Slow Start and Best’s Shot Hurt the Lakers

The Lakers started slowly, and then it became a game of surges, most caused by offensive mistakes.

One of the critical parts of the game, although it might not have seemed that way at the time, was the last few minutes of the first half.

The Lakers had made a good comeback, cutting a 14-point lead to seven points (with 52.9 seconds left in the half) and then they let Indiana get the lead back to 11 at halftime. If the Lakers had just played it even until the end of the half, they could have been tied--instead of down by seven--after the first five or six minutes of the third quarter when the Pacers came out as flat as could be.

Going into probably the loudest building in the league, the Lakers missed Kobe Bryant most to at the beginning. Their offense had no rhythm in the first quarter. They had a two-guard (Ron Harper) who played two-guard all year, for much of his career really, playing the point. They had their third guard (Brian Shaw) starting. That, in itself, can explain a slow start.

The Laker defense held up really well. Even with the sad last minute of the second quarter, they forced Rik Smits into a couple of mistakes, didn’t allow a good shot for anybody really.

This game will help the Lakers in the sense that they’ve played without Kobe and they know they could have won this. They rattled the cage of the Pacers. They never quit. The bench was critical too. Rick Fox played very well defensively. Derek Fisher played well too. He was doing a lot of switching defensively and played well on the offensive end. When the Lakers made a surge in the fourth quarter, the Pacers were out of sync offensively. Too much dribbling.

One mistake changed the momentum drastically.

The Lakers had been doing a good job on Travis Best. They had come within five points (86-81) when Best went to one side and then slid to the other. Nobody stepped forward. The Lakers allowed him a three-pointer.

The Lakers had done such a good job defensively to that point, but I thought that shot, with about five minutes to go, cost them the game.

--As told to DIANE PUCIN