Rodman Does a World of Good for the Lakers

Three games into it, and suddenly Dennis Rodman is the Lakers’ many-tattooed guru, a strange and wonderful basketball shaman for these strange and apparently wonderful times.

Rodman did not lift the Lakers to their 97-91 fourth-quarter comeback victory here Monday over the Phoenix Suns so much as he played Zen master to their sometimes tortured souls, calming the waters and grabbing all the important rebounds.

Rodman had a season-high 16 rebounds, scored his first two Laker baskets on his way to seven points and pile-drove Sun forward Tom Gugliotta out of offensive position during the key late moments, when the Lakers cannily slipped out of an eight-point deficit and blew away Phoenix with a 36-23 fourth quarter. Along the way, Rodman suggested a few defensive alignments, advised Coach Kurt Rambis on the offense-defense substitution chess moves and even wandered over to the scorer’s table once to check on the foul situation.

This, by the way, is not exactly how the nonconformist 37-year-old usually acted during his previous leave-me-alone stint with the Chicago Bulls.

“Well, I didn’t have to do anything with the Bulls--we knew exactly what we had to do,” Rodman said after the game.

“These are real young guys, just came out of high school. And these guys don’t understand about the game of basketball and about the limelight and about how to keep your body and your mind and how to put them all together.”

Are the young 10-6 Lakers listening?

“Absolutely,” Rodman said, grinning. “They have no choice.”

Shaquille O’Neal, who led all scorers with 25 points, had nine rebounds and said there’s no doubt the game is different when Rodman is in it.

“He’s just a workhorse,” O’Neal said. “I’m very impressed with every play. . . . We’re going to try to get a lot of mileage out of him.

“We’re all having fun. He listens to us, we listen to him.”

And the Lakers won the kind of game they had been losing only a week ago. In fact, exactly a week ago, in Denver, the Lakers gave up a 12-point lead to the Denver Nuggets and lost in overtime--the almost exact opposite of this game.

Said Kobe Bryant: “This was the type of ballgame where you have to grind it out--that’s where he’s going to be huge for us.”

It was the Lakers’ fourth victory in a row, third straight with Rodman on the roster, and third straight before a star-filled crowd--on this night, Ken Griffey Jr., Pete Sampras, Mo Vaughn and David Spade.

It also was a victory that came with minimal offensive input from Bryant (10 points on three-of-11 shooting) and Eddie Jones (10 points, four of 11).

Derek Harper, another 37-year-old, dropped in 18 points, including the biggest basket of the night, a three-pointer on an inside-outside, two-man play with O’Neal that put the Lakers ahead for good, 87-85, with 1:08 left.

“Old heads, man,” Bryant said of the two veterans. “They’re going to step up for you down in the clutch.”

Bryant, meanwhile, was on the sideline for many of the game-deciding minutes, in favor of Jones and Rick Fox, and said he took the time to contemplate the game.

Earlier, he was involved in a little back-and-forth with Sun forward Danny Manning, who has four inches and about 30 pounds on Bryant and tried to post him up several times.

“Well, he said I was too little to guard him down in the post,” Bryant said. “I don’t appreciate that too much.”

What did Bryant say back? “I’m looking forward to the next game.”

At the end of the game, with Phoenix trailing and needing to foul, it was Rodman who bolted to Rambis and advised that he should be replaced in the lineup with a better shooter--and Rambis, 3-0 as an NBA head coach, happily concurred.

“He’s a young coach,” Rodman said, “and I don’t think he thinks on that level, yet.”

A buoyant Rambis said he was all too willing to listen to his players--especially those who have been in battle with Michael Jordan, et al.

“You know what, not only is he a great defensive player and an unbelievable rebounder, but I’ll tell you what, that guy knows more about basketball than probably 99.9% of the people on the planet,” Rambis said.

“He just understands the game. He’s always thinking out there. I am so happy the Lakers got him on this ballclub.”