Lakers' Problems Get Bigger in Texas

By TIM KAWAKAMI

Feb. 2, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SAN ANTONIO — Lakers.net, the hottest, hippest high-tech stock in a booming market only a few weeks ago, took a 24-point beating on Tuesday, only the latest and worst development in a rather lengthy downturn.

The Bullish moments have disappeared. The atmosphere is fairly tense.

The Laker Recession of 2000 continued with a 105-81 scorching by the San Antonio Spurs at the Alamodome--the Lakers’ largest loss of the season--presenting all discerning Laker investors with a compelling set of questions:

Is the Lakers’ recent 3-6 slide (and more recently 1-3) an indication of major instability, despite the luminous presences of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant?

Or, coming as it does on the heels of a 16-game winning streak, is it merely a heavy bump on a generally healthy journey?

After losing more games in the last 16 days than they did in the previous 2 1/2 months (when they were 31-5), it time to sell? Buy? Make trades? Shake things up?

“I don’t think so,” Coach Phil Jackson said, after watching his team lose the NBA’s best record and fall to 34-11 and out of first place (a half-game behind Portland) in the Pacific Division for the first time since Dec. 14.

“I think this team’s been able to win. But we just need to see some people step up and play well. And right now, we’re kind of struggling.

“Kobe [and] Shaq have games, and we just can’t seem to find another combination to help out there right now.”

Bryant (19 points, eight assists) and O’Neal (31 points) both turned in relatively strong performances on Tuesday, but against the defending champion Spurs, the Lakers needed at least two or three more big efforts, and did not get them.

Glen Rice, the subject of trade rumors, was especially not in evidence, scoring only five points and being held out by Jackson for most of the second and fourth quarters.

The Spurs, meanwhile, played their normal tough defense, and found the same holes in the Laker defense that have been discovered by Houston, Seattle, Portland and Utah before them.

Avery Johnson did most of the damage, scoring 22 points on quick dives into the middle, to either score or set up open outside jumpers for his teammates.

Tim Duncan dominated underneath, scoring 29 points and grabbing 18 rebounds, leading San Antonio to a 46-33 rebounding edge, as the Spurs fought to a 10-point lead by halftime, then turned it up in the second half.

“You know, good teams do that,” said forward Rick Fox. “And it doesn’t surprise you, but you have to be aware. . . . If you lose any bit of concentration or focus, like sharks smelling blood, they swarm.”

And the Lakers were, at least this night, chum.

Are the Lakers suffering from a crisis of confidence?

“We’re just kind of in a rut,” O’Neal said. “We’re not playing well, we’re not hitting shots, we’re not playing good defense.”

The Spurs, who made 43 of their 82 shots, were only the second opponent to shoot better than 50% against the Lakers this season.

“When we were winning, we won because of defense,” Fox said. “Yeah, the offense looked a lot smoother [during the win streak] and there was a greater flow for us.

“But, for the most part, we created that with stifling defense and easy opportunities. And when you frustrate a team defensively, stopping them and giving them the inability to run their offense, they don’t play as tough defensively. And that hasn’t been the case lately.”

Rice, who played only 23 minutes and made only two of his seven shots, left the locker room without comment.

Jackson suggested that he thought Fox was a better option.

“Because [Rice] wasn’t doing much, we wanted to get somebody in there to see if somebody else could do something,” Jackson said. “Rick out there is a very quality player . . . and we did OK.

“But the reality is that we just have to play ball together and that’s probably been the demise right now of our winning streak.

“It’s just gone right down the tube, because we’re just not playing well together.”

Said Bryant: “That’s on us to kind of figure out what’s going on, as far as from an execution standpoint, defensively.

“I mean, we know we’re not really rotating the right way, as far as closing out penetration. We saw that in the Houston game, we saw it tonight. Teams are making the extra pass and they’re beating us--they’re knocking down shots. So we just have to get back to the basics.”

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The Slide

By losing six of their last nine games, the Lakers no longer have the best record in the NBA. The last nine games (losses in bold):

San Ant., 81-105

Houston, 83-89

Milw., 117-89

Utah, 101-105

Portland, 91-95

Cleveland, 95-86

Seattle, 81-82

Minn., 104-91

Indiana, 102-111