Lakers Heap Further Indignities on City That’s Used to It

Up in the home of Phil Jackson’s semi-civilized Redneck Heaven, otherwise known as our state capital, Sacramento, they waited a lifetime for this night.

Years of Laker dominance, Laker glitz, Lakers rubbing it in in their inimitable style.

That actually turned out to be a good thing Friday night. After all those years of suffering at the hands of the Lakers, what’s one more?

The Kings’ Mission turned out to be Impossible, after all. The Lakers annihilated them, 113-86, but there was a silver lining to that, too. Gavin Maloof, one of the brothers who owns the Kings, had been worrying about being stopped by security if he tried to celebrate with his players after their win.

The way it turned out, the Kings were thankful when they could finally get off the floor and Gavin slumped in his seat.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. In the three days since the Kings won Game 4 and their fans threw confetti all over Arco Arena as if Lindbergh had just returned from Paris, they dreamed their dreams and trotted out their frustrations with the great purple and golden organization to the south.

You don’t have to be a Northern Californian to hate the Lakers. The Maloofs learned how when their father, George, owned the Rockets, who shocked the Lakers in the first round of the 1981 playoffs. Son Joe later saw Laker Coach Pat Riley in a swanky men’s store and reminded him of it.

“No, I don’t remember,” said Riley, not looking up. “I don’t want to remember.”

“Riley kept on shopping,” Joe said, “He was rude, rude, rude.”

Then there was Jackson’s suggestion Sacramento isn’t as sophisticated as it might be. Taking up for his adopted city--the Maloofs just got there last season--Gavin said “Phil Jackson is so damn arrogant. Wouldn’t it be fun to see him at the podium explaining why he lost?”

It may be fun, but it won’t be happening, at least for a while, and if it does, the Maloofs will have to settle for watching it on TV.

The Kings’ hopes were based on Jason (Way Downtown) Williams and their unconscious, no-conscience shooters. There was no question they’d have the nerve to launch their shots. The only question was how many would fall.

Answer: Not nearly enough.

For two games in their magic kingdom, Arco Arena, they contained Shaquille O’Neal, but it was a different Shaq who showed up Friday.

It was also a different crew of referees. This one kept calling illegal defense on Chris Webber when he edged below the foul line, getting ready to double-team O’Neal, while the Laker power forward he’d been pretending to guard stayed above the three-point line.

Get it? The clock struck 12. The Kings, however improved, lost again.

“Well, you know the Lakers are the Lakers,” Joe Maloof was saying before the game. “They’re one of the great sports franchises in the world. . . .

“It’s good there’s somewhat of a rivalry. I mean, in Sacramento, there’s a rivalry. I don’t know about here in Los Angeles. . . . Once it was Showtime. Now they’ve got two of the best players, Kobe [Bryant] and Shaq. You know, all the glamour and glitz, the Hollywood, they’re the Lakers. It’d be fun to beat them. You know, why not? Someone’s going to beat them eventually, sometime.”

Not that it turned out to be anyone in Joe’s employ, but then the Kings have been through it before.

“Oh,” said Personnel Director Jerry Reynolds before the game, asked what a win over the Lakers would mean, “It means a lot because the Lakers are the franchise in the NBA.

“And certainly, being in California, Sacramento Kings fans have gotten ample doses of the fact the Lakers are the franchise. And to be able to take it to a fifth game is significant. It does mean that at least we’re on the right track.

“Now, obviously, it’d mean a lot more to beat ‘em.”

Reynolds coached the Kings in the days when he used to ask the refs why they didn’t just give Magic Johnson a whistle, if they were going to let him call his own fouls.

Not that it was easy losing to them then--”You definitely feel like you walked in the back door”--or now, but Reynolds is a veteran of such indignities.

For example, the redneck charge. Reynolds, a native of French Lick, Ind., says, “I know rednecks. These are professional people. They may not live in the Marina.”

Well, everyone has his particular burden to bear.

On the other hand, there’s probably no truth to the rumor the California Legislature is debating a bill that would slap a 50% tax on all basketball coaches’ salaries.