Lakers Not Yet Ready for Prime Time

It was Sunday school again at the Great Western Forum.

And the Lakers are the ones getting the lessons, wincing through the lectures, and clamoring for the exits.

For the second consecutive nationally televised Sunday game, the Lakers hosted an elite team, emerged second best and sat around with exasperated looks in the aftermath.

Shaquille O’Neal bounced back from his groin-muscle injury with his best game of the season--36 points, 17 rebounds--the Lakers smashed the Indiana Pacers on the boards, 48-33, and at times the pace was perfect.

But, after a procession of free throws and grinding defensive stops, after Kobe Bryant’s one-man rally fell just short and his last-second three-pointer swung off the rim, the Pacers pulled out a 101-99 victory before 17,505.

So, though a winning streak might be only a week away in this jam-packed schedule, suddenly the Lakers are 3-3, and the locker room is sounding something like a group therapy session.

Maybe Dennis Rodman is coming and then maybe Glen Rice after that and maybe, shock of all shocks, this is the team the Lakers will have all season--pending the status of Robert Horry, who was a late scratch after experiencing chest pains that sent him to the hospital for examinations, which revealed an irregular heartbeat.

“We’re not as good as last year’s team right now,” said forward Rick Fox, focusing on last season’s 11-0 start. “You guys know that. . . .

“Shaq’s played really well. Kobe’s played well. But it’s not about the individuals, you know? We’re 3-3, so that should tell you that it’s not about the individual performances.

“You have to be unselfish and look for your teammates to be successful in this league.”

The Lakers played some of their best basketball of the season in the third quarter and into the early part of the fourth, finally finding a pace to their liking, converting open-court slams and twisting drives, and racing to an 84-76 lead with just under 10 minutes to play.

But, as it happened against Utah a Sunday earlier, the Lakers let the lead drip away and, a few minutes later, a 13-4 run by the Pacers (capped by a Reggie Miller rainbow three-pointer) made the score 94-90 with 2:35 left to play.

“We definitely aren’t as good as we think we are,” point guard Derek Fisher said. “We’re not discouraged, but right now we’re not playing good concentrated basketball.”

Bryant scored seven straight points in the final minute to give the Lakers a last shot at victory, but his 23-footer from the top of the key did not fall at the buzzer.

“When it left my hand, I said, ‘Wooo, that’s pretty, that’s going in!’ ” said Bryant, who had 18 points and two rebounds--his first non-double-digit rebounding game. “But it caught the rim.”

And the Lakers lost. Bryant, for one, said nobody should over-analyze the results of this one game.

“My shot came up short, they won the game, and that was it,” Bryant said. “I hit that shot and everybody’s in here happy-go-lucky.”

That was the path taken by Coach Del Harris, who pointed out that the Lakers had good ball movement, that Travis Knight (nine rebounds) and Fisher (eight assists) both had their best performances of the season, and that Indiana only won because it got to the line 15 times (making nine) in the fourth quarter.

“There were a lot of positives in the game,” Harris said. “The only negative was we didn’t win the game. When you out-shoot them and out-rebound them severely and out-assist them, 28-16, you know we played a pretty good game.

“Shaq got 30 shots. I think we got it inside enough. A veteran team usually has a few extra tricks to make it look like you got fouled.”

Especially in the last 10 minutes, when it came down to deciding who was getting the ‘W.’

Said Fox: “We’re a team that isn’t really rolling. We’ve got a lot of kinks. It’s only six games, but it’s starting to become an indication of something that we don’t want.”

*

MEDICAL ALERT

Robert Horry hospitalized overnight after tests discover an irregular heartbeat. Page 4

* RODMAN

UPDATE

It’s still unclear when the Lakers could have power forward in uniform.

Page 4

MINNESOTA 95, CLIPPERS 73

Kevin Garnett scored a season-high 24 points to lead the Timberwolves to easy win. Page 5

Roundup D4

Box Scores D4