Rockets Finally Take Off

By TIM KAWAKAMI

May 14, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

HOUSTON —

Two of the 50 greatest players scored 67 of the biggest points, grabbed 37 of the most important rebounds and saved at least one match point here on Thursday.

Of course, Scottie Pippen and Charles Barkley seemed as if they scored all of the points and took down all of the rebounds, and it was close.

Meanwhile, with a chance at a scintillating series sweep vanishing before their eyes, the Lakers missed 51 shots, got knocked around by a Houston Rocket team playing with Hall of Fame fury, and made this a most interesting moment in this most interesting Laker season.

In an elimination game for the Rockets, and one that the Lakers would like to eliminate from their memories, the Lakers lost, 102-88, under a tide of Pippen- and Barkley-inspired energy and before a sellout crowd at the Compaq Center in Game 3 of this first-round playoff matchup.

And now this series really begins.

Have the Rockets, famous for victory in the face of elimination over the years, only just begun their charge?

“They played like they’re supposed to play,” said Laker guard Kobe Bryant, who had dominated Pippen in their first two matchups this series but got in early foul trouble Thursday and never seemed to regain his momentum against the soaring Pippen.

“I mean, it was a challenge. [Pippen] responded to the challenge. We’ve just got to come back and do it again.”

The Lakers did not play disastrously, merely wobbly and confused enough to lose an early 10-point lead, and then seemed to lose their will for long spells.

After hearing heavy criticism for his less-than-sterling play at the two games in L.A., Pippen roasted the Lakers for a career-playoff-high 37 points and 13 rebounds, and Barkley chipped in 30 points, 23 rebounds and tree-trunk defense against Shaquille O’Neal, who made only nine of his 22 shots but led the Lakers with 26 points.

“They were facing elimination, and we knew it wasn’t going to be easy to walk in here and win the ballgame,” said Laker point guard Derek Fisher, whose two-game hot scoring run ended in Game 3 with a three-for-eight, seven-point effort. “There was no way these guys were just going to lay down.

“The way we’re looking at it, the series kind of starts over in the next game.”

The next one is Saturday, in Houston. If the Rockets win that one, the series will come down to a decisive Game 5, at the Great Western Forum, on Monday.

Said forward Glen Rice, who also struggled, making only five of his 13 tries, including a one-for-six display from three-point distance: “It’s a series now,” Rice said. “We definitely don’t want to stretch it. We don’t want to take it back to L.A.”

Much of Pippen’s offensive freedom was triggered by Bryant’s early foul trouble--he picked up his second with 7:16 left in the first quarter, which is when Pippen began to establish himself on the low post.

Bryant’s first foul could have been a sign: A charging foul on the Lakers’ third possession.

“I told the ref, ‘Man, I learned that move from Scottie!’ ” Bryant said.

Out of the game or worried about picking up more fouls, Bryant could not bring the kind of ferocious defense that had shackled Pippen in the first two games.

“That’s something I should’ve have worried about,” Bryant said. “You’ve got to play hard regardless of foul trouble. That won’t happen again.”

As the Rockets passed the Lakers in the second quarter--Pippen finished it with 12 consecutive points--the Compaq Center crowd screamed loud enough to shake an opponents’ nerve and rattle its soul.

And then the Lakers went tilt.

It was quite a scene, even with the Rockets’ third future Hall of Famer, center Hakeem Olajuwon, limping to a two-for-12 shooting night and handing over most of the O’Neal defense to Barkley.

There was no great shame in losing to a Houston team lifted and carried by two remarkable performances, but there was a great deal of Laker frustration.

At the end of it, O’Neal ran over to official Ronnie Nunn on his way to the locker room, and screamed not-so-nice words for about 10 seconds before being pulled away.

And now there is drama, and anxiety, and fascination.

The Lakers, under the Rockets’ increased defensive pressure, made only 31 of their 82 shot attempts (37.8%) after jolting the Rockets with outside shooting in the first two victories.

No Laker other than J.R. Reid (two of three in 24 minutes) and Derek Harper (four for seven) made 50% or more of their shots.

“We don’t have any excuses,” Rice said. “Sometimes, your shot is not going to go in. We’ve got to realize that and play through that. It didn’t go in tonight. And we didn’t do enough to make up for it.”

The Lakers, though, kept reminding reporters that they still lead the series, 2-1, that the Rockets--not the Lakers--face elimination Saturday, and that there is no reason to panic.

Not now.

“When they pass out the championship rings in June, we know they don’t put put down whether or not you won your first-round series in three games or four,” Fisher said.

“This is a series where you’ve got to win three games, whether it’s Saturday, Monday or whenever.”

NBA PLAYOFFS

LAKERS vs. HOUSTON

Lakers lead best-of-five series, 2-1

GAME 1: Lakers 101, Rockets 100

GAME 2: Lakers 110, Rockets 98

GAME 3: Rockets 102, Lakers 88

GAME 4: Saturday at Houston 2:30 p.m., Channel 4

GAME 5*: Monday at Forum 7:30 p.m., Fox Sports West

* if necessary

****

SCORE BY QUARTERS