Off and Running

The lord of the rings was not subtle, and did not want to be.

The ring was not subtle, either--huge, diamond-studded and almost too bright to behold--but when he showed it to them, it communicated everything Phil Jackson wanted the Lakers to feel and desire on Sunday in the minutes before their playoff journey was set to begin.

Look at the ring he earned as coach of the 1998 Chicago Bulls’ NBA championship team, he told them.

This is why you play.

Now, get one for yourselves.

The Lakers did not win the 2000 championship by defeating the Sacramento Kings, 117-107, before 18,997 at Staples Center on Sunday to kick-off their first-round, best-of-five Western Conference series.

But, with Shaquille O’Neal (who tied his playoff career-high with 46 points) ruling the paint and the Laker defense holding up against the King offensive onslaught, the No. 1-seeded Lakers started the postseason looking every bit the prohibitive favorite to win it all.

And to fulfill a promise to the lord of the rings.

“He said he was going to keep on wearing it throughout the whole playoffs until somebody knocks us out,” said Kobe Bryant of Jackson’s brief pregame display, “or until we earn him another one.”

As if the Lakers were defending champions, instead of the San Antonio Spurs, who, incidentally, actually won the title in the lockout-shortened 1999 season?

“He’s the champ,” Bryant said.

Ron Harper, a member of that 1998 Bulls team, also flashed his title ring, and there was little doubt that, if the Lakers were sluggish heading into the postseason, that was gone now.

“They’ve been seeing this ring since the last half of this season,” Harper said, “so they said they’re tired of seeing this ring, they need their own ring.

“We’re here to get a ring for right now.”

Bryant, who scored 23 points and had five assists despite foul trouble, embraced the motivational method: “I want one. I want one bad.”

There were all kinds of messages sent and demands made before and after Game 1, and once it began, O’Neal was the embodiment of practically every one.

O’Neal started slowly as Sacramento’s Chris Webber led the Kings to yet another torching start against the Lakers; but once O’Neal started getting the ball down low, he never really was stopped.

In the second-quarter run that gave the Lakers control of the game, O’Neal scored eight points, as the Lakers took a 65-55 halftime lead. Though the Kings threatened several more times, they never got closer than six points after that.

For the Kings, guards Jason Williams (20 points but only three assists), Nick Anderson (four-for-10 shooting) and Predrag Stojakovic (one-for-eight shooting) never seemed to get going, despite the quick pace of the game.

Vlade Divac, meanwhile, wobbled to a two-of-14 performance, scoring only 10 points and grabbing only four rebounds as the Lakers smashed the Kings in rebounding, 54-37.

O’Neal, who also grabbed 17 rebounds and blocked five shots, scored 17 more points in the third quarter (including a basket made while losing his shoe), 12 more in the fourth, and tied the high mark he set on April 25, 1997, in the first round against the Portland Trail Blazers.

There was a message here, Harper said, for the Kings and for any team that hopes to beat the Lakers in the playoffs:

“We have to tell teams, ‘This is what you’re going to see, every game,’ ” said Harper, who grabbed nine rebounds of his own, six on the offensive side, in an inspirational performance. “We’re going to go to Shaq every chance that we have.

“We’re going to go to Shaq. If you foul him, you foul him; if you don’t, he’s going to score points.”

Divac and backup Scot Pollard didn’t do much of anything against O’Neal, who was given 33 field-goal attempts, making 21 of them.

“We just have to play smart, bring our ‘A’ game, and the guys brought their ‘A’ game today,” O’Neal said.

“I’m proud of my teammates. We just need to do the same thing on Thursday [in Game 2 at Staples] and then go up there and steal one.”

Said Jackson of O’Neal: “I thought he played a terrific game. I [liked] his mind-set, his demeanor--he didn’t let some bangs and bumps on his shot upset him.

“Obviously, [he] got fouled on a couple of plays with no calls and he played right through it, didn’t let it irritate him. I think he carried himself great.”

Coincidentally, Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman argued that O’Neal fouled his players while he fought for position underneath, and that there was not much his post players could do if the referees allowed O’Neal to bully them.

“There is no doubt that Shaquille O’Neal is a great player, but they do not officiate the game the same for him, with all his strength, as they do for everybody else,” Adelman said.

“I’m being honest--that’s just the way it is and you cannot do anything about it because obviously three seconds [in the key] is not going to be called.”

Now to Thursday, which Jackson said might be the key game of the short series.

“The next game,” Jackson said, “would be the critical game that sets this series on edge.”

But for the players, it was all about getting out to a good start in this high-anxiety time.

“We’ve been waiting for this,” guard Derek Fisher said, “for almost two weeks.”

LAKERS vs. KINGS

Best of five

GAME 1

Lakers 117, Kings 107

GAME 2

Thursday at Staples Center, 7:30 p.m.,

Fox Sports Net

GAME 3

April 30 at Sacramento, 2:30 p.m., Channel 4

GAME 4*

May 2 at Sacramento, Time TBA, Channel 9

GAME 5*

May 5 at Staples Center, Time TBA, Fox Sports Net

* if necessary

*

Portland 91, Minnesota 88

Scottie Pippen scored a season-high 28 points as the Trail Blazers rallied to win. Page 10

New York 92, Toronto 88

Vince Carter missed 17 of 20 shots--including his first 12--in his first playoff game. Page 10

Indiana 88, Milwaukee 85

Jalen Rose scored 26 points as the Pacers struggled to turn back the Bucks. Page 10

*

GAME REPORT: Page 8

MAJOR MISTAKE

It was all downhill for the Kings after Chris Webber picked up his fifth foul and then was hit with a crucial technical foul. Page 9

STILL A PROBLEM

Chris Webber was a force from the moment Sunday’s game began and no Laker seemed to have an answer for him. Page 9

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BY THE NUMBERS

46: Points for Shaquile O’Neal, tying his career high in the playoffs

28: O’Neal’s age

0: Number of NBA championships won by Michael Jordan before he turned 28

.732: Phil Jackson’s winning percentage in the playoffs, the best in NBA history

14-28: Sacramento’s record on the road this season, worst of the 16 playoff teams

10-3: Lakers’ record in first-round playoff games since O’Neal joined the team (1996-97)

7-10: Laker record in first-round games in the four season before O’Neal joined the team.