One-Horace Town

By TIM BROWN

Dec. 13, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

It won’t ever look like it, because, at 35, Horace Grant no longer has Phil Jackson kicking him in the shorts, as in their Chicago days.

It won’t ever look like it, because, in his 14th NBA season, Grant can laugh at almost everything.

His teammates remain amused at the memory of Grant and Golden State forward Danny Fortson nearly coming to blows under the basket during an October exhibition game. And 20 seconds later, Grant returning to hug a confused Fortson.

No, it won’t ever look like it, but Grant has his small traumas, like everyone else.

“Some nights I’m going to be able to contain some guys, like a Tim Duncan,” Grant said Monday afternoon, half in and half out of his white sedan. “And some nights some guys are going to score 51.”

He smiled. He brought a hand to his brow. Those 51 belonged to Golden State’s Antawn Jamison. Jamison belonged mostly to Grant.

“Hopefully not every night, not often, like Jamison,” Grant said. “Ooh.”

Tonight, Grant resumes his jousting with the great power forwards of the Western Conference, this in a rematch with Rasheed Wallace in Portland.

Their last time there, on Halloween night in the sea son opener, the Lakers beat the Trail Blazers, 96-86. Grant did a credible defensive job on Wallace, whose job on the Lakers in the conference finals prompted the trade that brought the sturdy Grant, in particular, to Los Angeles.

“We needed defense,” Jackson said. “We got hurt last year a lot at that position. But that’s a great position out here in the West, the power forward position. We needed someone athletic and defensive and strong enough that we can take care of that.”

And?

“Well, you know, he got blistered against Jamison,” Jackson said. “But it wasn’t just him, it was Rob [Horry] and it was [Mark Madsen] a little. All three of them had part of that. But, he’s the one that’s carried the most abuse about it, as far as his teammates ribbing him.”

Since the early Portland victory, the Lakers have labored in defense of their NBA championship with mostly so-so efforts, particularly on defense. Portland has been a colossal disappointment, though it has played somewhat better recently.

For Grant, tonight’s game will be another against an all-star-caliber power forward, a guy capable of 40 points, of 15 rebounds, of inflicting trauma, small or otherwise.

“This day and age, no one guy is going to stop one guy, regardless,” Grant said. “It’s going to be a team effort. I do the best I can.”

In general, the Lakers have gotten better defense from the power forward position. They are, however, much worse overall, having fallen near the bottom of the NBA’s defensive rankings, well below teams with far less talent.

Perhaps their effort will improve in the coming months, when home-court advantage for the playoffs is higher profile, if that is motivation enough, or when the playoffs begin. Either way, it will have been something of a journey for Grant, playing without a contract for next season, with no idea where he might go next, but with a map of Los Angeles nearby.

That he sits in the driver’s seat of his luxury car is victory in itself. For his first six weeks as a Laker, Grant hired a chauffeur to run him from his rented apartment in Beverly Hills to the Lakers’ training facility in El Segundo and back.

Only recently was he familiar enough with L.A. to negotiate the San Diego Freeway.

“The freeway, so many freeways, you get so mixed up,” Grant said. “I got lost so many times. Even when my driver started driving me, I got lost. Oh man, I was in all sorts of neighborhoods. It was a disaster. But I learned my way around for the most part.

“I’m a very cautious person. I’ve got to get familiar with my surroundings before I can smile, so to speak. That’s what I did. I let the driver do his job. I watched the streets and the highways. Then, when I was comfortable with it, I went out on my own.”

Already, he is a favorite in a locker room of veteran and stubborn personalities, in part because he has played with so many of the Lakers in other cities. Before most games, he sits with his back to his locker, his feet on a folding chair, hot pads soothing his knees. He chats with everyone, or reads one of the books Jackson hands him, or just watches the people come and go.

“I think L.A. fits his style,” said Greg Foster, who came from Seattle with Grant.

Once, when a friend noticed Madsen lugging one of Grant’s duffel bags, he asked Grant, “Oh, is that your rookie?”

“No,” Grant said. “That’s my friend.”

Of course, this friend Madsen seemed to be doing most of the carrying in the relationship.

“Horace asked me to do a lot of stuff and I’d do it,” Madsen said, laughing. “He said that with a twinkle in his eye, trying to get more out of me, and I totally bought into it.

“Horace is awesome. He has a joke going with everybody on the team. My thing with him, he’s afraid of me, one on one.”

Probably, he’s pacing himself. There’s a lot left out there for him, from Karl Malone to Shareef Abdur-Rahim to Duncan to Wallace. There’s trauma enough to go around.

“Horace has played like every player, good and bad, in various stretches during the games,” Jackson said. “He’s shown he can play big minutes. That he’s resilient. That he rebounds. That he can make open shots. He hasn’t consistently shot his shot yet. But historically, he’s a good shooter. He’s shooting 80% from the free-throw line. Those are all things that work out really well for us. And it means that opposing forwards can’t just step in front of Shaq [O’Neal] and destroy the passing lanes by ignoring him as a shooter.”

An hour later, Grant pulls his door shut and rolls down his window, a couple of miles from another successful solo trek up the 405. On the brink of retirement, or not, he is asked if there is something that he can still do that he didn’t expect he would. Or if a skill were leaking away, one he believed he’d have forever.

“Both,” he said. “I’m surprised I’ve got what I’ve got. I’m surprised somebody gets 51 on me.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

GRANT-IN-AID

The Lakers are getting more productivity from this season’s power forward, 35-year-old Horace Grant, than they did at the position in 1999-2000 from 36-year-old A.C. Green.

GRANT

First 22 Games

2000-01

Minutes: 31.1

FG Att.: 7.2

FG Pct.: .490

Rebounds: 7.5

Points: 8.8

GREEN

Season*

1999-2000

Minutes: 22.5