Take This Job and Glove It

It was late Thursday night, and Laker security and public relations personnel herded players around stacked duffel bags and over buckets of ice water.

Gary Payton was among the last to comply. He was in a corner chair, the Lakers’ eighth consecutive win still crisp in his mind, still rolling around in a point guard’s conscience.

He had driven the basketball straight at the Dallas Mavericks for four quarters, straight at the Midwest Division for two days, and he had pushed the Lakers forward another foot in a season that was expected to advance in inches.

The Lakers are 16-3 and “the Glove” has provided a lot of the ball movement, some of the comic relief and plenty of nice-to-be-here perspective.

Like Karl Malone, he had come for this, to play from ahead, both in record and talent. He’d come so he wouldn’t have to strain to make up skill or savvy deficits among teammates, but just to take the ball and run and make his choices.

“It’s been really great,” Payton said. “It reminds me of the teams in Seattle, the ‘94, ‘95, ’96 years. We were going to win 60 games every year, go to the playoffs, do something. Man, I’ve been waiting to come back to this ever since Seattle started breaking up the team, wanting to get younger.”

Now, Payton carries any conversation in which he is a part, and some in which he is not. In a locker room, there is no safe distance. Your clothes. Your job. Your last jump shot. Your preferred football team. Your passing observation. Your presence. Your gait. All game.

But, for a moment, he paused and the room seemed to pause with him. He leaned forward, as if the thought had just occurred to him.

“You know,” he said, “I probably should have left there earlier. But I’m really happy I have an opportunity in my career to do it again.”

His is not an unusual sentiment. Malone followed a similar course, the veteran Lakers having lost their way after three consecutive NBA titles, everyone meeting back up in September.

Then, in a season that began with almost oppressive expectations and a showy personality clash and a criminal case, the Lakers of Payton and Malone and Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal reached December with some grace. They have won eight games in a row and 11 of 12. In two days in Texas, the Lakers could not have done more damage to the Midwest Division, in 27 hours leaving the Denver Nuggets in first place and the San Antonio Spurs in last.

They are playing well together, if not always within Coach Phil Jackson’s system. Malone’s passes are finding more hands and fewer larynxes. Payton doesn’t always reach the front court alone. Bryant has found the right moments for his creativity. O’Neal hasn’t been this determined on defense in the Jackson era and has rediscovered his affection for the rebound.

“We look aggressive defensively,” Jackson said. “I like the fact our defense is starting to jell. Offensively, we still have a lot of work to cover.”

He added, “We’re doing what we need to do at this point in the season, that’s to put a cushion between us and the other teams in the West.”

Only the Sacramento Kings have kept up, and the schedule stays soft for another month. On Jan. 2, Payton returns to Seattle a Laker. By then, the Lakers will have played two road games in 28 days.

“We have an opportunity to stretch this a little bit,” Jackson said.

In seven days that might have fueled their season, they beat, in order, San Antonio, Indiana, San Antonio and Dallas. Three were blowouts. They pressed advantages instinctively, O’Neal against the soft inside of the Mavericks, Malone mid-range and Payton in the open floor against the Spurs, Bryant moving toward the rim, scoring or finding O’Neal.

“We really didn’t know what to think, just jumped into the season and took every day as it came,” Bryant said. “It’s good we’ve learned on the fly.”

Longer and more difficult days await, it seems sure. It is the rare NBA season that passes without them. But, in the corner of every locker room, Payton will look out and find something curious, a new face, something fresh to think about.

“We live up to challenges,” Payton said. “We knew the challenges were coming and all we had to do was play. We played and got through it kind of easily.”