Rider Still Can’t Find His Game

When Shaquille O’Neal was injured and the Lakers became guard-oriented, it looked as if J.R. Rider would have his chance to be the scorer he believes he can be again.

After all, on Jan. 26, the last game O’Neal played, Rider scored 24 points in 24 minutes against New Jersey and pledged to maintain his aggressiveness. In the final six games before the All-Star break, however, Rider made 13 of 41 shots, averaged five points and found his playing time cut by Coach Phil Jackson.

Against Phoenix on Wednesday night, Rider played eight minutes and missed four of five shots. He didn’t play at all in the second half, leaving for good with seven minutes left in the second quarter after Tony Delk stole the ball from him in the open court.

“It’s been rough, really tough for him right now,” Jackson said. “He hopes to kind of settle in and find his niche again.”

Jackson is finding it difficult to play Rider against quick, aggressive guards. The Suns like to press and trap, and Rider committed two turnovers, the other a traveling violation.

“A lot of pressure,” Jackson said. “A lot of pressure on the ball and a lot of pressure on the guard position. I moved him down to forward for a while, but he got out of whack, out of sorts.”

That would explain one game. The five before it were as much of a struggle for Rider.

“I can’t answer that,” Jackson said.

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At the same time, rookie forward Mark Madsen has flourished.

In the last six games, he averaged 25 minutes, five minutes more than his season high before O’Neal was injured. He averaged 5.7 points and 6.5 rebounds, and threw in two head butts on the basket stanchion and one irritated superstar.

Sacramento’s Chris Webber twice hit Madsen in the back with forearm shots and then dragged Madsen down with his legs.

Madsen’s hellbent-for-the-first-row methods are beginning to draw comparisons to former Laker toughie Kurt Rambis, now the team’s assistant general manager.

“That’s a huge compliment,” Madsen said.

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Still aching from a variety of injuries--notably a sore right shoulder and hip bursitis--Kobe Bryant is scheduled to arrive in Washington for Sunday’s All-Star game on Saturday morning, in time for the Western Conference practice.

Bryant, the NBA’s leading scorer at 29.9 points a game, was to remain in Los Angeles for treatment Thursday and today, then tonight take a red-eye flight to Washington.

He will miss Friday’s mandatory media session, for which the NBA will charge him about $15,000, based on fines assessed to previous no-shows.

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Dallas Maverick Coach Don Nelson, recovering from prostate cancer surgery, is expected to return to the bench Feb. 20, when the Lakers play at Dallas.

Nelson is widely credited for creating the Hack-a-Shaq defense. When the teams played Dec. 22, O’Neal was especially put off by the tactics and afterward called Nelson a clown. Nelson responded by saying he thought O’Neal was more mature, but offered to wear a big red clown nose the next time they played.

The Lakers won, 108-103, behind O’Neal’s 28 points.

“It seemed to me none of their guys wanted to play anyway,” O’Neal said at the time after making 10 of 20 free throws. “Either they were trying to foul me the whole time or they didn’t want to play. That’s clown basketball. It should be clown basketball coming from a clown guy like Don Nelson.”

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It wasn’t highbrow stuff that brought Brian Shaw and Phoenix Coach Scott Skiles their technical fouls on Wednesday night.

“He told me to shut up,” Shaw said. “Then I told him to shut up.”

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Just last week a Laker official noted in jest that if Ron Harper was their healthiest player, they had problems.

Harper, who turned 37 last month, played 35 minutes against the Suns, which matched his season high.

“Thirty-five?” he said. “Shoot, I need a raise.”

Harper, like the rest of the Lakers, did not practice Thursday. Other than all-stars O’Neal and Bryant, the team is off until a Monday morning flight to New Jersey.