Lakers Hit a Rough Spot

By TIM KAWAKAMI

May 18, 1999 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN ANTONIO —

Piece by piece, with the larcenous heart and hands of a master postseason burglar, the Spurs kept taking valuable things away from the Lakers here Monday, and never really stopped.

They took away the Lakers’ fastbreak.

They took away Kobe Bryant’s flashes to the basket.

They took away Glen Rice’s three-point shooting.

And, with their bodies, desire and smarts, their thievery reached its climax when they stole the biggest, baddest jewel of all, Shaquille O’Neal, which seemed to take away the Lakers’ will and all but guaranteed San Antonio’s tough-it-out 87-81 victory at the Alamodome in Game 1 of this Western Conference semifinal.

O’Neal, who scored 21 points but made only six of 19 shots and screamed at official Steve Javie after the game, was scrunched and crunched by Tim Duncan, David Robinson and a bevy of other large bodies throughout the game.

Time and again, the Lakers went to O’Neal, and most of the time, the ball either was punched out, O’Neal was forced too far from the basket, or the shots went up wildly.

“He took a beating out there tonight--that’s just frustrating,” said Laker Coach Kurt Rambis, who drew a technical foul from Javie earlier when he complained about O’Neal’s treatment.

“It was a combination of that, and we didn’t play particularly well. We made a lot of mental mistakes out there.

“They’re a real good defensive team. They did a real good job clogging things up. They did a real good job testing our outside players, knowing they’ve got help inside with those two big guys able to block shots.”

Duncan led the Spurs with 25 points, and Robinson had 15. But the significant moments were all on defense--Duncan led the way with six blocked shots, and the Spur defense, designed to funnel things into the big men, held the Lakers to 38% shooting (30 for 79).

The referees called enough fouls to give O’Neal 14 free-throw attempts (he made nine), but the Lakers felt that O’Neal was fouled just about every time he touched the ball.

“The big fella is a little upset with how things went,” power forward J.R. Reid said. “But knowing how he is, that just means he’s going to come back even harder next time.”

Could O’Neal have been the source of several loud bangs emanating from the Laker locker room after the game?

“That might just be fouls still going on--clattering in the locker room,” Reid said with a slight smile.

“They were punishing the big fella. . . . and when you go in there to him and you don’t get the calls, that hurts our offense.”

After a long cooling-off period, O’Neal had little to say about the officiating, saying only that he and his teammates needed to make some adjustments if that kind of physical play was going to go unwhistled.

Game 2 is Wednesday at the Alamodome, and Rambis said the Lakers will be ready for bumps and pushes.

“That’s the way the playoffs are,” Rambis said. “The playoffs are going to get more and more physical with each series you advance. We’re just going to have to get used to that as a team and as individuals.

“He did take a beating out there, but that’s what the playoffs are about.”

Said O’Neal: “Their double- and triple-teams came really quick tonight, and I missed a lot of shots I usually make. We have to make them pay for those double-teams and get better shot selections.”

On a night the Lakers needed their other shooters to offset the Spurs’ O’Neal-fixation, Bryant went eight for 17, Rick Fox went 0 for 5, and Glen Rice, who played 45 minutes after sitting out the previous playoff game because of a sore elbow, made three of his first four shots but finished eight of 17.

The Spurs did not play incredible offensive basketball--they shot only 41.9% from the field, missed 12 free throws, and committed 14 turnovers, which almost helped get the Lakers back into it in the last desperate minutes.

In fact, San Antonio’s unsteady offense (other than Duncan) triggered a quick start from the Lakers, who had a 24-12 lead late in the first quarter.

Then Duncan started taking apart the Laker defense, the Lakers couldn’t run everything through O’Neal, and the Spurs kept the clamps on everybody else.

Bryant had an unusual game--he played 36 minutes after taking a nine-minute ride on the bench after some spotty play in the third quarter, but ended up with 21 points, six assists, six rebounds and seven turnovers.

He played several minutes at point guard in the fourth quarter, trying to get some post-up points, and he played hard defense on Sean Elliott throughout.

He also maintained a steady attitude in the aftermath of this game.

“We’re fine,” Bryant said. “There’s no reason to panic. Really. . . . We shouldn’t be frustrated. We really shouldn’t. They did what they had to do, they won the first game at home. Hats off to them. They did a good defensive job. But all we have to do is come back and win Game 2.”

Rambis echoed Bryant’s unaffected mood--this is, after all, a best-of-seven series, with a long way to go.

“We had several easy little opportunities to score, it was a close ballgame, if we get those, anything could’ve happened in this ballgame,” Rambis said. “I know we made some mental mistakes, I know we made some physical errors, and I know we can play better.”

NBA PLAYOFFS

LAKERS vs. SAN ANTONIO

Spurs lead best-of-seven series, 1-0

GAME 1: San Antonio 87, Lakers 81

GAME 2: Wednesday at San Antonio, 6:30 p.m., Channel 9, TNT

GAME 3: Saturday at Forum, 2:30 p.m., Channel 4

GAME 4: Sunday at Forum, 2:30 p.m., Channel 4

GAME 5*: May 25 at San Antonio, TBA

GAME 6*: May 27 at Forum, TBA

GAME 7*: May 29 at San Antonio, TBA

* if necessary

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