This Laker Win Looks Different

By next weekend, when the real defense of their two NBA titles starts, the Lakers will have played their final five regular-season games against Western Conference playoff teams, maybe enough to get them in the mood.

While they ultimately will not quite have found the momentum they wished for, they might at least have convinced themselves that it’s close enough.

Lindsey Hunter thought it over before the Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves, 96-83, Thursday night at Staples Center, and drew only one conclusion: “The better Shaq feels, the better we’ll be.”

On a night the Lakers honored their past, they moved a bit closer to their immediate future. With legendary center George Mikan sitting nearby, Shaquille O’Neal scored 32 points and took nine rebounds, Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, and the Lakers held their eighth consecutive opponent under 100 points.

“Any time you get wins it makes things feel a whole lot better,” said Derek Fisher, who scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half. “We’re not playing perfect basketball, but we’re improved in a lot of areas.”

A Laker loss or a Sacramento win in the next five days will mean the inevitable, that the Lakers would not have home-court advantage for the Western Conference finals against the Kings, if it comes to that.

There are other things at stake. As it stands, the Lakers would play the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round and then, perhaps, the Dallas-Seattle winner in the second. The Lakers have 23 losses and Mavericks have 24, the latest Thursday night to the Houston Rockets by blowing a 20-point lead. San Antonio also has 24 losses.

The Lakers own the head-to-head tiebreaker against Dallas and San Antonio, with three games left--at Portland and at home against Seattle and Sacramento. The Spurs own the tiebreaker against the Mavericks.

“We just want to win the games,” Bryant said, “and maintain our three seed.”

The Lakers won their 56th game, as many as they had last season, and their 13th in a row at home. They won primarily with defense--the Timberwolves missed two-thirds of their shots, more than a few without hands in their faces--particularly critical when the Lakers didn’t make a shot for nearly seven minutes to start the fourth quarter. Minnesota, however, came no closer than seven points, though it forced O’Neal off the bench for six unplanned minutes.

“The simplicity of the game is coming back to where it was last year,” Bryant said.

The Lakers wore the old Minneapolis Laker road uniforms, light blue with gold trim and MPLS. on the front, an abbreviation you’d figure to find on your luggage tag.

In a photo shoot before the game, Mikan suggested to O’Neal that 45 points would be good. “Forty-five?,” O’Neal said. “OK. Forty-five.”

O’Neal, bothered by his arthritic toe, limped out of the arena but smiled at Mikan’s request.

“I should have had 45,” he said. “They didn’t send me to the line enough.”

In the spirit of something different, a handful of Lakers wore gold headbands. Samaki Walker donned one. Fisher, of course. And Bryant, pulled down over his jaunty afro, around his ears, a look maybe never seen before.

“The head band, I don’t know,” he said afterward. “I’ll have to see what it looks like.”

In the locker room, an hour before the game, Bryant modeled his Carolina-ish blues and said, “I love it. I love it. I love it. I like the cut. Brings out my buffness.”

He laughed and drew up a bulge in his right biceps.

Like that, in two short ceremonies--before the game and at the half--the Lakers added five NBA championships.

“A franchise,” public address announcer Lawrence Tanter called before the Laker introductions, “with 13 NBA titles ...” and the place hummed its approval.

They wore it well, particularly on defense.

After giving up 120 and 112 points in consecutive games in wintry Minneapolis, the Lakers moved around a little more and defended the Minnesota jump shooters. Kevin Garnett missed eight of 11 field-goal attempts in the first half, when the Timberwolves shot 31% (13 for 42) overall, and finished with 18 points.

Garnett warmed in the third quarter, when he made his first five shots, but the Lakers scored with him, and more, and pushed their lead to 71-52, keeping the margin at 19 on Fisher’s basket at the buzzer.

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

HONOREES

PLAYERS

#17 JIM POLLARD

* Hall of Famer; Scored 6,522 career points (13.1 ppg) in 497 professional games.

#19 VERN MIKKELSEN

* Hall of Famer; In 10 seasons, scored 10,063 points (14.4 ppg) in 699 games. Ranked among Laker all-time leaders in 12 categories.

#22 SLATER MARTIN

* Hall of Famer; Scored 7,337 points in 745 games (9.8 ppg), 22nd best in history upon retirement.

#34 CLYDE LOVELLETTE

* Hall of Famer; NBA championships with Boston Celtics (1963, 1964); Had six seasons averaging 20 or more points.

#99 GEORGE MIKAN

* Hall of Famer; Led NBA in scoring three times (1949-51); Voted the greatest player for the first half century; NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team (1996).

COACH JOHN KUNDLA

* Hall of Famer; Compiled a 466-319 record, including a 70-38 playoff record; Coached the aforementioned Hall of Famers and Elgin Baylor.