Lakers Get More Bang for the Bucks

The lanes were open. The shots were relatively uncontested. The opponent was easy to push around.

No traffic jams, no defensive stands, no Gary Payton, John Stockton or Rasheed Wallace . . . and a whole fourth quarter of fun time.

The Lakers needed a breather Friday, and they got a great gulp of fresh air and soothing space, trampling the Milwaukee Bucks, 117-89, before 18,997 at Staples Center.

For the first time in a while, the Lakers, who had lost four of their previous six games, had room to roam and the will to take advantage.

The victory guaranteed that the Lakers (34-9) will have the Western Conference’s best record after Sunday’s game, which means, like it or not, Phil Jackson will be the coach of the West All-Stars Feb. 13.

“Sometimes you live and die by the jump shot,” said Laker forward Glen Rice, “and today they died by it.”

In this game, the blowout was a result of the Lakers’ crisp movement of the ball--which produced 31 assists and 52.9% shooting--plus a tight defensive performance that held Milwaukee without a field goal for more than 12 minutes in the second half.

From the 7:21 mark in third until there was only 4:56 left in the game, the Bucks missed every jump shot, fade-away and runner they threw up--19 shots in a row--and by the end of it, the Lakers had the game totally in control.

“You can’t really say it was an easy game,” said Rice, who scored 19 points. “I think we just went out there and we put the total package together.”

After a series of hard-edged and hard-fought games, and after their first back-to-back defeats of the season, this was the team’s easiest victory since their blowout over Denver on Jan. 10.

The 28-point margin was Milwaukee’s worst loss of the season.

Ron Harper keyed the offensive harmony with a season-high 10 assists--nine in the first half, as the Lakers shot 65.9% in the first two quarters.

Shaquille O’Neal had 26 points by halftime (16 in the first half) and finished with 30 points.

Even better for the Lakers, O’Neal, who played a season-high 55 minutes in Monday’s double-overtime loss to Utah and had averaged better than 46 minutes over the last five games, rested for most of the fourth quarter and played 33 minutes overall.

O’Neal dominated inside, making 13 of 18 shots and blocking four shots.

After a three-day break between games, the Lakers looked fresher than they had in weeks.

Jackson saluted Kobe Bryant’s defense against Buck guard Ray Allen, who finished with only 14 points.

Bryant had 23 points in 33 minutes.

And Jackson responded wryly when asked about his All-Star berth.

“I’m so happy to be going to the All-Star game,” said a grinning Jackson, who has made his distaste for the game well known. “Showcase the players. I hope to be able to do that for the players.”

And will he go ahead and play O’Neal 48 minutes?

“I’ll play [Tim] Duncan 40,” Jackson said, jokingly.

Jackson said he thought the offense got into gear largely because of the play of Harper, who continually found Rice and O’Neal for wide-open shots in the first half.

“I think he kind of helps our offense by being kind of the governor out there, the guy who moderates what’s going on, who keeps people involved in the game, knows how to get the ball in the right position, gets the better passes for Rice and for Shaquille,” Jackson said.

O’Neal flourished in the open offensive scenarios, and repeated that this is the way the Lakers ought to play all of the time.

“Whenever the ball is moving like that, we’re going to be a hard team to beat,” O’Neal said. “That’s what we do--when we get it to me, that’s what usually happens.”

In the third quarter, the Bucks narrowed the lead to 73-68 after a quick run, but that was the extent of it--the Lakers put the game away by clamping down on Milwaukee, which had managed 55 points in the first half but only 34 the rest of the way.

Milwaukee (23-20) made only 34 of its 89 field-goal tries (38.2%), including a four-for-14 effort by Allen and five for 19 by Glenn Robinson.

TONIGHT

NEW JERSEY at CLIPPERS

7:30

Fox Sp. Net 2

Play Is No Rumor

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