Several Chances Came Up Empty at End of Game

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Jan. 18, 2000 12 AM PT

The Lakers got the shot they wanted at the end of their one-point loss to Seattle on Monday--actually, multiple shots.

But Kobe Bryant missed his jump shot--the shot Coach Phil Jackson wanted--Robert Horry missed his rebound-slam, then Bryant dribbled out of bounds under pressure, and Glen Rice couldn’t get off a shot in time when Seattle threw away the inbounds pass with 1.8 seconds left.

“We had all the shots at the end,” Jackson said. “Looked like Kobe got fouled at the end. Even when he got the loose ball back and there was no call by the referees. . . .

“They did as pathetic a job refereeing as we did playing it. So I guess we all joined hands in that one.”

Said Bryant, “Turned around, faced the guy, good shot, just missed. Robert tried to tip it, the ball came back, I tried to penetrate, whatever, went out or bounds, thought it was a foul. . . .

“Tried to draw a foul. Didn’t draw it very good.”

When Chuck Person’s ensuing inbounds pass bounded away from Gary Payton, Rice was there to collect it, not more than 10 feet from the basket, but the buzzer sounded before he released his shot.

“[The ball] just fell out--I don’t know if it came off his foot or not, it just popped loose,” Rice said. “I just tried to get to it and get up some kind of shot.”

Jackson gave Shaquille O’Neal a book by philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. So what book did he give to Bryant?

“The White Boy Shuffle,” a satiric novel about the history of African Americans, by Paul Beatty, according to Bryant, although he admitted that he hasn’t yet opened it.

Triple Plays / The Big 3

Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant and Glen Rice have been the driving force behind the Lakers’ success. How they fared:

O’NEAL

*--*

Mon. Season 30 Points 27.7 10 Rebounds 14.5 6 Assists 3.6

*--*

BRYANT

*--*

Mon. Season 15 Points 22.5 14 Rebounds 6.2 2 Assists 4.1

*--*

RICE

*--*