Amid Chaos, Lakers Put It All Together

Curfew and tipoff both hit at 7 p.m. here Tuesday, a day of protest, scattered flare-ups and the summoning of the National Guard, topped off by the Lakers vs. SuperSonics.

The result, at least of the basketball game, was predictably disjointed, as if the events in the streets eroded the emotions of the crowd, and the Sonics.

The Lakers, ensconced for much of the day in the heart of the protests over the World Trade Organization meetings being held here, were eye- and ear-witnesses to the disturbances, then trounced the SuperSonics, 101-77, before a surprisingly large crowd of 17,072 at Key Arena, within walking distance of the protests.

It was a day full of colliding imagery--at one point, the Laker bus was briefly the target of an angry crowd on the street that thought the Lakers were WTO delegates, then turned into fans when they realized who was inside--rumors that the game would be canceled, and, for the Lakers (11-4), looking out from hotel windows onto what the world was watching too.

“You couldn’t help but hear it,” Laker guard Derek Fisher said. “You could also see some of it from the window. And I kept an eye on it with the news and everything. . . . It was interesting.

“We travel a lot and we see a lot of things. But that’s something that you go through your career, talk about NBA stories to tell your grandkids, well, that’s a story.”

The SuperSonics started out strong, but collapsed quickly, losing at home for the first time in seven games this season.

Hours before the scheduled tipoff, authorities called for downtown curfew and called out the National Guard. Was it all a distraction?

“I think it must’ve been for Seattle,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “I didn’t think they were on their feet, at least in the quickness or something. I just don’t think they played to the same aggressiveness after the first quarter. . . .

“[It was] sort of like a road game for them. So they’re still undefeated at home as far as I’m concerned.”

Before the game, Jackson--proud of his hippie past--gave his support for the protesters, though that was before much of the more violent episodes of the night.

“I’m really glad to see this age group motivated to protest something,” Jackson said. “I like it a lot. I think it’s great.

“I just hope that they can carry this from such global perspective to individual actions. I think that’s where it comes down to . . . how you do it in a school board or in your community.

“It’s nice to protest the major things, but some of the minor things are where it gets started.”

Joked Seattle Coach Paul Westphal: “I thought [Jackson] might have a difficult decision tonight--whether to come to the game or march on the administration.”

The most interesting moment, several Lakers said, came as the Lakers were traveling from their hotel to the morning shoot-around, when the bus ran into a blocked-off area and had to turn around amid a large group of protesters.

“I’ve never had so many people flip me off,” forward Rick Fox said with a laugh.

Once the game began, on the outside, there were clouds of tear gas and milling thousands; inside, the Lakers started sluggishly, looking as if their minds were elsewhere for the first eight minutes as the SuperSonics jumped to a 21-10 lead.

But with Fisher and Robert Horry injecting energy, the Lakers tied it, 23- 23, at the end of the first quarter, and then raced past Seattle in a 29-16 second quarter, giving them a 52-39 halftime lead.

Seattle cut the lead to 10 several times early in the third quarter, but three baskets by A.C. Green and two three-pointers by Harper, one to close the quarter, gave the Lakers a cruising 16-point lead after three.

O’Neal didn’t even play in the fourth quarter--in 33 minutes (his first sub-40 outing in seven games), he scored 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked four shots.

It was the third consecutive game the Lakers have held an opponent under 85 points--the first time a Laker team has done that since 1954.

With Kobe Bryant set to return soon from his broken hand, the signs were positive for the Lakers.

“Yeah, I can’t believe it, a miracle,” O’Neal said. “Two miracles in one day--Kobe’s coming back, and that. My team played well and I was able to rest in the fourth quarter.”

Jackson mentioned that O’Neal looked a little tired during the game, and O’Neal said the chaos on the streets did not lead to great comfort.

“It was just the day,” O’Neal said. “Drums, screaming, arguing. . . . I didn’t get no rest today.”

There will be more and perhaps louder protests here today, but the Lakers flew home Tuesday night, weary but wiser.

“I learned a little bit about the situation and kind of how some of the people feel,” Fisher said. “But you never get your message across with violence. It’s unfortunate that in this world where we have so much to be thankful for, that we still almost have to go to war to get a point across.”