Players Are Not Swept Away

Twenty-two feet of jump shot later, the Lakers can be world-beaters again. Whether they are or not is up to the San Antonio Spurs, assuming the Spurs are the team that steps off the luxury bus beneath Staples Center on Sunday afternoon.

Gone for the moment, thanks to Robert Horry’s knack for things dramatic, is the sense the Lakers did not play especially well for long stretches against the Portland Trail Blazers, particularly late in Game 2 and then well into Game 3.

Rick Fox plays defense and finds room for a layup, and Kobe Bryant makes a three-pointer, and then Horry, of course, and once again Scottie Pippen does some un-Scottie-like things within arm’s reach of Phil Jackson, and so the Lakers are OK again?

Not really, but they’re not dwelling on it, either.

“It felt good to do that,” Bryant said. “Every time we play Portland in a playoff series, the next series you feel a lot freer. You can roam around the floor a lot more. Portland, they’re constantly on you. They’re pulling your jersey, they’re on your arm, it makes for a fun series. A tough one, but a fun series.”

Jackson watched all the inadequacies of Sunday afternoon melt away on one last shot, which in 30 seconds reaffirmed that these players win championships, and thought it remarkable. But, so far, it looks as though the playoffs will be a grind, whatever teams might be out there.

“We have to move the ball better and read defenses better,” Jackson said. “We’re not doing that as well as we should.

“The big key for us is, the next series doesn’t start until Sunday. That allows us ample opportunity to prepare ourselves. We have a pretty good idea about how we played San Antonio last year, and this year and were relatively successful against them. Seattle, we also had a 3-1 record against in the course of the year. There are a lot of things we have to do in the process. I think we’ll work our guys who didn’t play a lot in this series and rest the guys that did, and be prepared about Thursday to start getting into some practices that matter to us.”

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Magic Johnson has seen a lot of late shots taken by a lot of great players in the playoffs, and Horry’s simply confirmed what Johnson has felt about him all along.

“He’s one of the top 10-to-15 all-time great playoff players,” he said. “James Worthy is the best I’ve ever seen, taking his overall game to another level. But, Robert Horry, as far as taking big shots and hitting them and wanting to take them, he’s one of the top 10-to-15 I’ve ever seen play.

“I’m serious. A lot of guys talk the talk but don’t really want to do it. Robert Horry definitely wants that ball in that moment and just has that confidence. He’s like a Jerry West in that way. I’m talking about for that one shot. I’m not talking overall game. But for that one shot at that one moment, after Jerry and James Worthy, Kareem, Dr. J, Larry Bird--after you get out of that 10 guys, he’s in that next 10, without a doubt. You can put him up against anybody after that 10.”

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On his back beneath the basket late in Sunday’s game, Fox was kicked twice in the head by Trail Blazer center Dale Davis.

Both kicks were subtle, the second with Davis’ heel, but both had a point. Two days earlier, Fox had mimicked Davis’ angry walk from the floor after being ejected from Game 2, to the delight of his teammates.

“That’s what I get for impersonating him,” Fox said, laughing.

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Forward Samaki Walker has a bone bruise on the outside of his left knee, according to a Laker official. He is day to day, but expected to be available when the Lakers open their second-round series Sunday.

Walker has had occasional pain in his knee for at least two weeks, but only last Sunday was it severe enough to cause him concern. An MRI exam Monday revealed the bone bruise.