High-flying Lakers starting over
Associated Press
LOS ANGELES -- The points kept coming, faster and more
furious as the Los Angeles Lakers looked again and again for their
big man.
A monster dunk here, a short bank shot there, and even 13 foul
shots, a seldom-reached total for Shaquille O'Neal.
In a coming-of-age game for one of the league's superstars,
O'Neal finished with a career-high 61 points and 23 rebounds on his
28th birthday last month, leading the Lakers to another victory.
Yes, it was against the lowly Los Angeles Clippers. But so what?
Nobody has been able to stop Shaq's attack this season.
Opponents will try again during the playoffs, starting Sunday
with the Sacramento Kings. But if the regular season is any
indication, the Lakers might as well already get sized up for rings
for their first championship in 12 years.
|  | | Jackson might be the major difference between last season's disappointments and this year's success |
"We've won the regular-season title, that's what you work for
when you open the season," first-year Lakers coach Phil Jackson
said. "And then you put it behind you and you go into a playoff
situation where there's a whole different level of intensity. You
bring it up another notch."
The Lakers have failed in the postseason in recent years. They
lost twice to Utah and once to San Antonio, earning a reputation as
underachievers.
"We've always been the team to beat," said O'Neal, in his
fourth year with Los Angeles. "We just have to do what we've been
doing, and get sharp on certain things. We'll be all right."
The hiring of Jackson and his staff undoubtedly had a lot to do
with the Lakers' 67 regular-season wins, second-best in franchise
history and better than any of the Magic Johnson-led Showtime teams
of the 1980s.
There are other factors, like the improved health and play of
O'Neal, the maturation and development of Kobe Bryant, and the
addition of veteran role players Ron Harper, A.C. Green and Brian
Shaw.
O'Neal and Bryant have at times been as dominant as Michael
Jordan and Scottie Pippen when Jackson coached the Chicago Bulls to
six championships during the '90s. In addition, the Lakers' defense
has been stifling when necessary, and the supporting cast has done
its job.
That said, there's nothing to celebrate yet. The Lakers will be
the first to admit it.
"Potential doesn't mean anything," said Harper, who joined the
Lakers this season after winning three rings in Chicago. "This
team had it for the last four or five years, right? We have to go
show folks. We have something to prove."
Lakers owner Jerry Buss finally loosened the pursestrings to
hire Jackson last summer at a cost of $30 million over five years.
Previous Lakers coaches weren't paid anywhere near that kind of
money, but Buss changed direction after watching the turbulence
under Del Harris, the coach for a little over four seasons, and
Kurt Rambis, interim coach after Harris was fired last season.
"When Phil came in with six world championship rings, he
immediately commanded the respect of our team," said 72-year-old
assistant Bill Bertka, the lone holdover from the previous regimes.
"He has their total attention."
That wasn't always the case under Harris or Rambis, who had
on-court differences with players for the world to see.
An example of how Jackson has earned respect is the way he's
dealt with Bryant.
On occasion, Jackson has gotten in the 21-year-old All-Star's
face during timeouts because he's been out of control on the court.
But that type of play has diminished considerably this season as
Bryant developed into one of the NBA's top players at both ends of
the court.
"He's here to teach, I'm here to learn," Bryant said after one
outburst.
More recently, Bryant said, "He just taught me the game of
basketball."
When asked the biggest difference in his approach from his first
three seasons with the Lakers, Bryant replied, "My approach is I
have an approach. Here, we have a system, we know what we're
supposed to do."
Bryant referred to the triangle offense Jackson and his staff
used in their years with the Bulls and now with the Lakers.
|  | | O'Neal is a virtual lock for the NBA MVP award |
"I think he just has a system they believe in," said
Minnesota's Anthony Peeler, a former Laker. "Everybody seems to
feel more relaxed with Phil. Del was a guy who dealt more in
percentages."
Bryant and O'Neal have had their differences, but they put them
aside as the season progressed. O'Neal has taken to referring to
the pair as "The Combo."
"This is the first year we've really played together," Bryant
said. "In the past, it was Shaq in the post and four guys along
the perimeter, which limits his skills and our ability to play
together."
O'Neal has been healthy all year, and that hasn't always been
the case. He missed a total of 53 games in the 1996-97 and 1997-98
seasons.
"He's healthy, and on top of his game," Bertka said of O'Neal,
who won his second scoring championship this season by averaging a
career-high 29.7 points and seems a lock to earn his first Most
Valuable Player award. "He certainly joins the great big men who
have played this game and has the potential at his age to become
one of the greatest, as exhibited by his play this year."
O'Neal, who even improved his woeful foul shooting toward the
end of the season, has said repeatedly ill health hampered his play
in recent years.
"I've always played defense, but the last two years when I had
the stomach injuries, I couldn't do a lot right -- especially block
shots," he said.
O'Neal greeted Harris, now an assistant coach at Dallas, with a
hug when the Lakers and Mavericks played last Tuesday, but has made
clear his fondness and respect for Jackson.
"We have an unbelievable coaching staff," O'Neal said. "We're
like some bad kids; sometimes we need to be scolded."
Jackson noted recently that O'Neal is the same age Jordan was
when the Bulls won their first championship nine years ago against
the Lakers -- the last time Los Angeles got to the finals.
"I told Shaq he's a young man until he turns 28," Jackson
said. "He reached that pinnacle at some point, didn't he?"
Jackson's smile gave him away. He knows that pinnacle came March
6 -- O'Neal's birthday.
|
