Strategy Is Singled Out for Ridicule

Help. Please, Phoenix, send some help.

If you keep using only one defender to guard Shaquille O’Neal, this series will be more predictable than a TV sitcom.

As soon as the Suns made it clear they would be content to try their luck (and their Luc) with single coverage against Shaq, it wasn’t a matter of if the Lakers would win Game 1 Sunday, but by how many points.

There was more drama in the pregame layup lines.

If things don’t change, by the time this series gets to America West Arena the only entertainment might come from Phoenix’s Gorilla mascot.

We’ll need Phil Jackson to make some wisecrack about the aging population in Phoenix just to add a little flavor.

Wow, I miss the Sacramento Kings already. Can’t we get another round of Maloof the Owner against the Aloof Coach. Come on, Jerry Colangelo, don’t you have some gripes about Jackson you would like to unload?

Phoenix’s defense was so vanilla-plain there wasn’t anything for the Lakers to complain about to the officials. What is the ever-increasing media crowd supposed to write between games?

Normally after Game 1, there’s all kinds of speculation about what adjustments will be necessary for Game 2.

After a long afternoon of watching Luc Longley, Corie Blount, Cliff Robinson and Rodney Rogers each try their hand--and succeed only in holding O’Neal to 37 points in a 105-77 Laker victory--it’s pretty obvious what needs to be done.

“We’re just going to try to come back with a different game plan,” Phoenix guard Penny Hardaway said. “I’m sure we won’t try to play him one-on-one in Game 2.”

Please don’t. That would be like watching Tom Niedenfuer pitch to Jack Clark one more time, or Jean Van de Velde leave his irons in the bag on the 18th hole at the British Open again.

The strategy has to change, doesn’t it?

“I don’t think there’s a guy who can guard Shaq by himself,” Laker guard Ron Harper said. “But somehow they think they can guard Shaq by themselves.”

“They didn’t really double,” O’Neal said. “They were just trying to get me pinned down on the baseline and then try to help at the last second. I was just trying to take my time.”

He had all day. It didn’t matter that he missed six of his first seven shots. When the man with the highest field-goal percentage in the league constantly takes shots from within six feet, chances are they will start to go in.

He made 14 of his final 21 shots. He also knocked down seven of 10 free throws.

“We were at a point in the game where we wanted to change and start double-teaming him,” Phoenix Coach Scott Skiles said. “But that’s very difficult for us because that’s not our game and that’s not how we play.”

They had better learn, or else they won’t be playing at all a week from today.

The Suns can do some interesting things. They’ll push the ball upcourt. Don’t look down to grab some popcorn after the Lakers score because you might miss a Phoenix basket. Shawn Marion will get a high-flying dunk or two every night.

Their problem is they don’t have anything close to a retaliatory weapon for O’Neal, someone who can score from inside at will.

So much of their game is perimeter-oriented. When the Lakers do as good a job of rotating and covering all of the court as they did Sunday, those shots aren’t going to fall too often. The Suns took 18 three-point shots in Game 1 and made only three.

Phoenix’s effort to stop O’Neal was best described by Blount: “Try to limit his dunks, at least.”

O’Neal already has a counter-attack ready should the Suns change their ways for Game 2.

“If a team wants to double or triple us, that’s when I’m going to get Glen [Rice] and [Brian] Shaw and Robert Horry involved,” O’Neal said. “If those guys can get going, then it’ll be a much easier game for me.”

Notice he said “if.” With Shaw, Horry and even Rice--who is in one of the worst shooting seasons of his career--taking shots, Phoenix’s chances are still better than with O’Neal putting up layups and dunking.

Poor Blount. He used to absorb plenty of abuse from O’Neal in practice when he was with the Lakers. Now, after doing such a good job against San Antonio’s front line in the first round, he has to play defense alone against O’Neal again in the playoffs.

“Ain’t nothing you can do unless you foul him,” Blount said. “Once he puts that body into you, you’ve just got to do the best you can.”

The best part of Sunday’s game was watching Kevin Johnson and John Salley in uniform again for the playoffs.

It’s kind of funny to see two guys who weren’t even playing last year back on the court, while the three stars of Nike’s “Player’s Delight” ad campaign (Kevin Garnett, Jason Williams and Tim Duncan) are at home.

When Johnson first came to the Suns in 1987 his teammates included Walter Davis and Alvan Adams.

From Alvan Adams vs. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Longley vs. O’Neal, it’s obvious that the Suns’ matchup problems at center haven’t changed through the years.

If they can’t change personnel, they can at least change strategy. For everyone’s sake.

J.A.Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com

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One of a Kind

The Phoenix Suns tried to defend Shaquille O’Neal with one player for much of the Lakers’ 105-77 Game 1 victory. O’Neal scored 37 points. A breakdown of his shots:

*--*

Type of Shot Made-Att. Follow/Tip 2-3 Dunk 2-2 Layup 4-9 Hook 2-6 Jumper (5-to-11 feet) 5-8 Total 15-28 Free Throws 7-11

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GAME FLOW

* First Quarter: O’Neal missed six of seven shots--including all three of his layups--and Suns led, 18-16, with 47 seconds remaining.

* Second Quarter: O’Neal made five of his next seven shots and his third and fourth free throws in a row to help Lakers take a 35-31 lead with 5:08 remaining.

* Third Quarter: O’Neal made four of six shots--three after offensive rebounds--as Lakers extend a five-point halftime lead to 17 with 2:18 remaining.

* Fourth Quarter: O’Neal made four of five shots--including an Abdul-Jabbar-like sky hook--in an 11-2 run in a four-minute span that gave Lakers a 90-63 lead with 7:09 remaining.