A Stinging Loss for Lakers

Starting the race early--say, about three months early--the Lakers lost to the Charlotte Hornets, 98-93, Sunday night before 17,505 at the Forum, prompting frustration in that they also lost an opportunity to gain ground on the Seattle SuperSonics.

To gain ground in January.

Four weeks before the All-Star game.

Before they have even had a chance to play their main rivals.

The Lakers, losing for the first time this season with Shaquille O’Neal as a starter, and still struggling to adjust to his presence, knew the SuperSonics lost to the Knicks in New York. They knew a victory over the Hornets would cut Seattle’s lead for the best record in the NBA to one game. And, most conceded, they knew this was important.

In January.

“It’s never, ever too early,” Eddie Jones said. “Every game is a big game when you’re behind. A team like Seattle, they’re so talented that when they do lose a game, you’ve got to go out and take advantage of it. And we didn’t.”

The chance was even there. The Lakers, already having beaten the Hornets on the road, and on the second night of back-to-back games at that, trailed the entire fourth quarter, but were down by only two points with 1:32 remaining.

The Lakers went without a field goal the rest of the way. So did the Hornets, but they went six of six from the line down the stretch, good for points on every possession. The Lakers were three of six and finished with another bad night from the line at 58.6% (17 of 29).

“It was a disappointing loss for us, in as much as Seattle lost and we knew it,” Coach Del Harris said.

There is good news. They have the next 46 games to do something about it.

The start of a four-game home stand also was the beginning of a stretch in which the Lakers will play 10 of the 11 games against teams that today have a winning record, the lone exception being the Denver Nuggets, who come in Wednesday. This stretch comes immediately after the Lakers faced one sub-.500 club in eight contests, the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 2.

Defeating weak teams is one of the Laker weak points, so the step up in class may be as welcome as it could be grueling. Three of the next nine opponents--the SuperSonics, Miami Heat, and Chicago Bulls--are division leaders. The tough stretch comes during a transition period after the return of O’Neal.

“We’re in the process of retooling,” Harris said. “You take a team like Seattle, they’ve played 33 games with all their guys. They haven’t had an injury to any starter. We’ve had 13 [games].”

Harris was referring to the eight games with O’Neal early in the season and the five, heading into Sunday, since the return.

“We’re in quite a transitional and adjustment period,” Harris said. “We’re just going to take some time and see how [Elden Campbell] and Shaq work in together. How everybody and Shaq do.”

Added Nick Van Exel: “We still haven’t found a groove since Shaq’s come back. We’ve got to figure something out. We’re not playing good ball now.”

O’Neal had been averaging 28.6 points and 11 rebounds in only 31.4 minutes in the previous five games, the earliest of which came with time restrictions, and the Lakers won four of them. That the opponents were the Clippers, Milwaukee Bucks, Vancouver Grizzlies, Philadelphia 76ers and Hawks either makes that less impressive or more impressive, what with their well-documented struggles against the downtrodden.

The Hornets would not be another in that category. Though their five-game trip that ended at the Forum opened with a 16-point loss at Sacramento and a 21-point defeat at Seattle, they were most recently coming off victories at Portland and Vancouver and were 21-13 at tipoff.

O’Neal got 32 points, on 12-of-19 shooting, and had 13 rebounds and three blocked shots in 40 minutes, then reiterated he is not yet 100%. He has played well nonetheless, scoring 32, 32 and 38 points the last three games. This, though, was a return to double digits on the boards after falling short the previous two times.

Some of that came against Vlade Divac, who had 10 points and seven rebounds in his second game at the Forum as a Hornet. But Anthony Mason, giving away five inches and 70 pounds, not only contributed 22 points and nine rebounds but also spent time at center and helped hold O’Neal to nine shots in the second half.