Lakers Make Little Noise Against SuperSonic Boom

As the Lakers milled around before Thursday night’s game, Kobe Bryant slept on a table in their locker room, a towel under his head, another over his face, his arms crossed over his chest.

It was his stomach. His head ached too. But the big problem was his stomach.

Over the next three hours, the Lakers had his energy. They had his legs. They lost to the Seattle SuperSonics, 121-88, at KeyArena, their worst loss ever to Seattle, and then could barely explain why. The tempo was too fast. The SuperSonics were too hyped. Everything happened too fast. They started half a step behind and finished 33 points back, which exceeded a 29-point loss to Seattle almost seven years ago.

Bryant, his eyes half shut and his words barely audible, said, “Their energy was kind of overwhelming.”

A game after the Lakers matched a franchise record by making 15 three-point attempts, they missed 19. They were one for 20, particularly horrible given the Lakers led the league in three-point percentage. So, as Gary Payton scored 27 and Vin Baker scored 20 off the bench, the Lakers were launching and missing. The SuperSonics converted the long rebounds into 23 fastbreak points.

“Hey, it happens,” Laker guard Ron Harper said. “Move on.”

Shaquille O’Neal scored 23 points and Bryant scored 17, but after the first half there was not much to contest.

Their five-game winning streak ended in a hail of three-pointers by the SuperSonics, who made eight of 15, five of seven in the second quarter.

First, they made their coach disappear. Then, they do the same to the Lakers.

“We just didn’t have the effort,” forward Horace Grant said. “If I knew the answer, we wouldn’t be having that conversation right now.”

The SuperSonics scored 34 points in the first quarter, and if that wasn’t enough to take the puff out of the Laker chests, they scored 40 in the second.

Forty.

Three times this season the Lakers haven’t given up 40 points in a half.

That made it 74-43 at the break. The fans were so weary from the standing ovations they could barely drag themselves to the cappuccino stands at halftime. By today, they could be too exhausted to march in the daily World Trade Organization protests they appear to have here, which if nothing else would save a couple of windows at Starbucks.

“You know, the guys came out against the world champions and just played their hearts out from start to finish,” SuperSonic Coach Nate McMillan said.

It is, of course, a new day here, and not because the clouds parted for about 20 minutes at midday, causing ordinary people to step from their homes and exclaim, “Ooh, the sun.”

McMillan, or “Mr. Sonic,” as he is known here, took over for the fired Paul Westphal on Monday. Previously lethargic and uncooperative, the SuperSonics went to Portland on Tuesday and beat the Trail Blazers by 12 points. Inspired by what a little defense and a lot of teamwork could do, the SuperSonics then humiliated the Lakers.

“We tried to mount a comeback,” O’Neal said. “They hit shot after shot. They had that new-coach-energy thing.”

By early in the fourth quarter, Bryant sat on the bench, towels over his knees and shoulders, five fouls hanging over his head. His chin rested in his left palm.

Coach Phil Jackson leaned back, and crossed his arms across his chest.

“Some nights,” Jackson said, “you have to give them in.”

The Lakers stared out at a joyous crowd, at SuperSonic players enjoying a full quarter of garbage time against the defending champions, at Laker shots that went clank in the Northwestern night.

The crowd chanted “Nate! Nate! Nate!” as the lead grew and the SuperSonics posed, and the people even chuckled when the public address announcer suggested all of them avoid downtown because of “disturbances.”

Jackson might have known. Before the game he noted the SuperSonics “were playing with tremendous effort.” Then they trotted from their locker room and proceeded to sink shots and chase loose balls. Even as O’Neal broke out on a pace to foul out their entire front line by the second quarter--Patrick Ewing played only 11 minutes, he was so overmatched--the SuperSonics threw just enough defense at O’Neal, and then they attacked the Laker defense from all angles.

Bryant fell out of the splendid rhythm he played with for the last two weeks. When the three-pointers drew hard iron, the Seattle defense crept closer and closer to O’Neal. Then it was over, and Bryant, looking very ill, plodded away.

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SATISFACTION

After a tumultuous two days over his tardiness, Isaiah Rider says everything is fine following a lengthy conversation with Phil Jackson. D11

PORTLAND PREVAILS

Rasheed Wallace scores 28 points as the Trail Blazers slow the Dallas Mavericks, 95-84. D10