Most Wins to Must-Win

What happens now that the Laker power forwards won’t shoot and Shaquille O’Neal is drawing coverage from everybody but the weakside linebacker and the bench is being overrun and the Sacramento Kings are a game away from ecstasy?

What happens when the second-greatest regular season in Laker history is ready to be fed to the wolves only four games into the NBA postseason?

What happened a day after the senses-shattering defeat in Sacramento to force Friday’s decisive Game 5 at Staples Center, was that Ron Harper, the Laker co-captain and voice of championships past, sat in a chair and called the court of public opinion to order.

Despite the successive losses in Sacramento, if you’re looking for a Laker fold, Harper said casually, you might be waiting for a long time.

“We don’t plan on going nowhere,” Harper said after Wednesday’s team film session. “We don’t think that way.

“We’re going to go out Friday night, put on a good show. We’re going to win Friday night’s game. There’s no doubt in my mind that we’re going to win Friday night’s game.

“I’m not guaranteeing, but there’s no doubt in my mind. I’ve got confidence in my teammates that we’re going to win Friday night’s game.”

So, no, the mood at the Lakers’ El Segundo headquarters Wednesday was not pure panic, or even a general rethinking of the basketball calculus that resulted in the Kings’ victories in Games 3 and 4 to tie the first-round series.

From Harper to Coach Phil Jackson to the other veterans who spoke to the media, there was strong agreement on several major points:

* That the game plan for the Kings works, when followed.

* That the Lakers did not handle the heat and roar of Arco Arena, but that winning 67 games in the regular season afforded them the luxury of having every decisive playoff game at Staples.

* And that it doesn’t matter if the Laker bench isn’t the most productive in the league or if A.C. Green and Robert Horry need to be more assertive.

Because with O’Neal, Bryant and Glen Rice, and assuming other players rise to the challenge, the Lakers’ confidence is undiminished.

“I don’t think they’re stunned,” Jackson said. “I think what they are is they’re angry, and I think some of it’s self-righteous anger.

“And I think some of it’s frustration and I think some of that has to come with feeling like they just stepped out of the lion’s den, because of the sound and the noise of the crowd and the energy that was placed out on the floor.”

Said Harper, who won three NBA championships while playing under Jackson with the Chicago Bulls: “We won 67 basketball games this season--this is what we won those games for, to play home games.

“I don’t think we lost three games straight. . . . Well, then, what’s the problem? . . . We haven’t lost three games all season long, ain’t no need for us to think we’re going to lose this game.”

The Lakers did not deny that some problems developed during the trip to Sacramento.

Clearly, Green and Horry, who combined for 10 points in two games, were reluctant to shoot, which allowed King forward Chris Webber to spend most of his defensive time making sure O’Neal always had two bodies to deal with on the post.

Also, after keeping the King bench relatively in check in the two victories at Staples Center to start the series, the Lakers were hit hard by the Kings’ “Bench Mob” in Games 3 and 4, with Tony Delk, Predrag Stojakovic and Jon Barry all individually outscoring the Laker bench total.

Even assuming the Lakers win Friday, empty performances from their power forwards and bench players could spell trouble again in later rounds, especially if they are lined up against the Portland Trail Blazers, who are even deeper and bigger than the Kings.

“You can’t do it one-on-five,” Jackson said. “You do it five players together, and that’s how they’ve gotten through the season. They used their talent so well during the year that there’s no reason now to break apart as a team.”

Key Laker players said that to expect big scoring performances from anyone but O’Neal, Bryant and Rice would be out of character, and is probably unnecessary.

“It’d be nice for us to have a game where we can be maybe the offensive threats that everyone is looking for us to be,” backup forward Rick Fox said.

“But that’s not been the case all year. We know where our scoring comes from.”

Said Horry of the Lakers’ “Big Three”: “They’ve been doing it all year. We got the best record in the league from doing it.

“Now that it’s the playoffs, people want to point at one thing. Well, ‘the Big Three’ is 70% of the scoring.”

Most of these issues, Harper and Jackson said, will be settled simply by the change of venue, mostly because Arco Arena has been a brutal place for the Lakers.

Said Harper, when asked if he thought some of his teammates hesitated to shoot: “They were kind of scared, probably. . . .

“But we’re back home now. So all the scary things--their fans screaming and hearing the bells ring and the cowbells, we’re tired of hearing that junk, and sirens going off--we’re tired of hearing that.”

Jackson said he definitely wasn’t concerned that fighting to the finish in a first-round series is not usually the best way to start an NBA title run.

All six of Jackson’s Bull championship teams swept their first-round playoff series and all three Laker championships since the advent of the best-of-five first-round format began with sweeps.

Interestingly, Jackson has never lost three playoff games in a row, although he lost two in a row seven times before this season.

“From my standpoint, sure, I’d love to see us sweep [through the playoffs] 15-0, we talked about that some other time in this series,” Jackson said.

“But the reality is, it’s whatever it takes. If it takes us . . . whatever the number is maximum you can play [26], you play them out, it’s as simple as it can be, you sort it out at the end.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Score Tactics

The Lakers apparently are going to need some offensive punch from their reserves, particularly at forward, if they want to fight off the Kings.

Position by Position

The Lakers have outscored the Kings at each position except forwards. Average points per position during the playoffs:

Kings

Forward: 51.8

Centers: 16.0

Guards: 31.3

*

Lakers

Forward: 28.3

Centers: 29.3

Guards: 44.8

The Laker Bench

Scoring

Season: 26.6

Two playoff losses: 9.5

*

Field Goal Percentage

Season: .397

Two playoff losses: .291

THE SERIES

LAKERS vs. SACRAMENTO

Series tied, 2-2

GAME 1

Lakers 117, Kings 107

GAME 2

Lakers 113, Kings 89

GAME 3

Kings 99, Lakers 91

GAME 4

Kings 101, Lakers 88

GAME 5

Friday at Staples Center,

Fox Sports Net, 7:30 p.m.

*

UNOFFICIAL PROTEST

The Lakers are not happy about what is happening to Shaquille O’Neal in the paint. Page 8

*

LAKER NOTES

KING NOTES

VIEW FROM OTHER SIDE

TEAM STATISTICS

Page 8

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Elsewhere

SEATTLE 104, UTAH 93

Best-of-five series tied, 2-2

Payton has his first playoff triple-double and things get a little nasty as SuperSonics force a deciding Game 5 in Salt Lake City. Page 9