Sacramento’s Secretary of Defense

Doug Christie defending Kobe Bryant is one of the key matchups of the Lakers-Kings series. It’s not as critical as the matchup that made it all possible: Doug Christie versus Doug Christie.

Christie had to go eye-to-eye with his potential. He transformed his game, from a style that seemed more concerned with making “Plays of the Week” to becoming one of the NBA’s leaders at the thankless task of defense. He had to simplify things.

But first he had to recognize that when one of the game’s all-time greats comes to you with a plate filled with knowledge, it’s best to devour every last crumb.

Christie, the former Pepperdine standout, played the first 88 games of his NBA career in a Laker uniform. He was talented, but his erratic play was frustrating. This was the early ‘90s and the Lakers were still seeking a new direction in the post-Magic Johnson era. When they drafted Eddie Jones in 1994 they had a glut of players--Anthony Peeler was there too--at Christie’s shooting guard position.

At training camp in Hawaii before the 1994-95 season, Jerry West told Christie he had been traded to New York for two draft picks.

“I broke down, to be honest with you,” Christie said. “Right at that point, before it happened, I started getting the gist of my life and what I wanted to do. But I understood his position too. [They] had to win now.”

The best thing that happened with the Knicks was that they traded him to Toronto during the 1995-96 season.

In Toronto, he came to know Isiah Thomas, who had made the transition from fabulous point guard for the Detroit Pistons to general manager of the Raptors. Christie lived in the same building as Thomas, and wisdom was only an elevator ride away.

“We had a special type of relationship that was very honest and open,” Christie said. “When I initially got to the NBA, that’s what I was looking for. I had it in Jerry West, but didn’t realize it.”

If he could have had a second chance in L.A., “I would have focused a lot better on exactly what I needed to do, listening to what [West] had to say,” Christie said. “He was a great influence on me, actually. He doesn’t probably know it, because while I was there I never got a chance or opportunity to tell him. But he gave me so much insight on the game of basketball and just believing in what I can do.

“He told me, straight-up, what he felt, what he expected, what he thought I could achieve. At that time, it scared me. He was like, ‘You can be as good as you want to be.’ At that time, there was still Michael Jordan and Magic [in the league]. I was like, ‘Wow!’

“As I sit down and learn more and more about myself, I’m able to see where those comments have helped me.”

Not only the Hall of Famers provided good tips. For a year and a half, Christie was coached in Toronto by Darrell Walker, who had managed to stick in the league for 10 years by playing tenacious defense.

“He was a defensive guy,” Christie said. “He would always put me on the best guy. At first, I was just trying to reach and go for steals. Then he started saying, ‘Play position defense. Make him make the tough shot.’ You know, educating me a little bit about the defense in the NBA.”

Walker saw the same traits in Christie that first caught West’s eye--quick feet and long arms.

“He really anticipates,” Walker said. “He had the desire to be a good defensive player.

“Night in, night out, it’s just effort. It’s not glamorous. You don’t get rewarded for that. You don’t get the big payday. But somebody has to do it if you’re going to win in basketball.”

Christie’s offensive game was flourishing as well. He averaged double-digit points only once in the first four years of his career, but in four full seasons in Toronto he averaged 14.6 points and had a career-high 16.5 in 1997-98. But he was gaining a reputation as a defensive stopper, not an easy task for a shooting guard who played in the same division as Jordan and Reggie Miller.

His greatest accomplishment was still to come. Toronto traded him to Sacramento for Corliss Williamson last year. In Sacramento, Christie has led one of the most dramatic transformations in the league. Sacramento always had a shoot-first, play-questionable-defense-later approach. Not anymore. The Kings now rank in the upper half of the league in opponents’ scoring and field-goal percentage, giving up 95.9 points and 43% shooting. Christie’s 2.26 steals a game ranked third in the league and he made the NBA’s second-team all-defensive unit.

“He has changed the whole mentality of this team,” Sacramento Coach Rick Adelman said.

“The players have really rallied around him, as far as his defensive effort,” forward Chris Webber said. “He makes it a lot easier for me in the post, as far as dropping down and helping, those types of things.”

In Sacramento’s first-round victory against the Phoenix Suns, Christie helped hold Jason Kidd to 14.3 points a game, almost three below his regular-season average.

Christie also made the definitive defensive plays of the series, coming from behind to block a fast-break layup by Kidd that was a turning point in Game 3, and stealing a pass and taking it the other way for a dunk to secure Game 4.

Now he’ll have to keep Bryant from making the highlights against him. In two games against Christie and the Kings this season, Bryant averaged 28.5 points, but he shot only 35% and committed five turnovers.

“You have to bother him,” Christie said. “That’s all that you can do. Hopefully contest his shots, be in front of him, hopefully limit his touches if you can. He’s so good, that it’s tough.”

It’s a lot easier now that the internal battle is finished.

“I’m comfortable with who Doug Christie has become off the court--my life, my lifestyle,” Christie said. “Before, I was just a young kid trying to find himself. Now I’ve got a wife and children. And I’m happy with that. I’m happy with who I’ve become and life--everything that it’s taught me--has led me to that point. So this part of it is just icing on the cake.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.

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GAME 1

SUNDAY

SACRAMENTO

at LAKERS

Noon, Channel 4

FRIDAY

TORONTO: 93

NEW YORK: 89

Raptors win series, 3-2