Lakers Are Streaky Clean

By TIM BROWN

Dec. 15, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

The Laker losing streak died willingly in the low post, on Shaquille O’Neal’s shoulders. It died on the wing, where Kobe Bryant rocked back and forth, then resumed his MVP-like season, after a short break.

It died in the coming game of Slava Medvedenko, and in the defense the Lakers played against the Clippers, who might have seen this coming.

Playing in part to avoid the first three-game losing streak in the Phil Jackson era, the Lakers defeated the Clippers, 110-80, Friday night at Staples Center. O’Neal had 28 points and 15 rebounds, and Bryant had 25 points and seven assists, and Medvedenko came off the bench to score a career-high 18.

Lamar Odom scored 17 points and Jeff McInnis had 15 for the Clippers, who had a four-point lead after the first half and in the second scored 32 points on 11-for-38 shooting.

So, the Lakers are 17-3, winning again, laughing again, and peaceful again. The Clippers, a playoff team through a quarter of their season, are 12-11.

Shut out because of foul trouble in the first quarter, O’Neal scored 21 points in the second half, which the Lakers owned by 66-32.

“They have a lot of great talent over there,” O’Neal said. “But we run this city. We run this building. And, as long as I’m here, that’s how it’s going to be.”

Apparently.

“There’s a different air in here,” Laker guard Derek Fisher said. “The air’s stale after a loss. Now it’s fresh and clean. Winning always does that.”

Fisher sat with his feet in a bucket of ice, and with a sandwich and grapes in his lap. He made a three-pointer in the third quarter that helped free the Lakers from the Clippers. And Bryant made a jumper. And O’Neal barreled through Michael Olowokandi and Sean Rooks for finger rolls and dunks. It was familiar again for a team that has at least entertained 73 wins, which would be a record.

They had lost Friday in Sacramento, then Tuesday against Seattle, and then set up against the Clippers, a hot team with plenty to motivate them. The Lakers made 23 field goals in the second half, and had 31 rebounds to the Clippers’ 17.

It came furiously, and became the Lakers first 30-point win in nearly a year, since they beat Phoenix, 115-78, last Dec. 28.

Neither team played particularly well early, both stricken by poor perimeter shooting, in particular the Clippers, who missed 12 of 14 three-pointers. In two games against the Lakers, the Clippers are three for 29 from the arc, and have lost twice.

The Laker run came, finally, to a team beginning to show its frustration, late in the third quarter. They went from four down to 10 up--a 19-5 run--in a little more than half a quarter. They led, 72-62, before the Clippers scored the final three points of the quarter, and it only got worse from there.

“I thought we’d have to come out and play well in the second half or disaster would strike,” Clipper Coach Alvin Gentry said. “Obviously, disaster struck.”

Fisher, cold as anyone, scored seven in the span, three on a 24-footer from the left side that gave the Lakers a 65-61 lead. Sensing the Lakers were on the verge of coming out of their roster-long shooting slump, the crowd roared when the shot fell, standing as Fisher returned up the floor.

And then Bryant made an 18-footer, and he exhaled, and the crowd exhaled.

“I think everybody was waiting,” Jackson said. “Fish had a couple of rhythm shots that didn’t drop ... and finally he got something we needed.”

It figured to turn on defense eventually, and for the team that would make a shot with a hand in its face. The Lakers arrived first in the NBA in opponent field-goal percentage. The Clippers were second. The Clippers arrived first in the league in blocked shots. The Lakers were second.

Then the Clippers missed 10 of 15 field-goal attempts in the third quarter, and their first five attempts of the fourth quarter, and the Lakers had a 16-point lead.

“We don’t have a [Jerry] Stackhouse, or a Tracy McGrady. We don’t have anybody who can come out and score 40 points,” Clipper forward Darius Miles said. “We’ve got to get a big lead and maintain it. We knew we had to turn it up in the second half. They’re the world champs. They can turn it up any time.”

They don’t have a Kobe, either.

Bryant missed a 15-foot jumper near the end of the first half, an open shot from the right wing, a few inches short. He clenched his fist and his teeth on the way back down the floor, and clapped his hands.

He made two large dunks, a layup, and two short jumpers in the half, but didn’t make a shot from outside 12 feet, and so his shooting slump had bled into a fifth game.

Back at the bench, he nodded twice to Jackson, had a short conversation with his coach, and then patted him on the rear end. A few seconds later, 5-foot-5 Earl Boykins dribbled into the lane, into the jaws of the Laker defense, and made a 10-foot runner to give the Clippers a 48-44 half.

It was a bit of an odd night for Bryant, who lost a fastbreak opportunity in the third quarter when he fell over referee Jess Kersey in the open floor. They both ended up on their backs, sliding toward the Clipper bench. Kersey got up and held out a fist for Bryant, as an apology, and Bryant accepted.

“Just solid,” Bryant said of his game. “That’s all. My game is to do what the team needs me to do. Tonight, I did a pretty good job of that.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Battle of L.A.

Comparing the Lakers and Clippers:

LAKERS CLIPPERS

17-3 RECORD 12-11

100.8 POINTS PG 97.3

90.1 OPP. POINTS PG 94.9

46.1 FIELD GOAL % 45.1

66.0 FREE THROW % 76.6

31.9 3-POINT % 33.9

45.2 REBOUNDS PG 43.6