Road Safer for Lakers

By a whisper, by a flinch, by a fingertip, the Lakers took command of this series in a game that was defined and controlled by the thinnest of margins.

By making enough free throws and by seizing every tiny opportunity, by slamming shut the path to the basket and by willing themselves to stay disciplined, the Lakers delivered a victory.

Bye-bye, Phoenix Suns.

Shaquille O’Neal scored 37 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and the Laker defense cut up the Suns in the final minutes to produce a 105-99 Laker victory Friday at America West Arena and a 3-0 advantage in this best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

No team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a series.

The Lakers, after winning their first road game of the postseason, can clinch the series Sunday in Game 4 at America West.

“Nothing is over until it’s over,” Coach Phil Jackson said, when asked if the Lakers had all but won this series. “This was really not a game we expected to take.

“We came into this thinking we wanted to win one game--that was obviously the goal.”

Robert Horry came off the bench to score 15 points, Kobe Bryant stepped in front of Penny Hardaway’s most frantic drives in the late going, and the Lakers all but put the Suns away.

“There was a joke going around here in the locker room before the game, that we’re a bad road team, that we hadn’t won a road game since April,” O’Neal said. “We talked about how we needed to try to be a good road team again.”

Bryant scored 25 points, and Hardaway led Phoenix with 31 in a great battle.

“We just had a little bit extra in the fourth quarter,” Jackson said, calling Bryant’s three-point play with 6:09 left in the game to tie it at 87-87 one of the keys.

“That was a real psychological lift for us,” Jackson said.

“I was just waiting for the fourth quarter,” Bryant said. “There’s something about the fourth quarter, something about going against the crowd, hanging with your teammates. Everything clicks.”

Bryant, Glen Rice and Brian Shaw combined to make six of six free throws in the final two minutes and the Laker defense repelled the Suns’ slashes and crashes to preserve the victory.

Meanwhile, the Suns, who seemed to score at will at times in this game, suddenly hit a wall, failing to make a field goal in a pivotal two-minute span near the end of the game.

Twelve consecutive trips down the floor in a combustible fourth quarter the two teams scored against each other--racing layups, jump hooks, and spinning drives.

Then it broke open: The Suns missed three shots in a row, O’Neal reached over Luc Longley to tip in a missed free throw and then found Bryant open underneath to take a 94-91 lead with 3:45 left.

Longley and Shawn Marion made jumpers as the Suns moved back ahead, briefly, 95-94, with 2:50 to play, but O’Neal was open for a dunk after a Bryant drive-and-dish, and O’Neal blocked Longley’s dunk attempt to force a shot-clock violation.

That left the Laker lead at 96-95, with 2:07 to play.

The Lakers were 35 for 51 from the free-throw line, and O’Neal was nine for 15.

Jackson joked that he had to switch Bryant onto Hardaway in the late going because nobody else could stay in front of the Sun guard.

“Nobody could do anything with Penny--might as well let somebody else at him,” Jackson said with a smile.

“No, actually, Kobe was in foul trouble. We know he could do something, but we couldn’t put him on him early because he had fouls.”

The two teams slugged it out in the third quarter, with the Suns racing to a 61-54 lead early on a run of easy baskets and the Lakers charging back with a 7-0 run in the middle of the period to tie it, 72-72, with 1:15 left.

Through three quarters, with the Lakers trailing, 76-75, Bryant had made only five of 15 shot attempts and Rice only two of eight.

O’Neal carried the team with 26 points through three quarters, shooting nine-of-14 from the field and eight-for-11 from the free-throw line.

“We still didn’t play a great game,” O’Neal said. “We still had a lot of breakdowns and mistakes. But with six minutes to go, we clamped down. We realized it was time to get the job done.”

The Lakers hit another early lull in the first quarter on the road, dropping behind, 14-6, under a wave of Hardaway break-out layups and Jason Kidd hurry-up dribbles.

It did not help that the Lakers could not put together a calm offense, especially during a five-minute-plus span in which they did not make a field goal, an 0-for-13 whiffing.

The Lakers fought back a bit to close the first quarter trailing, 28-18, but the sluggish start evoked memories of their slow beginnings at Sacramento in twin losses a round earlier.

“It’s the ability to win on the road that gives you a measure of us against them, the idea of winning against the odds, it’s playing the best for your team,” Jackson said before the game.

“All those things create a good atmosphere for your ballclub.”

But, in stark contrast to the Kings’ losses, this time the Laker bench kick-started the entire team in the second quarter.

Horry stepped into the game for a wobbly A.C. Green and made three consecutive shots--a two-pointer and consecutive three-pointers--and Rick Fox made two three-pointers.

Suddenly, the Lakers shot on a 13-3 run to tie it, 31-31, and then shot ahead by as much as five points in the later stages of the first half.

“It’s a long weekend for them, waiting for that Sunday game,” Jackson said. “And that’s the exciting part of it for us.”

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The Series

LAKERS vs. PHOENIX

Lakers lead Western Conference series, 3-0

GAME 1

Lakers: 105

Suns: 77

*

GAME 2

Lakers: 97

Suns: 96

*

GAME 3

Lakers: 105

Suns: 99

GAME 4

Sunday, 2:30 p.m.

at Phoenix, Ch. 4

*

GAME 5*

Tuesday, TBA

at Staples, Fox Sp. Net

*

GAME 6*

Thursday, TBA

at Phoenix, Ch. 9, TNT

*

GAME 7*

May 20, TBA

at Staples, Ch. 4

*if necessary

*

COVERAGE

NOT SUNNY

The mood in Phoenix was more like resignation than anticipation. Page 9

HORRY STORY

Former Sun gets hot in the second quarter to spark a big Laker rally. Page 9

*

MIAMI: 77

NEW YORK: 76

Carter’s baseline shot in OT gives Heat the edge. Page 10