Some Bad Memories for Rider

On Sunday morning, Isaiah “J.R.” Rider checked out of the hotel that started this mess. By Sunday night, he was in the town he eventually was asked to leave because of it.

As far as karma goes, he has had better trips.

A year ago, an Orlando hotel security guard reportedly told Atlanta General Manager Pete Babcock that he had found evidence of drug use in Rider’s room. It was that telephone call that ultimately led to Rider’s five-game suspension for failing to comply with the league’s anti-drug program. The Lakers stayed in the same hotel Saturday night.

On Sunday night, they flew to Atlanta, where Rider played 60 games before being run off.

Laker Coach Phil Jackson predicted that Rider would not be unusually distracted by the trip to Atlanta.

“If Pete gets out on the floor and plays one-on-one with Isaiah,” Jackson said, “then I think he’ll have his hands full.”

*

After much discussion about how to integrate Rider into the team rhythm, Jackson seems to have settled on a solution.

Rider did not play Sunday against Orlando, two days after he played five ratty minutes in Washington.

“Matchups,” Jackson explained. “And, the way the game was going.”

The Lakers threw pieces of everybody at Tracy McGrady. Other than that, however, only rookie Mike Miller did any offensive damage, and most of that was from three-point range. Darrell Armstrong missed 12 of 14 shots.

And starters Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher had early foul trouble, leading to 25 minutes for Brian Shaw and 18 for Tyronn Lue.

*

Bryant lost the McGrady matchup, 29 points to 16, and then McGrady got a kick out of a short conversation they had when the game ended.

“Kobe didn’t do so well,” McGrady said. “He told me, ‘It doesn’t matter how many points you score. It’s when you make them that counts.’ ”

McGrady laughed.

*

Shaquille O’Neal could have scored 50 points, but missed a handful of short jumpers and nine free throws and sat out four minutes of the fourth quarter, the last two when the Magic was fouling to catch up.

Magic Coach Doc Rivers ran four players at O’Neal, who pushed around Andrew DeClercq (four fouls), Michael Doleac (five fouls), John Amaechi (three fouls) and Don Reid (five fouls).

During one late timeout, Rivers begged his centers to tackle O’Neal before he could get the ball to the rim.

*

When the Lakers returned to the court to start the second half, NBC cameras and the halftime show crew blocked their way to the court.

As his teammates waited for the live shot to conclude, or ducked under the cameras, O’Neal plowed through the set, right between Kevin Johnson and P.J. Carlesimo.

“Excuse me,” he said with mock sincerity.

TODAY

at Atlanta, 4:30 PST

Channel 9 (5:30)

* Site--Philips Arena.

* Radio--KLAC (570), 5:30.

* Records--Lakers 45-21, Hawks 20-47.

* Record vs. Hawks--1-0.

* Update--Shaquille O’Neal, who scored 30 points in a 113-106 victory over Atlanta three weeks ago, gets another chance at a big statistical game. Lorenzen Wright, who attempted to guard O’Neal last time, is questionable. While the trade that sent Dikembe Mutombo to Philadelphia might eventually make them stronger, for now it only makes the Hawks less able to handle O’Neal. Chris Crawford scored 27 points against the Lakers, who played without Kobe Bryant, who had a sprained right ankle. Brian Shaw scored 22 points and J.R. Rider scored 14. The Hawks have lost two in a row, and five in a row to the Lakers.