Desperately Streaking Lakers Win

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Jan. 8, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Laker winning streak was on the line, and, it turns out, so was Bobby Phills’ foot.

Down by two, looking for a game-winning three-point shot, the Charlotte Hornet guard stepped about an inch out of bounds with 3.5 seconds left, the last in a series of huge breaks, mistakes and deep-breath intakes.

By that bare margin, with the Hornets bearing down and with a huge fourth-quarter performance out of former Hornet Glen Rice, the Lakers pulled out an 87-83 victory before 18,997 at Staples Center on Friday, extending their NBA-best winning streak to 13 games.

After struggling with his shot and with the Hornet defense for most of the game, Rice punched in 10 points--including the three-pointer with 2:36 left that put the Lakers (28-5) ahead for the first time--grabbed six rebounds and had two key steals in the fourth quarter alone.

Charlotte, playing without ex-Laker Eddie Jones for the eighth consecutive game, lost for the fourth consecutive time, despite a massive effort that mostly contained Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

O’Neal finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds, but Bryant made only five of 19 shots and scored 13 points as the Lakers shot 33.8%.

O’Neal referred to the controversial trade, and said he was glad the Lakers ended up with the player they got.

“Glen is a fabulous player,” O’Neal said. “Of course, you hate to see a guy like Eddie go . . .

“If you ask me if I miss Eddie, yeah, I miss Eddie. But I don’t miss anybody else. I’m glad Glen’s here. Glen is one of the great shooters in the game, and behind every dominant big man, there’s a big shooter.

“We didn’t play well at all. We shouldn’t be proud of this win. But the big guys hit some big shots.”

Said Rice: “That’s what I’ve got to do, I’ve got to step up and hit the shot. We needed a bucket.”

The Lakers trailed all game, by as much as 13 points in the fourth quarter, but then started heating up when Rice lit the fuse.

Rice, who finished with 17 points, put the Lakers ahead for the first time, 80-78, with his three-pointer with 2:36 left.

An O’Neal basket and two Derek Fisher free throws made it 84-78 with just over two minutes to play, capping a 22-3 Laker run

But that was not the end of it.

Phills made a jumper, and after a Bryant turnover, David Wesley brought it to 84-82 with less than a minute to go. After a Fisher miss, Anthony Mason was fouled and made one of two free throws, to cut the Laker lead to 84-83 with 29.2 seconds left.

O’Neal was fouled intentionally with 12.9 seconds left, and also made one of two (he was seven for 15 from the line in the game), giving Charlotte back the ball, trailing, 85-83.

That’s when Phills spotted up on the sideline, but his heel hit the sideline, giving the Lakers the ball.

“We felt that we were in trouble,” Rice said. “They were playing great basketball. It was definitely a scare, and a wake-up call.

“I think that was something that we needed. Because the last couple of games we hadn’t been playing good basketball.”

Laker Coach Phil Jackson agreed, pointing to this game, plus the two messy wins over the Clippers, as a lethargic trend.

“I think this game was a product of what has been going on with this team over the last couple of games--the meltdown over the New Year that we had as a team,” Jackson said.

And Jackson said of Bryant’s 13-point, 10-rebound night: “He did some great things for us . . . [but] he almost cost us the ballgame with that turnover. . . . That’s when he’s got to learn to work with his teammates and not try to do it by himself.”

Without Bryant’s usual input, and with Rice struggling to produce, the Lakers managed only 16 points in the third quarter, which tied their second-lowest quarter total this season.

To start the fourth, the Lakers missed four consecutive shots, Phills made three in a row, including a three-pointer, and suddenly the Hornets had a 75-62 lead.

“I’m not worried about the streak,” O’Neal said. “You guys [reporters] are. I don’t care about a streak. We know that we are a good team and we know that we have a streak and now other teams will be gunning for us. They will want to be the one to end the streak. So we have to be ready, and we weren’t ready tonight.”

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THE STREAK

at Vancouver 106-94

Detroit 101-93

Clippers 95-68

at Atlanta 95-88

at Minnesota 97-88

at Toronto 94-88

at Boston 99-90

San Antonio 99-93

Dallas 108-106

Phoenix 103-87