Lakers Show Their Magic

The Lakers are 6-0, and by their own admission not playing the least bit like it, which they’re finding quite encouraging.

On a Sunday night that was supposed to test their early-season frailties, when Kobe Bryant’s nose was bloodied and swelling, and Rick Fox’s shot would not fall, and Grant Hill wouldn’t miss one, still it was the opposing coach who conceded, and Phil Jackson who waved back and smiled.

The Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic, 108-95, at Staples Center, where Shaquille O’Neal made all the November issues go away. You can bludgeon Bryant’s face, run until they wheeze, and dare Devean George to make shots, but at some point you’ll have to guard O’Neal. Against Horace Grant, Patrick Ewing, Andrew DeClercq and whatever else Magic Coach Doc Rivers found handy, O’Neal scored 38 points, took 18 rebounds, blocked four shots and reminded everyone what’s what in the NBA, and who’s who.

“I’m still the baddest bad-feet big man ever,” he said, grinning.

Rivers, who believes this could be the best Magic team, including the one O’Neal took to the NBA Finals, had no quarrel with that.

“I think there were times where we were watching them instead of playing, and I think that’s where that swagger comes in, that championship swagger,” Rivers said. “You win two in a row and you always believe you’re going to win. And they should, because they’ve done a lot of winning.”

At the end, when the buzzer sounded and the purple and gold confetti fell, Rivers pointed to Jackson, who raised his hand toward Rivers. Rivers nodded, knowing what Jackson knew, that there is O’Neal, and then there is everyone else.

“I wasn’t worried about Shaq, really,” Rivers said. “I said before the game that I concede Shaq. That’s going to happen.”

With Bryant in foul trouble and his nose growing, O’Neal scored 15 points in the first quarter and eight in the second.

“I was telling my guys to bring it to me,” O’Neal said. “I had a smaller man on me, in Horace [Grant] and the other guy they had. I was trying to take it on myself to get deep and just score.”

Bryant rallied late. In 33 minutes, he scored 28 points despite having only eight at halftime. He had eight assists. The Lakers had a huge push from their bench, which, led by Robert Horry and George, scored 31 points.

George also had Tracy McGrady as a defensive assignment, and McGrady missed 11 of 18 field-goal attempts and scored 22 points. Horry had nine rebounds.

So, the slow start most predicted for the Lakers--remember, O’Neal’s health, all the new players, etc.,--has become six consecutive victories. The Lakers have had two better starts. They were 11-0 four years ago and 8-0 in 1987.

“Whatever happens at the end of the year happens,” O’Neal said. “A lot of guys are talking about 73-9 or 72-10. As long as we get good position going into the playoffs and do what we know we’re capable of doing in the playoffs, we’ll be fine. If we don’t win the whole thing, then nothing matters.”

There is some speculation in the East that the Magic, with the addition of a healthy Hill and the reacquisition of the sage Grant, could be the Eastern Conference’s sacrifice to the Lakers in the NBA Finals.

“Man,” Grant said, “that is so far away. We have a long way to go. [The Lakers] have been together for a while, especially Shaq and Kobe. This team, the Magic, still has a long way to go.

“If you don’t play a perfect game, you’re not going to beat [the Lakers]. I watched the game a few nights ago, when Utah was up [19] points and they came back and won. Until a team plays a perfect game, I don’t think they’ll be beaten.”

In an up-and-down affair, the pivotal player was O’Neal, who runs but isn’t known for it. The game matched the NBA’s highest-scoring teams, and it showed. The pace was fast, and the Lakers’ fastest player was breathing hard, or on the bench.

Bryant played most of the game with a hunk of gauze falling out of his nostril, by the ends of the quarters it matching his red, white and blue shoes. For Veteran’s Day, he wore his flag shoes, as he had on opening night to honor the victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

But, he scored 12 points in the fourth quarter, which the Lakers won, 27-18. Afterward, the bridge of Bryant’s nose was thick and bruised, and fresh blood shone from his right nostril. He broke his nose in his senior season at Lower Merion High, and this, he said, felt a lot like that.

“Oh, it hurts, man,” he said.

The culprit was unknown, though it seemed to fall between Ewing or Hill.

“It was a forearm,” Bryant said. “I felt a crunch.”

O’Neal and Bryant arrived an identical 49 of 96 from the field, and as the first-and second-leading scorers in the league, averaging 29.2 and 28.6 points, respectively. Because of the injury and some early fouls for Bryant, who fouled out with the game in hand, this became O’Neal’s game.

Later, Rivers grinned at what O’Neal had done.

“Shaq’s unstoppable,” he said, “and he’s not even in shape.”