Lakers Cash One In at the Bank

Pressed by a destiny they believe is still five months away, hounded by a regular season that sometimes looks smaller than the tiniest diamond on their last championship ring, the Lakers won on Friday night, which wouldn’t seem like that big a deal, but it was.

They finished a fight started by the San Antonio Spurs. They finished it with a Rick Fox bank shot, with a Derek Fisher defensive stand, and with a 94-91 victory at Staples Center, for their first win in three games.

Kobe Bryant scored 27 points and Shaquille O’Neal had 25 points and 15 rebounds, and Tim Duncan scored 24 points, 18 after halftime.

It was not quite end to end, not quite seamless, but the Lakers were closer to relentless, closer to polished. So, they’ll leave Los Angeles this morning, bound for Philadelphia and a weeklong trip with a game nearly resembling what they expect of themselves.

“Excellent win,” O’Neal said as he strolled from the arena, a large gold lawman’s badge hanging from his belt. “The team played well. I’m proud of us.

“Now we need to be a little more consistent. Now we have to get up for everybody the same way.”

Leave it to the Spurs to bring out something gritty in the Lakers, who were decidedly not gritty for the better part of a week that started with Staples Center losses to Denver and the Clippers.

Fox made his shot from the right side of the lane for a 93-91 lead with 1:09 left and then he stole the ball from Steve Smith on the next possession. Fisher, replaced by Lindsey Hunter in the starting lineup, missed a three-point attempt, but then forced a miss by Spur rookie Tony Parker on the other end. O’Neal made the second of two free throws with six seconds left and the game ended when Terry Porter was a foot short on a three-point attempt.

Robert Horry, who guarded Duncan for most of the second half--he played 29 minutes to starter Samaki Walker’s 15--took the rebound and flung the ball down the floor, so pleased to have it over. The Spurs had a little more to them this time, six days after getting blown out in San Antonio, but it ended the same way, with a sixth consecutive loss to the Lakers, including last season’s Western Conference finals debacle.

Duncan followed a Robinson miss with a rebound and a layup with a little more than four minutes remaining, and the Spurs were tied, 84-84. It was the end of some big Laker leads, nine in the first quarter, 13 in the second quarter and 12 in the third.

Fisher, asked about the lineup change, said, “No comment.”

With five losses in seven games and a five-game road trip ahead, the Lakers, who haven’t lost three in a row under Phil Jackson, came looking for rhythm to their game, some momentum, maybe something to drive them from a dreary six weeks of basketball. Bryant said he hoped the Lakers found a rhythm to their season.

“You get into a groove,” he said. “This season, that’s one of the things we haven’t had, because the season’s been so choppy.”

The Spurs had lost two of three and four of seven, including one by 17 points to the Lakers last Saturday, a game the Lakers played without O’Neal.

“This is a strange time in basketball,” Jackson had said. “I’m seeing a lot of front-running teams have trouble winning.”

He mentioned the Spurs, who have played around .500 for a month, along with the Lakers, among others.

“Minnesota, after being touted by USA Today this week as the top team in the NBA is just getting their butts kicked by a couple teams,” he said. “It’s just parity about basketball. It’s a long, long, long schedule. You just have to go through a schedule. The attrition of it sometimes catches up to you. You have to play the way you should play on your home court. That’s the key.

“Some nights are going to be difficult on the road. But, on your home court, you really have to make things happen for you.”

Duncan had three shots blocked in the first quarter, two by former sparring partner Walker. The third--on a dunk attempt with half a minute left--by Bryant, caused tantrums by Duncan and Coach Gregg Popovich, followed by technical fouls, followed by two free throws by Bryant and a 28-19 lead.

O’Neal did his usual number on David Robinson, and the beatings are becoming more severe as Robinson ages. O’Neal made nine of his first 11 shots, on spins and pull-ups and jump hooks. Once, early in the second quarter, he finished with a left-handed dunk and then held up that hand all the way to the defensive end, just in case anyone missed it.

By halftime, O’Neal had 18 points and nine rebounds. Duncan, who missed nine of 12 attempts in the first half, did not play for nine minutes in the second quarter, during which the Spurs went from 13 points back to one back to 12 back.

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Playoff Check

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