Rush Finds Scoring Touch as a Bobcat

Shaquille O’Neal wasn’t the only former Laker back at Staples Center.

Kareem Rush returned to town with his shot straightened out and his scoring average at a career best.

The Charlotte Bobcat shooting guard, an inconsistent shooter when he was a Laker, is averaging 15 points, second-highest on the Bobcats, and making a commendable 42.1% of his three-point attempts. He scored a career-high 35 points last month against Indiana.

Like O’Neal, Rush was merely a spectator Sunday, sitting out because of a sprained index finger on his left hand.

Rush was acquired by Charlotte last December from the Lakers for a 2005 second-round pick, which turned out to be Ronny Turiaf, and a 2008 second-round pick.

“He was one of the players I liked to play but that was a personnel decision that was made when I wasn’t part of the organization,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “There’s a certain demeanor that Kareem plays with that I’ve always enjoyed. He’s not a player that barks at the referees. He doesn’t have an attitude out there. He gets up, does his business and plays the game with a certain sense of quiet confidence.”

Rush, who never averaged more than 6.4 points as a Laker, said he was ready for a chance to succeed elsewhere.

“I always loved to score,” he said. “It’s just a matter of getting an opportunity to go out there and do it, just getting the confidence back that I had when I was in college. It’s finally coming around.”

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One final look at Friday’s meltdown against Minnesota was supplied by Jackson, who faulted himself and the referees in regard to center Chris Mihm.

Mihm had only four points before fouling out, although he beat Kevin Garnett with a smooth drop step in the second quarter, enough for Jackson to say Mihm “literally had Garnett on a string that first half.”

“We didn’t go back to him that second half,” Jackson said. “I don’t know if he touched the ball in a post. He, of course, was treated with no respect at all with his sixth foul. Garnett was late [and] instead of fighting in the post, just crumbled. It was really sickening to see that happen. It was a foul simply on reputation.”

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Jackson, on the October trade that sent former Laker forward Jumaine Jones to the Bobcats for a second-round draft pick in 2007: “That’s what you call a trade? I thought you get bodies back when you get trades. It was a transaction.”