Grant Plans to Miss Two More Games

Horace Grant said he planned to join the Lakers on Friday in Salt Lake City and be available when they play the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

Grant has missed the last three games tending to his ailing father, Harvey, in Sparta, Ga. He intends to miss two more, tonight against the Memphis Grizzlies and Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks, while his father undergoes further testing.

He left the club Jan. 15 and said Tuesday it would be difficult to return before he was satisfied that his father’s condition was diagnosed and that he was improving.

“It makes me want to stay here and give everything up and take care of my dad,” Grant said. “He can barely get in and out of a car, and he can’t stand up straight at all. This week has been one of the toughest I’ve been through in a long, long time.”

Grant said he would make the two-hour drive to Atlanta with his father today, and that he expected to confer with doctors today or Thursday.

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Shaquille O’Neal is a step closer to returning to the Laker lineup, but even though the Laker center traveled with the team, he’ll probably be out at least another week because of a strained right calf.

“I’ll be reevaluated next week,” said O’Neal, who performed several rehabilitation drills on the sideline and attempted free throws while his healthy teammates practiced at the team’s El Segundo facility. “Hopefully, [Laker team doctors] will let me start practicing and after that happens, I’ll be ready to roll.”

Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant aren’t even that close. Although both players accompanied the team to Tennessee, neither player is expected to play on the trip because of knee and shoulder injuries, respectively.

Rick Fox, who hasn’t played this season because of a foot injury, made the trip, but the veteran forward isn’t expected to play because of atrophy in his left leg.

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Starting small forward Devean George has a better shooting percentage this season than Bryant, Derek Fisher, Kareem Rush and Bryon Russell. But his 45.5% from the floor is a little misleading considering George’s recent shooting touch.

In the Lakers’ 88-85 loss to Phoenix on Monday, George did not make any of his 10 shots. In his last four games, George has made only 10 of 34 field goals and hasn’t made a three-point basket since Jan. 2.

It’s a slump that has the Laker coaching staff baffled.

“Some of my coaches have asked me about [benching George],” Jackson said. “They think that he’ll have ample opportunity to go back to the bench and regroup himself, then come out again.

“But I have the tendency to think that he can work it out on his own, and I want to give him that opportunity here. I want to provide that for him at least for the first game.”

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Nearly every player in the NBA is expected at one time or another to log a lot of minutes. But playing heavy minutes night after night is a different story for many, and that’s part of the challenge for the Laker role players without O’Neal, Bryant, Malone and Grant in the lineup.

“It’s like this,” assistant Jim Cleamons said about the adjustment being made by players such as Rush, Brian Cook and Jamal Sampson. “The difference between summer league and preseason is as different as preseason and the regular season.

“These young guys are not used to the speed and quickness of the people in this league. Everyone hears about the superstars, but they are finding out that there are guys in this league that they’ve probably never heard of but can play. They are learning that they better respect [their opponents’] game because if they couldn’t play, they wouldn’t be in the league.”

TONIGHT

at Memphis, 5 PST

Channel 9 ( 6 PST)

Site -- The Pyramid.

Radio -- KLAC (570), KWKW (1330)

Records -- Lakers 25-13, Grizzlies 22-18.

Record vs. Grizzlies -- 1-1.

Update -- The Lakers, who have lost seven road games in a row, defeated the Grizzlies, 121-89, Nov. 23 at Staples Center but lost at Memphis, 105-95, on Nov. 10. The Grizzlies have won five games in a row and are 7-1 in January. Pau Gasol leads Memphis in scoring (17.5 points) and rebounding (8.1). The Lakers’ Sampson aggravated a lingering right ankle injury in practice Tuesday but is expected to play.

Brown reported from Memphis, White from El Segundo.