New Coach, but Story Stays Same

While Phil Jackson eats lobster on the beach in Australia and Rudy Tomjanovich flies to Hawaii to recuperate, Frank Hamblen, the trusty assistant they left behind to coach the Lakers, lives game to game, and some aren’t as much fun as others.

The Lakers hung with San Antonio for a half Thursday night, but just to show who was whom in the food chain, the Spurs hit them with a 37-15 third quarter, ran up a 28-point lead and went on to win, 103-91, at Staples Center.

It was Hamblen’s first loss after two wins, and his last home game for a while. The Lakers start a five-game trip in Houston on Sunday.

It was also the 10th time this season the Lakers have lost after winning two in a row, so you can’t say the program lacks continuity.

The Spurs led, 80-52, at the end of the third quarter as a few fans chanted “We want Phil!” However, Caron Butler closed the period with a three-point basket at the buzzer to cut it to 80-55 and the Lakers staged a furious rally in the fourth quarter, cutting the lead to seven points, but could get no closer.

Not that the Spurs seemed too worried. Coach Gregg Popovich kept Tim Duncan, who bruised his knee in the first half but played in the third quarter, out for the entire fourth quarter.

Nevertheless, Hamblen’s Lakers have begun taking on a distinctive look. The team that averaged 22.8 three-pointers a game under Tomjanovich took 10 Thursday and has averaged 14 a game under Hamblen.

Likewise, Lamar Odom, who has been hanging out on the perimeter all season, took the ball to the basket hard all night and wound up with 23 points and 13 rebounds.

Tony Parker led the Spurs with 22, and Malik Rose, emerging from Popovich’s doghouse after not playing for three games, scored 19 off the bench.

Hamblen started the night unbeaten, even if he had played only the Charlotte Bobcats, the No. 14 team in the East, and the Portland Trail Blazers, the No. 12 team in the West.

The Spurs started the night with the NBA’s best record at 37-10. Hamblen who found out he’d be coaching the game only Wednesday but hit the ground joking, noted, “I think I feel that flu Rudy’s got.”

He also laughed off questions about how long he’d be on the job. “Mitch [Kupchak] has told me it could be days, weeks or months,” Hamblen said. “There’s nothing like security in the NBA.”

Nevertheless, Hamblen has quietly begun making changes, instituting fines for things such as being late, taking shots after the whistle blows and going onto the practice floor wearing jewelry. Those were the rules under Jackson, before Tomjanovich came in with a more relaxed regime.

“They aren’t big fines, but let’s tighten things up a little bit,” Hamblen said before the game.

“I’m just feeling my way through this right now, trying to establish a rotation where everybody knows about when they’ll come into the game, so they’ll be ready and hopefully we can build some trust and respect with our bench.

“When we go out on the road, we’re going to take every game one at a time, see how we do. That’s right, game by game. [Laughing] Is that something new?”

The Spurs came in having won three in a row and seven of their last eight. For the season, they were beating opponents by an average of 11 points a night, tops in the league. Second-best was Phoenix at 8.7.

San Antonio went up by as many as six points in the second quarter when the two second units were on against each other, but the Lakers tied it, 38-38, on a layup by the newly assertive Odom, who scored 13 points in the first half.

The Spurs went up by five again on a three-pointer by Devin Brown and a 17-footer by Manu Ginobili, but Chris Mihm dunked the rebound of Odom’s missed layup, cutting it to 43-40 at the half.