It’s Lakers’ star power vs. Portland’s depth
By John Nadel
The Associated Press
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Like the
Chicago Bulls of the 1990s, the Los
Angeles Lakers have Phil Jackson
as their coach and two superstars
to lead them.
Whether that will be enough for
them against the Portland Trail
Blazers and their superior depth
remains to be seen.
It was plenty during the regular
season, when Shaquille O’Neal,
who missed becoming the NBA’s
first unanimous MVP by one vote,
and Kobe Bryant, who at age 21
has already started two All-Star
games, led the Lakers to a league
best 67-15 record.
The Blazers, meanwhile, went
59-23 to rank No. 2, prompting
Jackson to say they under
achieved.
Now, as the teams enter Satur
day’s opener of the Western Con
ference finals at Staples Center, it’s
possible the Blazers will have an
edge in the fourth quarter of close
games because their top players
will be more rested than the Lak
ers’ standouts.
Perhaps, but Jackson didn’t
sound concerned about such a
possibility. Of course, having stars
like O’Neal and Bryant along with
a group of players who know their
roles and play them well give him
confidence.
“I think the players can play 40
minutes in the playoffs,” Jackson
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said after practice Thursday.
“They have plenty of time to rest
[because of television timeouts
and other breaks], and they’re in
great shape.”
“The Combo,” a nickname
O’Neal coined for himself and
Bryant, averaged over 52 points
per game during the season, and
have increased that rate an addi
tional two points in the playoffs.
Their production is remindful
of what Michael Jordan and Scot
tie Pippen did for the Bulls, who
won six championships in an
eight-year span ending in June
1998.
Pippen now plays for the Blaz
ers, but at age 34, his scoring was
down to 12.5 points this season —
lowest since his rookie year.
Pippen, Rasheed Wallace, Arvy
das Sabonis and Steve Smith are
all averaging double figures in the
playoffs. Damon Stoudamire, Bri
an Grant, Detlef Schrempf, Greg
Anthony and Bonzi Wells have
also contributed significantly for
the Blazers, as they did during the
season.
“I love Pip, this is the time he
raises up what he does best,” said
Lakers guard Ron Harper, a team
mate of Pippen’s on three champi
onship teams in Chicago.
“They’ve got a team full of super
stars, we have two stars. What our
role guys have to do is play our
roles, do what we have to do to
win.”
Harper knows what that’s about,
having done so in Chicago, along
with the likes of Steve Kerr, Luc
Longley, Toni Kukoc and John
Paxson.
With the Lakers, along with
Harper, there’s Glen Rice, A.C.
Green, Robert Horry, Rick Fox, Bri
an Shaw and Derek Fisher.
“We quietly have been able to
be effective and get the job done
without getting a lot of hoopla,”
Shaw said.
True enough. The Lakers’ re
serves were probably never more
prominent than in Portland on
Feb. 29, when they outscored the
Blazers’ backups 25-18 to help Los
Angeles win a pivotal 90-87 deci
sion. Both teams entered that
game having won 11 straight
games and with 45-11 records.
Portland won two of the three
previous games played between
the teams, including a 95-91 win
at Staples Center on Jan. 22, when
Grant, a reserve, played a key role
on defense against the much big
ger O’Neal, who was held to 17
points.
The Lakers are 23-1 at home
since that game.
“It was just one of those days,”
O’Neal said Thursday. “We just
lost. I missed a couple shots be
cause I missed them. Whenever I
have a bad game, it’s because I’m
off, it’s not because of anything
[the defense] is doing. I’ve been
facing big bodies all year.”
Rice, a proven scorer through
out his career, averaged 15.9
points during the regular season
— his lowest since his rookie sea
son of 10 years earlier — but is
down to 13.9 in the playoffs. Usu
ally a deadly outside shooter, he
has made only 38.7 percent of his
shots in the postseason.
‘‘I haven’t seen anyone give
Glen breathing room in the play
offs,” Jackson said. “I look for him
to have a big series.”
Rice figures to see a lot of Pip
pen, known for being a tough cus
tomer on defense.
“It’s all right, I’m a handful,
too,” Rice said. “Me and Scottie
have had our battles throughout
our careers.”
Meanwhile, Blazers coach Mike
Dunleavy sent a not-so-subtle
message to NBA officials concern
ing O’Neal.
“If Shaq is allowed to zone up
like he was doing in their Phoenix
series — I think I counted 57 times
— and if he is allowed to push
guys out of the way and gain his
position, it’s going to be tough for
anybody to beat them,” he said.
“But, if it’s called the way it needs
to be called, then we’re going to
have a good shot. I think we go
into it with the mind set that we’re
not going to get a fair shake in
many ways, but we’ve got to play
through it.” •
Sports brief
Robinson hears Tigers
appeal suspensions
CLEVELAND — Frank Robin
son, baseball’s director of on-field
operations, heard the appeals
Thursday for three of the Detroit
Tigers suspended for the April 22
brawl against the Chicago White
Sox.
Robert Fick, Juan Encarnacion
and Luis Polonia met with Robin
son at a downtown hotel along
with Paul Beeston, baseball’s
chief operating officer.
Robinson is not expected to
make a decision for a few days.
Fick was suspended for five
games and Encarnacion and Polo
nia for three apiece for their part
in the brawl.
The Associated Press
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