Reserve Power Charges Lakers

They were never gone, only slightly forgotten, brushed aside a bit by Shaquille O’Neal’s nightly marathons and a starting unit that spent November and most of December racking up double-bonus frequent-player miles.

You had to look closely to remember how important Rick Fox and Robert Horry really were supposed to be.

How long and how fervently have the Lakers been hoping for Fox and Horry to have a game-turning, double-impact performance as they did in Saturday’s 106-94 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies?

“Been waiting on it like Christmas,” starting guard Ron Harper said of the Lakers’ bench success. “They finally showed up. . . .

“I think the key is that we had guys that came off our bench and they played well today. And if our bench can keep doing that, I think our team can be all right.”

With Vancouver pressing the matter for three-plus quarters, with Glen Rice struggling from the outside (five for 15 from the field), with O’Neal feeling slightly slow, with Kobe Bryant choosing not to force his offense, and with 14,059 at GM Place screaming for an upset, the Lakers (16-5) had a need for other scorers.

And Coach Phil Jackson found it, for one of the few times this season, from the bench.

Fox scored 11 points on five-of-six shooting, Horry scored a season-high 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had two steals, and the two combined to score 16 points in the fourth quarter with the game on the line and Bryant and Rice taking breathers.

Fox said that his recent offensive slump has been a result of him forcing things, instead of letting the triangle offense find its own openings.

“It seems for me personally in this offense that the shots are going to be there,” Fox said. “That’s a proven thing.

“What I find in this offense, regardless if you start, come off the bench or coach the team, if you press in this offense, you get negative results.

“I went out today . . . maybe this is a key lesson, just relax and know that the shots are going to come, but don’t go out and look for them to come. They’re going to come.”

After the Grizzlies tied it early in the fourth, 75-75, Derek Fisher and Fox made consecutive jumpers, and Horry dug out two offensive rebounds on one possession that led to an O’Neal basket, which gave the Lakers an 81-75 lead.

Vancouver narrowed it one more time to 91-88 with 2:25 left, but Horry scored six of the Lakers’ next 11 points--two baskets in a row from Bryant assists--and that kept the game in the Lakers’ hands.

“One was a dunk after Kobe made a great pass, and I was frustrated in myself because I had missed about six shots in a row,” Horry said. “Then I made a jumper that was easy and then a couple free throws, that was really easy.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to take them when they come. . . . I think we played decent. We did some things that were good, we went to the board, we played good defense, we had a little stint and we made a little run.

“You know, we call it the second team, but we still have Shaq in there.”

O’Neal--who is first team, second team, every team for this team--clocked in his now-usual 44 minutes of action, with 30 points, four assists, three blocked shots and 10 rebounds, but said he did not feel particularly explosive.

“I think I did OK,” O’Neal said. “I think I didn’t rebound the ball well, though. My knees were kind of stiff. I was kind of a step slow.

“But my homeboys helped me out today--Rob and Rick, the bench, they played well.”

With Fox playing 16 minutes and Horry 24, Jackson was also able to keep Harper and A.C. Green to limited action.

“They’re a feisty young team and I thought they played a rather good game--hustled, got second shots,” Jackson said of the Grizzlies, who were led by Mike Bibby with 23 points and eight assists.

“We just got a little crack in the seam where we got some offensive rebounds and our second unit was able to use their experience. . . . Rick Fox and Robert Horry were able to help us win that one.”

Meanwhile, one game after his late turnovers hurt the Lakers in Sacramento, Bryant got 14 points on five-of-12 shooting, six rebounds, a season-high seven assists, a career-high five blocked shots and only two turnovers in 39 minutes.

“I thought that he contained himself well, he played the kind of game we wanted him to play and hit the open guys for shots,” Jackson said. “That was a complete game for him.”

Bryant, Jackson said, was one player he never has to worry about wearing down with high minutes.

“He’s got so much energy, he could play 48,” Jackson said. “I just have to hold him out just because his influence on the game is too great. He needs to sit down and let the other guys play for a while.”