Lakers Blast Out of a Rut With a Rout

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Feb. 5, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

It’s panic time!

The slump is worsening. The tension is overwhelming. It’s bad, bad, bad and it’s obvious that desperate measures are necessary.

But enough about John Stockton, Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz, who on Friday showed the Lakers a thing or two about lackluster energy, fruitless basketball and troubled expressions.

And who, for every sad second of a resounding, ridiculous 113-67 Laker victory before 18,997 at Staples Center, looked more like the Clippers than anyone ever could have imagined possible.

The Lakers, meanwhile, were footloose and tension-free, luxuriating amid the gentle rhythms of a game that ceased to be a contest somewhere in the middle of the first quarter, when they led, 20-4.

Or at halftime, when they led, 56-21. Or in the third quarter, when it was 72-35.

“Well, that’s more like it,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “They definitely wanted to play--I mean, there was no doubt about our energy.

“Utah wasn’t able to match it and I think Jerry [Sloan, the Jazz coach] saw that early and that’s why he brought his younger kids in to try to scramble and match the energy.”

The 46-point victory was the Lakers’ largest since a 138-91 decision over Miami in 1988.

It also equaled the Lakers’ biggest victory ever over Utah.

The key to the quick start and the huge lead, Jackson said, was a Laker defense that caused 17 Utah turnovers in the first half.

The 67 points were the fewest allowed by a Laker team since the inception of the shot clock.

“I think it was the defense, without a doubt,” Jackson said. “We got our hands on a lot of balls, forced Utah into turnovers the first half.”

So, for all the recent worry about the Lakers’ recent 3-6 skid, Friday’s victory raised their record to 35-11, still tied with Portland for the best mark in the NBA and first place in the Pacific Division.

Shaquille O’Neal had 25 points and five blocked shots (and made nine of his 14 free-throw tries), Kobe Bryant had one more assist (nine) than shot attempts (eight), and Glen Rice broke out of a mini-slump with 20 points.

None of them played in the fourth quarter, and neither did Stockton or Malone, not that there was any competitive edge to be gained by their presence.

“We just wanted to put together a good, solid game,” O’Neal said. “That’s all we did.”

The real story of this game was the futility of Utah, which lost for the sixth consecutive time, the franchise’s longest skid since the 1982-83 seasons.

Stockton scored only two points in 15 minutes, Malone scored 14 points and had only two rebounds in 18 minutes and the team never gave an inkling of being in this game after about the first 90 seconds.

On Jan. 24 in Salt Lake City, these same teams went through four quarters and two exhilarating overtime periods before the Jazz finally pulled it out.

The Jazz has not won a game since.

The Jazz (27-18), playing a night after losing to Milwaukee in Salt Lake City, actually was only about half-bad, but, oh, what a half it was.

Some of the highlights:

* A 1-for-14 shooting start for Utah, including 0 for 4 by Malone, on the way to a 21.1% overall mark in the half, which featured only eight baskets by the Jazz and a 12-0 Laker run at one point.

* A second quarter in which Laker forward Rick Fox scored more points (eight) than Utah’s entire team (seven) and had three assists to none for the Jazz.

* The Jazz’s halftime total was 21 points, the second-lowest all-time scoring first half in franchise history and tied for the third-lowest in NBA history.

It was also the second-worst half against the Lakers this season, behind the Clippers’ record low of 19 on Dec. 14.

O’Neal, pointing to the similarities between the two teams in the last few struggling days, said it was important to jump on the Jazz from the outset.

“We pretty much did what we had to do, and we came out with a lot of energy,” O’Neal said. “We kind of needed this game. We knew that they were struggling just like we were.

“We just took it at them. . . . Obviously, they’re having problems, but we just did what we had to do.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE CRUSHERS

Los Angeles Lakers’ largest margins of victory in regular season. Jazz also had fewest points against L.A. (67), beating the old mark of 68 set by New York in 1992 and the Clippers this season:

PT Opponent, Year Score

63 Golden St., 1972 162-99

56 Detroit, 1966 144-88

49 S.F., 1967 129-80

47 at Miami, 1988 138-91

46 Utah, 2000 113-67

46 at San Diego, 1979 137-91

46 Utah, 1986 130-84

44 Cincinnati, 1968 146-102

44 at Atlanta, 1972 134-90

43 Cleveland, 1973 127-84

LOW BALL