Lakers Might Have to Make Adjustments AND X’S, O’S

Hall of Fame Coach Pete Newell won NCAA (California, 1959) and National Invitation Tournament (San Francisco, 1949) championships and an Olympic gold medal (Rome, 1960).

If Kobe (Bryant) doesn’t play--my guess is he won’t--I think the Lakers will start Brian Shaw and move Ron Harper to the point.

I’d be surprised if Bryant plays any of the games in Indianapolis and certainly not today. When you twist an ankle like that, coming down on somebody’s foot, you never see them playing in three or four days. If he does play today, Bryant will have a heck of a time guarding anybody. If the series returns to Los Angeles, I’ll be surprised if Bryant is sound even then.

So I think they’ll start Shaw at the 2 spot, move Harper to point and have (Derek) Fisher as the backup. They’ll want to keep Harper on Reggie Miller for a while, although Shaw did a fine job on Miller in the fourth quarter Friday. Harper is a smart player and could defend Mark Jackson. Jackson is smart too, he jams you back in there better than most anybody.

I think Harper will have a harder time driving to the basket today. The Pacers weren’t ready for that Friday. They’ll be ready today.

It looks like, offensively, the Lakers are going to have to give (Shaquille) O’Neal some help by attacking the basket. You just can’t throw the ball into O’Neal and tell him to carry the offensive load. The rest of the Lakers, especially without Bryant, have to be aggressive offensively.

(Robert) Horry has a tendency to pass up good shots. He has proved in the past that he can shoot the three-pointer. (Glen) Rice will be a very, very important player today. If he shoots like he did Friday night, he’ll take a big load off O’Neal.

The Pacers still can’t guard O’Neal. They did a better job of doubling him with Dale Davis on Friday then they did on Wednesday. But the Pacers still have to leave someone open and there will be open shots.

Probably the biggest danger for the Lakers is O’Neal getting in foul trouble to the point where the Lakers have to take him out. If I were Indiana that’s what I would do. I would go after O’Neal early. If the big guy is gone for a while then the Pacers can gain some confidence. If you go at O’Neal early, it gives you that much more time to really play aggressively at both ends of the court.

I feel that the Pacers may go right to (Rik) Smits. I think I would and I’ll tell you why. Miller got off that one-for-16 slide a little bit and he can open it up for Smits. And when Smits’ little hook goes, and he has made it once or twice over O’Neal, that can put pressure on O’Neal. Let me say again. The best way to handle O’Neal is to try and get him on the bench.

It will not surprise me if the Pacers win a game at home. They were close on Friday. Not only will it be a negative as far as the Lakers are concerned if Bryant can’t play, or plays hurt, but that will be a real positive for the Pacers. Whatever the game plan is for both teams, it is going to pertain to what O’Neal can and can’t do, what O’Neal will or won’t do.

--As told to DIANE PUCIN