Jackson Puts Rice on the Defensive

Their relationship might not survive another disagreement. It probably won’t survive the last one.

But Coach Phil Jackson and his forward, Glen Rice, lived with each other for another day and a game that included nine fourth-quarter minutes and five overtime minutes by Rice.

Rice and family appeared satisfied enough after the Lakers’ 120-118 Game 4 victory, an overtime affair that gave them a three-games-to-one NBA finals advantage over the Indiana Pacers.

“I just tried to go out there and do what I can do,” Rice said. “Basically, move forward.”

Rice was more aggressive on Pacer forward Jalen Rose, who is quicker than Rice but scored only 14 points on five-of-16 shooting. Rice hadn’t played much in the fourth quarter of Game 3, which Jackson called a commentary on Rice’s defense.

Asked if he considered himself vindicated, Rice shook his head.

“Oh, a little bit,” Rice said. “But, my job is not done. I’ve got to come out and do the same thing Friday night. It worked tonight. Let’s hope it’s the same Friday night.”

Of course, the victory outwardly soothed the most visible wounds, even if Rice again failed to give the Lakers a hand offensively. He scored 11 points, none in the fourth quarter and none in the overtime. He also had one rebound.

That, too, was dismissed in the Kobe Bryant afterglow.

“What happens in adverse situations, when things are said, really the parties involved start to search themselves, to really look inside,” guard Derek Fisher said. “As humans, we’re so quick to point our fingers that we forget to look in the mirror. It’s not just Glen. It was all of us. We had to look for something to change. Sometimes, things like that can change certain things.”

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Pacer Coach Larry Bird jumped into the Christina Rice-Jackson sidelight, or at least when prodded before the game by the media.

“You know, it’s really strange in this league that sometimes when things go bad, you always want to blame somebody else,” Bird said. “It’s never your fault. And that’s just the way it is.

“These wives sit back and they think their husband is taking a beating. They’re going to try to protect them. Whatever they have to do, they do. It doesn’t bother me.

“I’ve seen wives hit writers on top of their heads with their pocketbooks in Boston. I’ve seen them swear at officials walking by. I’ve seen it all. It really doesn’t faze me. They’re just trying to protect their man. If my man was making $12 million, $15 million a year, I’d be trying to protect him too.”

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Is Jackson worried about the Pacers’ complaints that Shaquille O’Neal should be drawing more three-second violations when he is establishing position in the key?

Apparently not, or at least not when Jackson was asked about it before Wednesday’s Game 4.

“Typical Indiana stuff,” Jackson said. “They did it with us with Chicago [when the teams faced each other in the playoffs]. They’re always looking for referees to help them out.

“You haven’t heard one word [from the Lakers] about Reggie [Miller]’s footwork and all the illegal screens. We haven’t said one work about that, we won’t even mention them.”

Other than just then, of course.

Jackson said that O’Neal is very aware of the three-second rule--O’Neal himself joked that he stays in the lane only for “2.88 seconds” at a time--and that hearing complaints about his parking in the key is nothing new.

“He’s very conscious of that,” Jackson said. “I can still hear Scott Skiles in the Phoenix series, Mike Dunleavy’s voice in the Portland series, as the games are going on, you’re watching the broadcast. . . .

“Is that constantly going into the referees’ ears? Yes, they are consistently [asking that the referees call] three seconds. And the referees have to make a judgment about that, and Shaq is really pretty conscious.

“Looking at the last tape, there was, you know, maybe three opportunities [to call a three-second violation] and they found one.”

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The Lakers will distribute free tickets to watch Game 5 on Friday at Staples Center on television. Tickets will be distributed this morning, beginning at 10 a.m., at Staples Center and at Ticketmaster cetners in all Wherehouse, Tower Records, Robinson’s May and Ritmo Latino locations.

IN QUOTES

“I just relaxed like I was playing in the backyard.”

KOBE BRYANT

on playing after Shaquille O’Neal fouled out

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“We let one get away so we came in with a conscious effort to get this one, and we did.”

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL