Fox Proves to Be a Star in Supporting Role

The Lakers were on a run and Portland was clearly in trouble.

After leading for most of the game by double digits, the Trail Blazers were suddenly down by nine points and needed a timeout midway into the fourth quarter.

Portland veteran Scottie Pippen pushed the ball over half court and then called time. But before he could relax, the Lakers’ Rick Fox made a hustle play for an attempted steal.

Instead of just walking back to the bench, Pippen threw the ball at Fox and the fight was on.

“He thought he was dealing with a punk,” Fox said about Pippen, who made sure both players received a technical for their brief run-in.

“Some of us have more respect for themselves than [Pippen] had for me. . . . We were up at a critical point of the game and his frustration boiled over. If we were on the playground, we would still be fighting.”

It’s a good thing that didn’t happen because the Lakers’ needed Fox on the floor. He finished with only five points and one rebound in 16 minutes but he played eight strong minutes in the fourth quarter.

Like the rest of the Lakers’ reserves, Fox knows every minute on the floor counts because playing time is never a guarantee under Coach Phil Jackson.

Sometimes, the Lakers’ backups play a lot. Other times they sit and watch.

But in the Lakers’ dramatic two-point Game 3 victory Friday night, Fox along with fellow reserves Derek Fisher and Robert Horry stepped up with some key plays.

“We had big help from our bench,” Jackson said. “Particularly from Fisher and Fox.”

Fox was especially effective on defense as he helped keep Portland’s shooting guards Steve Smith and Bonzi Wells without a field goal over the final 12 minutes.

“We’re all called upon at some point,” Fox said. “It’s a good feeling to know that when we needed a game like that tonight, everyone contributed in some form or fashion.

“Defense is always something that I’ve done in this league, so I just wanted to continue to be a defensive presence. In Game 2, we were back on our heels a little bit because we got into foul trouble. That’s obvious a game plan of theirs to get Shaquille [O’Neal] and Kobe [Bryant] in early foul trouble, but that doesn’t mean the rest of us have to play passive and not play aggressive.”

After Fox and Pippen’s shoving match, Portland went on a 5-0 run to cut the Lakers’ lead to four points. With the Rose Garden crowd awake again, Fox may have made his biggest play when he drove the lane and found O’Neal for a dunk and three-point play.

Fisher, who had seven points in 17 minutes, said being offensive-minded is what O’Neal told the role players to be in the second half.

“Shaquille talked to us about that and he wanted us to be ready to do something with the basketball when we received it,” Fisher said. “I think a lot of times, our focus is so much on to get him and Kobe the ball. Sometimes we forget that we can be threats as well. . . . I think tonight because they were so aggressive to slow Shaquille down and Kobe down, we kind of found some spots out there to knock shots down.”

Thanks to the little plays made by Fox, Fisher and Horry, the Trail Blazers had only two rebounds the entire fourth quarter and turned the ball over four times in the final minutes.

“I think a lot of times, how well we are playing offensively, dictates how well we play defensively,” Fisher said. “The fact Shaquille got his rhythm in the third quarter and got his confidence back. When he started to knock down some free throws, I think that lifted our entire team. As we score, we seem to take more pride in our defense.”