New Tune for Lakers

By TIM KAWAKAMI

March 8, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SALT LAKE CITY —

Blasting past defenders, floating through the key, over Greg Ostertag, crashing into the rim, astonishing and aggravating the Delta Center faithful. . . .

And gently bragging about it in the aftermath.

By leaps and bounds, by all significant measurements, by an elevating 97-89 victory here on Sunday, the Lakers took flight to a higher place, where the Utah Jazz cannot frustrate them and the limits of their youth seem no longer relevant.

And after their seventh victory in a row, the Lakers crested.

“We’ve been playing smart for seven games now--that’s starting to be consistent,” said Shaquille O’Neal, who scored 23 points and had a game-high 16 rebounds.

“Usually it’s two games great, three games awful, get Del [Harris] fired, come back, get Kurt [Rambis]. . . .”

On Sunday, it wasn’t just about Kobe Bryant’s flying fourth-quarter circus, or Derek Fisher’s 20-point explosion, or Dennis Rodman’s cat-and-mouse game with Karl Malone, or any individual Laker event.

This time, against a Jazz team that had beaten the Lakers five straight times, had won 13 of its first 16 games this season, and had won 20 regular-season home games in a row, it was about reasserting something the Lakers (13-6) had lost, for a time.

On Sunday, it was about taking control--and sustaining control--in a hostile environment, against the league’s top team, and doing it with style and emotion.

“I love playing here, I really do--because it’s such a challenge,” said Bryant, who scored 24 points and slammed the door by throwing down an immortal driving dunk over Ostertag with 4:42 left in the game.

“As soon as you step into the arena, people expect you to lose.”

People sure expect the Lakers to lose, who have been wiped out of the playoffs in back-to-back seasons by the Jazz, always cannier and tougher and smarter in the clutch than the young Lakers.

“Against Utah, you’ve got to be patient, be patient, take good shots, take good shots,” said Rodman, who had only four rebounds, but was enough of a defensive presence to weary Malone, who was one for six in the fourth quarter.

“I’m used to that. And the Lakers have been too young, they don’t know how to do it. They’re seeing, being patient is good.”

Then Rodman took a particularly hard-hitting shot at the Jazz, who lost twice to Rodman’s Bulls in the NBA Finals.

“I think the fact is that Utah will never win a championship, that’s a more important statement than anything,” Rodman said. “I don’t think they ever will win a championship.”

And the Lakers, as currently constructed?

“I think we have a great shot,” Rodman said. “I always say, we get to the finals, we’ll win.”

To get to the finals, of course, they will probably have to get through Utah. For the first time this season, they showed that there is a chance of that.

On Sunday, the Lakers came out with the intent to push Utah around, grabbed a quick lead in the early minutes--and though Utah tied the score with a 12-1 rush in the second quarter--never trailed again.

Not when John Stockton and Malone worked their Hall of Fame pick-and-roll, because the Rodman-infused Laker defense suddenly rotated alertly, and gave up few easy baskets.

Not when the Jazz made one last frantic push, because Bryant was too creative on offense, Elden Campbell was crucial on defense, and the Jazz were actually the ones wearing down, throwing away passes and giving up easy baskets.

“Usually against this team, we get frustrated,” O’Neal said. “But we didn’t get frustrated today. We said that, ‘Today, they’re not going to frustrate us.’

“We came in, the coaches didn’t have anything on the board. They said it’s not about X’s and O’s. It’s about heart.”

After the game, Rambis, 6-0 as Laker coach, calmly trotted the same spiel about how no game means any more than any other, about how losing one of their back-to-back games against the Clippers on Tuesday and Wednesday will wipe away all the good accomplished in the last 11 days of triumph.

But the players said they noticed how deeply Rambis was into this game--before it, he joked that it might not determine whether the Lakers make a trade, but who will be their coach.

And Rambis himself pointed out that the team’s toughness--physically and mentally against the constant pressure of Malone and Co.--was a luminous sign of things to come.

“That’s what we’re trying to establish with our ballclub,” Rambis said. “It was a gutsy win, they did all the things that they had to do when they needed to do it. . . .

“You’ve got to love the quality that we’re developing on this ballclub. An attack, an aggressive, defensive-minded team.”

Said O’Neal: “It tells us what I’ve been saying all year--if we play smart, play together, play team ball, we can play with anybody.

“We’ve got the talent, we’ve got the bodies, we’ve got the veterans on this team to do what it takes.”

Bryant tried hard to keep things level.

“It’s just one game,” said Bryant, but his smile communicated other emotions, and his eyes wandered to the ceiling, or higher.

By The Numbers

37-18: Laker bench scoring versus Utah bench.

91: Free throws attempted (Lakers: 31-49; Jazz: 29-42)

3: Field goals by Utah in final 7.14 of the game (after cutting the Laker lead 81-80)

20: Utah’s regular season home winning streak that ended Sunday.

7: Laker winning streak.

6-0: Laker record with Kurt Rambis as coach and Dennis Rodman on the team.