Home-Court Edge Built With Flesh, Not Steel

When an architectural expert such as Paul Westphal says he doesn’t like Staples Center, you have to think about it.

OK. I thought about it.

Westphal, the Seattle SuperSonic coach, critiqued Los Angeles’ new arena after his team’s 104-92 victory Tuesday night over the Clippers. One thing he mentioned was that the designers didn’t build in a home-court advantage. The best I can figure, he means there are no dead spots on the court like at the old Boston Garden or rows of burned-out light bulbs like at the old Chicago Stadium.

Phil Jackson wasn’t overjoyed when his Bulls moved out of Chicago Stadium before the 1994-95 season and into the United Center, fearing that visiting teams wouldn’t find the new arena as dark, dreary and, therefore, daunting as the old one. When the Bulls lost in the Eastern Conference finals that season, Michael Jordan threatened to blow up the place.

The next season, they went 39-2 in the United Center.

If the Lakers don’t establish a home-court advantage, Jackson said before their first game in Staples Center on Wednesday night against Vancouver that he won’t blame the arena.

“It’s the energy that the players bring and the fans bring that builds that,” he said. “I don’t care if you have a temporary court. If the fans come and the team produces the energy and the team wins, that’ll be built.”

That was the case at the Great Western Forum, which, even now, is a palace compared to some older arenas. I never met any visiting players who dreaded playing there. They did, however, dread playing against some of the Laker teams that played there.

The Lakers counted on winning more than 30 games at home each season during the ‘80s. In the ‘92-93 season, a couple of years beyond the Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar era, they went 20-21 at home.

Don’t tell me about the mystique of the Boston Garden, either. The Celtics, without Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, didn’t have a winning record at home for three consecutive seasons in the ‘90s.

The Bulls, without Jordan, won only eight of 25 home games last season.

You don’t build in a home-court advantage. You build a team.

It’s too early to tell whether the Lakers have built one that can contend for a championship, but, for what it’s worth, Shaquille O’Neal said he already felt at home Wednesday night.

“I slept in my own bed, I drove my own car,” he said. “I guess we’re home.”

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As for any home-court advantage that the Lakers might have at Staples Center, their Wednesday night opponent, Vancouver, didn’t seem like much of a test. The Grizzlies won once on the road last season.

But they did provide a test in the first half. The Grizzlies would tell you it was because they’ve improved, and there is some truth to that, but this had to do more with the Laker malaise.

During a halftime ceremony at midcourt, Magic Johnson predicted that the Lakers would soon be raising a seventh championship banner.

“The way they played the first half, I don’t believe it,” Chick Hearn said.

The Lakers woke up, winning, 103-88.

But they did nothing to dispel the notion that they are playing a man short. Jackson suggested once again that the man’s name is Dennis Rodman, then called it an idle threat, but who knows how desperate he will be in a month?

Jackson can be forgiven because he wasn’t here last season. But if you were here and still think Rodman is the answer, is it possible you were, like, in a coma or something?

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Larry Merchant, an excellent broadcaster who was an even better newspaper columnist, recently recalled a game he covered between the Cincinnati Royals and one of Wilt Chamberlain’s Philadelphia teams.

When the Royals’ coach, Jack McMahon, was informed before the game that Chamberlain was suffering from a pancreas condition, McMahon said, “So what? We don’t have anybody who can reach his pancreas.”

If possible, Chamberlain is even taller in death.

Two of his former teams, the 76ers and Lakers, are wearing black bands on their jerseys in his honor, and, Wednesday night, his No. 13 went up on the Staples Center wall along with the numbers of six other players that the Lakers have retired.

Kenny Smith, a former NBA point guard and now a broadcaster for TNT, said this week that the Lakers can’t win a title with O’Neal.

“Your go-to guy you can’t go to,” he said. “Shaquille O’Neal has to make his free throws to win a championship.”

They used to say the same thing about Wilt. He won his first championship ring in his eighth NBA season; O’Neal is starting his eighth NBA season. O’Neal and Jackson have discussed it. We’ll know in only seven months whether it means anything.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com