Streak Served With Big Helping of Rice

By TIM KAWAKAMI

March 13, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Lakers debuted their jambalaya offense Friday: Take a bunch of diverse and spicy flavors, mix them up randomly, then add Rice.

It’ll burn you if you aren’t careful, especially if you’ve got to play against it and don’t have a defense that can simultaneously shackle three of the top offensive performers in the league.

No surprise, the 17,505 customers at the Great Western Forum seemed particularly approving of the concoction during the Lakers’ 89-78 victory over the Golden State Warriors, enlivened by the Laker premiere of Glen Rice, whose shot was wobbly but whose presence was felt profoundly.

“My elbow was fine, but my legs felt like they were in a little bit of mud out there,” said Rice, who made eight of 21 shots in 27 minutes. “But it was a great feeling out there--a lot of good things are going to happen with this team.

“Everybody kept telling me to shoot, so I said, ‘OK, if you want me to build a brick house tonight, I can do that.’ ”

For this night, until the Lakers went into a second half sleep-walking period, it all looked natural: Rice, acquired Wednesday in a trade that involved sending fan favorite Eddie Jones to Charlotte, looked a little off-kilter but still nicely suited to the Laker attack.

Rice, playing in his first game this season after sitting out the first month because of an elbow injury, entered the game late in the first quarter and was far from sharp--his evening included one airball jump shot, a few missed passes, and missing his first three shots.

But he ended up leading the Lakers with 21 points, and his threat, combined with Kobe Bryant’s constant movement and Shaquille O’Neal’s unmistakable strengths and all the other Laker talents, turned the Warrior defense inside-out.

It was the Lakers’ 10th consecutive victory as they get set for a six-game trip beginning Sunday in Sacramento.

Power forward J.R. Reid, who also came over from Charlotte in the trade, added six points.

“His shot was a little flat at the start,” Reid said of Rice, “but like I told him, it only takes two to start a streak. And when he gets that second one down, you’re in trouble.”

It was such a flamboyant combination that Dennis Rodman, up until now the tangiest ingredient in town, was hardly noticed at all--no technical fouls, no tag-fights, a few rebounds, and an announcement of a sore right elbow that explained his absence for all of the second half.

And until the Warriors made a late run to close the gap to 12 in the fourth, O’Neal’s towering presence was not necessary beyond the early parts of the third quarter, after he raked the Warrior big men as the Lakers built a 21-point lead.

O’Neal finished with 20 points (on nine-of-14 shooting), 17 rebounds and three assists.

“We have a lot of offensive weapons that can do a lot of things,” Coach Kurt Rambis said. “It’s nice to be able to give Shaq a break, he takes so much pounding in there.

“But he’s still going to be our hub on offense.”

By the time Rice finally made the first long jump shot as a Laker--a fall-away swish in Antawn Jamison’s face with 1:30 left in the half--the Lakers had built a 20-point lead.

“Looking from the outside and you know there’s a lot talent here,” Rice said of his new Laker teammates. “But from the inside, it’s scary.”

There was a bump in night--point guard Derek Harper went down with an sprained left ankle (X-rays were negative) early in the fourth quarter and did not return. He is listed as day-to-day.

With the victory, Rambis tied Buddy Jeannette’s 1947 NBA record of starting his coaching career with nine consecutive victories.

And Jeannette didn’t have the envious choice of going to O’Neal, Bryant, Rice or any of the other Laker scorers.

“I can’t think of why anyone would envy me,” Rambis said with a smile before the game. “If I wasn’t me, I wouldn’t want to be me.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

How Glen Rice and J.R. Reid fared in their first game with the Lakers:

Rice

MINUTES: 27

POINTS: 21

FIELD GOALS: 8-21

FREE THROWS: 5-8

REBOUNDS: 2