After a Thriller, Lakers Seeking a Killer Instinct

The last victory is the best one, and the Lakers cannot help but imagine the emotions, the scene, the moment and the power of all those elements mingled together.

The last victory can be the toughest one, but it is everything they have waited for and wanted for years and years.

The last victory, after 11 title-free seasons, after nine nonstop months of basketball, after 67 regular-season victories, three previous grueling playoff rounds and three victories in the first four games of the NBA finals, could come tonight, in Game 5 at Conseco Fieldhouse, against the Indiana Pacers.

The last victory, at last.

“If we can walk out of here a champion, that’s another accomplishment for guys who have done it already,” veteran forward Rick Fox, who has never won a title, said Thursday.

“But for those who haven’t, it can change their lives.”

Shaquille O’Neal, looking to silence those who praise his physical gifts but always add, “So what has he ever won?” said he can feel the moment arriving.

“I’m really thinking about it, but I’m trying not to think about it that much,” he said. “We still have to win one game.

“I don’t want to get too amped up. We’re going to be very prepared tomorrow. We’re going to be loose. My guys are going to be loose . . .

“I’m sure if we get the win, I’m sure all the emotions will probably come out.”

Said Glen Rice, another veteran Laker looking for his first championship ring: “The atmosphere in the NBA finals is unbelievable. I’m pretty sure guys are going to lose hours in sleep.”

Coach Phil Jackson warned that the Pacers are still dangerous at home and that wounded pride after the Lakers’ 120-118 overtime victory in Game 4 on Wednesday could be a major factor.

If the Lakers, who lost potential series-clinchers in each of their three previous rounds (to Sacramento twice, to Phoenix and to Portland twice) do not close it out tonight, Games 6 and 7 are scheduled for Monday and Wednesday at Staples Center.

“It’s a very tense and exciting moment,” Jackson said. “But it’s also one in which you’ve got to probably play as well as any time you played all season.

“It always seems like it’s a very, very difficult thing to close out. I don’t know, we’ve got three opportunities to go at it. I hope tomorrow night we can play the kind of game to do it.”

Pacer Coach Larry Bird, who could be working his final game for the franchise, said he wants his players to continue to play hard and see what happens.

“We feel like if we come out and give the effort like we did last night and get a couple rebounds and make a couple more plays on the defensive end, we’re going to win the ballgame,” Bird said.

“Then go to L.A. and do the same thing, try to play the game. You can’t give up in the finals. That’s not what this is all about.”

Guard Brian Shaw referred to the last Laker series, when they took a commanding, 3-1 lead over Portland with two road victories, then let Game 5 slip away at Staples, lost Game 6 at the Rose Garden and were forced into total survival mode in a nerve-rattling Game 7 comeback from 15 points behind in the fourth quarter.

“We just had a conference final when we got up, 3-1, and then all of a sudden before we knew it, it was 3-3,” Shaw said. “So we don’t want to repeat that . . .

“This series isn’t over in any way, not until we get that last win.”

Said O’Neal: “Hopefully, if we can get this victory tomorrow, this will be a start of something.”