minutes.”

“There is too much stuff going on,” Rodman told a Laker public-relations staffer in his usual postgame interview ritual. “There is no direction to go out there and improve.

“We’ve got to get better. This team is not going to get anywhere right now.”

O’Neal, when asked about Rodman’s refusal to return--the third such instance this season--deferred comment.

“I don’t know what happened,” O’Neal said quietly. “Ask him.”

Said co-captain Derek Harper, pointing out that he feels he was misquoted in a national magazine story on Rodman recently: “I’m not going to have any comment about Dennis now.”

Rodman played only 25 minutes--and only the opening seven minutes of the second half, replaced by Robert Horry and J.R. Reid.

Rambis said it was some time during the fourth when he wanted to put Rodman back in, but was told he wouldn’t come back in.

Rodman did not choose to use the stationary bike set up near the Laker bench for Laker players to remain warm while out of the game.

Just another fun time in the Forum.

At times, the Lakers moved the ball around swiftly and surely, amassing 22 assists (seven by Kobe Bryant) and scoring nimbly (25 points apiece from Glen Rice and O’Neal, who also had 15 rebounds).

At other times, the Lakers, matched against a team that had just lost to the Clippers on Thursday, seemed a bit aimless, and searching for the right combinations.

A sign of the sloppiness: the Lakers committed 18 turnovers, which helped keep the Timberwolves in the game despite Minnesota making only 37.4% of its shots.

Also, Lue, a rookie point guard, was used in a critical nine-minute span in the second half, staying in as Minnesota jumped ahead, 80-78, with 7:15 left in the fourth quarter.

The last tie was at 84-all, with 2:31 left, but the Lakers (25-13) quickly jumped to a five-point lead after back-to-back O’Neal baskets and a Reid free throw in the next two possessions and pulled away from there.

“It wasn’t pretty--a lot of missed shots,” Harper said. “Sometimes you have to win games like that. It was a dogfight.”

The Timberwolves were playing without starting point guard Terrell Brandon and starting forward Joe Smith and were coming off a loss to the Clippers on Thursday.

“This is nothing to be proud of,” Rodman said, when asked about the Laker performance. “This is ridiculous. It is very disappointing for the fans to come out here and see this kind of crap.

“It is not right. We should blow teams like this away. We can’t go home or go out tonight and be happy with this situation. This is bad.”

It was good and strange for the Lakers in the first quarter: They outscored their opponent for the first time in five games.

With O’Neal strong underneath--he had six rebounds before three minutes were gone in the contest, and 10 in the first half--and Bryant chipping in five first-quarter assists, the Lakers inched ahead of Minnesota, 23-22.

The depleted Timberwolves did keep it close throughout most of the first half, but in the final minutes of the second quarter, the Lakers got out and running.

To close the half on a high note, O’Neal tossed in a quick jump hook after a snap pass from Rice, Rice buried a three-pointer, Harper was fouled and made two free throws, Bryant threw down a dunk on a fastbreak, and Rice had a dunk off of a Bryant open-court pass.

After the flurry was over--helped by a steal, an O’Neal blocked shot and a couple of wild misses by the Timberwolves--the Lakers found themselves with a 50-43 halftime lead.