Lakers to Dance With One Who Brought Them

One of these playoff moments, maybe tonight, maybe in the eye of all the noise and desperation and hatred Sacramento can gather for Game 3, a Laker other than Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant will impose his offense on a series that has been remarkable for those two, and only those two.

Maybe. But why?

The Lakers could scatter their scoring, get Brian Shaw a few more shots, have Rick Fox go to the rim more, crank up Robert Horry on the perimeter. Their bench scored a single point in Game 2, accounting for 1/96th of the Laker offense, something short of the triangle model. They could give the ball to Ron Harper and stand back.

But why?

“We haven’t needed to yet,” Shaw said. “Once they really make a concerted effort to stop Shaq, it will open up.”

So the Lakers advance on Arco Arena with the identical strategy that got them their 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. That is, dump the ball to O’Neal, play defense, watch King Coach Rick Adelman’s mustache twitch, celebrate. O’Neal averaged 43.5 points and 20.5 rebounds in the first two games. Bryant, the only other player getting enough shots to stay warm, averaged 28 points.

Everybody else watched a lot of offensive basketball, rolled up some nice assist totals, and looked a bit astonished when the ball and an open shot arrived at the same time.

According to Laker Coach Phil Jackson, triangle guru, the flow of the offense--and not O’Neal’s insistent eye--have dictated the shots, and the first consecutive 40-point, 20-rebound games in NBA playoff history.

“Obviously, there are times we’ll try to create open spaces for Shaq, because of his ability, but it’s still within the context of the offense,” Jackson said. “If they’re still going to allow him the space to catch the ball and operate with the basketball, then we’re going to keep going there. If he gets 40 points or 50 points, it doesn’t matter to me. That’s the most efficient way we can run our offense and we must recognize that. What we anticipate is they’re going to make it much more difficult for us to get that space we had in these first two games and thereby other people are going to have to be involved.”

The playoffs merely tightened the grip O’Neal and Bryant have on the offense, making Adelman’s decision to lightly double-team O’Neal and not double-team Bryant at all curious, at least.

During the regular season, when they missed a combined 22 games due to injury or circumstance, O’Neal and Bryant took 43.9% of the team’s shots and scored 49.2% of the points. In the playoffs, their part increased to 51.1% of the shots and 58.1% of the points. Against the Kings alone, they have 60.2% of the attempts and 70.1% of the points.

Short to begin with and lacking a player because of Harper’s slow return, the bench shot 32.1% in the three-game sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers and 30% against the Kings.

The solution, as usual, was an entry pass to O’Neal.

“When we did start kicking the ball out, we did not shoot well from three-point range,” Jackson said. “So, that’ll register with [the Kings] and they’ll say, ‘We’ve got to make them do this from the outside.’ That’d be my guess. Can they do that? They didn’t show the ability to do it in Game 2. But we think by Game 3 they’ll probably get that ability.”

Point guard Derek Fisher was two for 13 from the field in Game 2, and is six for 21 in the series. But he has three turnovers in 189 postseason minutes, and his assignment, Jason Williams, has averaged 8.0 points.

“When Shaq’s playing the way he’s playing, you almost step back,” he said.

Like nearly every Laker, Fisher assumes the Kings will change their strategy for Game 3, surround O’Neal with stringy bodies and take their chances on illegal defense calls. Otherwise, the Kings appear to be playing themselves into a four-game sweep.

“As long as we’re getting good looks and taking good shots, there’s no reason to stop taking them,” Fisher said. “That’s the only way we’re going to be able to win. We can’t rely on Shaq’s ability to dominate games or Kobe’s ability to do what he does individually.”

After two games, Fisher is the only player other than O’Neal and Bryant to be getting near his usual shots per game.

“The opportunities have been less, but still being a threat and prepared to shoot is definitely a focus of our team,” said Fox, five for 12 in the two games. “I haven’t even been thinking about shooting, to tell you the truth. The opportunities, I’m sure at some point in this series, will come. I’m starting to change my mind-set now, knowing we’re going out on the road where they’ll be a lot more comfortable at home, and they’ll make defensive changes against Shaq that will open things up for other guys. Other people are going to have to make shots. We’ve done it all year long. We joke about it--you’re either going to get beat by Superman or Super Friends. We’ve got to be the Super Friends when they send Kryptonite at Shaq.”