Hardaway Shows Warriors Easy Way : Pro basketball: Lakers fall, 114-99, as he breaks 0-for-19 streak with 30 points.
So much for 1991.
The Lakers’ most unforgettable year ended with their worst month since Magic Johnson was at Michigan State.
They were routed, 114-99, by the Golden State Warriors Monday night in the Forum, leaving them 6-8 in December, their first losing month since March, 1979.
“Gee,” said Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy, recalling other famous massacres, “today wasn’t Valentine’s Day, was it?”
Just another night in this home stand gone wrong. The Lakers have now lost five of six games and three home games in a row for the first time since Jan. 8, 1984.
“This was obviously the worst beating we’ve taken all year long,” Dunleavy said.
” . . . Obviously, it’s the lowest we’ve been since I’ve been here. Some of the teams we’ve lost to have been pretty good--Portland, Phoenix, Golden State--but we want to be one of those teams. We’re going to have to take a hard look at ourselves. I don’t think tonight we did the job defensively, as individuals or as a team.”
They didn’t do the job offensively, either but they haven’t in a while.
They have now gone six games without scoring 100 points; 10 without shooting 47%.
Meanwhile, Tim Hardaway, who set an NBA record by going 0 for 17 in his last game, went 13 for 21 Monday and scored 30 points.
He hit his first shot, a layup 1:01 into the game and six of his next eight. Some slumps end more easily than others.
“I just wanted to hit my first shot,” he said later to reporters, “so y’all would get off my back.”
Hardaway started the night with the NBA’s longest 0-for streak: 19 misses in a row, including his NBA record 0-for-17 night at Minnesota.
Against the Timberwolves, Hardaway missed long shots, short shots, medium-range shots and layups. Someone asked later that night if he’d been thinking what he might try next.
“Yeah,” Hardaway said. “Drop-kicks.”
A day later, he came four minutes late for practice and was fined $20.
By team rule, he could shoot a three-pointer, double or nothing.
He tried it . . . and shot an air-ball.
By Monday, Hardaway thought whole the subject was getting kind of old.
“I’m just going to play my type ballgame,” he said before the game. “Everybody’s talking about it. I know y’all have a job to do, but I’m kinda tired talking about it.”
One minute and one second into the game, it was history. The 5-11 Hardaway, posting Byron Scott low, beat him for a layup.
He then went on to score 18 points in the first half alone as the Warriors kicked the game up into their usual high gear.
The Lakers kept pace for a while. They were tied, 44-44, with 4:17 left in the half. Then, with backup point guard Rory Sparrow in, the Lakers turned the ball over three times in four possessions and the Warriors were off to the races. They closed the half with a 17-8 spurt and grabbed a 61-52 lead.
They increased it to 73-61 in the third period before the Lakers rallied. They were down, 78-73, when Scott stole the ball, brought it up but missed a 20-footer.
“The Lakers looked a little bit sluggish in the second quarter,” Hardaway said later. “And then in the third quarter and the fourth quarter they were very sluggish.
“We knew they couldn’t run with us. It seemed like they were just tired.”
The problem, for Dunleavy, is that the Lakers had been at home, with two days of rest since their last game. Dunleavy filled their practices with shooting drills. It hasn’t worked, but he’ll keep trying.
“It’s not one of those things that you can say, ‘Let’s ignore it, let’s not talk about it and it’ll get better,’ ” he said.
So ended 1991, with the Lakers looking--at last--like a team that had lost its star guard and starting center. Ready or not, here comes 1992.
Laker Notes
More landmarks: The 15-point victory was the Warriors’ biggest here since Oct. 27, 1972. . . . Warrior Coach Don Nelson, asked his team’s chances of finishing first: “None. We’re just holding it for the Lakers or Phoenix or Portland. We’re just keeping it warm for them.”
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