Lakers Can Put a Title on Staples Mystique

It does not look or feel intimidating. It is not steeped in history, or tinged with the spirit of an entire, basketball-mad populace.

It will host a major fight and minor league football game in the two days before the Lakers and Indiana Pacers are allowed back inside again to decide who wins the rings.

It fits 18,997, pampers about 3,000 and rarely roils up a particularly raucous attitude in its fans. It is still almost brand new, and its mood is . . . well, suite.

But Staples Center is where the road has led the Lakers once again--for the fourth consecutive round--to finish off a series after a bitter defeat, and this time, to make a last stab at finishing off a season with a championship.

To Staples, with the Lakers still leading this series, 3-2, and nowhere else to go.

To Staples again, for the final days.

“I know Staples is going to be rocking,” Shaquille O’Neal said, looking forward to Game 6 on Monday, after the Lakers lost a chance to clinch a title Friday in Indianapolis, “and we’re going to be pumped up.”

Probably more important to the Lakers, who are 10-2 at home in the postseason, with the only two losses coming to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals, is what Staples does to opponents.

In each of their three previous series, the Lakers have had a chance to clinch on the road, and each time have suffered serious defeats.

And in each of the rounds, the Lakers have returned home and powered out victories at Staples, over Sacramento, Phoenix and Portland, to move deeper into this title quest.

Now, they are one Staples victory away.

“I guarantee it won’t be the same thing out [at Staples],” guard Ron Harper said in the Laker locker room after the 33-point loss in Game 5 at Conseco Fieldhouse.

“We have to have some energy. I think if our team comes out and we put forth energy and our home fans do the same thing as their home fans do, we should be all right.”

More accurately, Staples’ vast size and deep sight lines seem to drain the energy out of teams that are not accustomed to it, especially teams that live and die with perimeter jump shots, most especially Indiana.

After the two losses at Staples to start this series, Indiana’s record on Figueroa Street dropped to 0-4 this season, including a Jan. 8 defeat to the Clippers, 107-94.

Here are the shooting breakdowns for the Pacers’ three starting perimeter players:

* Reggie Miller, a 44.8% shooter in the regular season, has made only 32.8% of his shots at Staples, including his one-for-16 debacle in Game 1 against the Lakers.

* Jalen Rose, a season 47.1% shooter, is shooting only 37.5% at Staples, including a four-for-15 struggle in the March 3 regular-season blowout loss to the Lakers.

* Mark Jackson, a season 43.2% shooter, is shooting 35.4% at Staples, including a two-for-nine effort in Game 2.

“There’s no intimidation factor,” Jackson said of Staples. “We’re a team that feels very confident in going into someone else’s building and winning. We have a history of doing just that.”

But in the Pacers’ three games at Staples against the Lakers, they have made only 39.5% of their shots and averaged 95 points.

In the three consecutive playoff games at Conseco just concluded, Indiana shot 50.9% and averaged 112.7 points.

“We haven’t played well in the Staples Center this year, but now we’ve got a little bit more confidence than we’ve ever had going in there,” Indiana Coach Larry Bird said. “Hopefully, we can just pull it through.”

Said Miller: “You can’t make excuses. We didn’t shoot well in Game 1. We shot a little better in Game 2. I think it’s all mental.

“You have to go in there, concentrate, and hit shots. They’re hitting shots, so you know there’s really nothing wrong with the rims if they’re hitting shots.”

And, in the playoffs at Staples, Laker opponents have only made 39.9% of their shots, and made less than 45% in each of the 12 games.

The Lakers, meanwhile, with an offense that starts and ends usually about five feet away from the basket, or closer if O’Neal can get there, have made 49% or more of their shots in seven of the 12 games.

The Lakers are 48-7 at Staples Center this season, including two games as visiting team against the Clippers, and three of those losses were to Portland--one in the regular season, two in the playoffs.

So, if you remove the Trail Blazers, the Lakers are 45-4 at Staples, and 8-0 in the playoffs.

But Laker forward Rick Fox said that the recent history of Laker success at home guarantees them nothing.

“No, it didn’t guarantee them an automatic win,” Fox said of the Pacers, who tied the Lakers for the NBA’s best regular-season home record, at 36-5. “We came in [to Indianapolis] and got one ourselves.

“We’ve had success at home all year, but nothing is guaranteed right now, not when you give a team a life-support system in Game 5.”

Still, Fox said, it will be nice to get a change of venue, away from Conseco, where the Pacers made 75% of their shots in the first quarter of Game 5, and seemed to flip in three-pointers at will against the step-slow Laker defense.

“Nobody shoots that well back to back,” Fox said. “But you don’t count on that. If they’ve shot so poorly in Staples, you have to figure they’ll shoot a little better than they did the first two trips.”

Said Miller: “You know, if I’m them, the Lakers, they still have got to feel good about themselves. They’re probably thinking we’ve got to win two ballgames to win the series in their building, a place we haven’t won in all year, of course.”

Or as Fox himself shouted to a reporter who was asking Harper if the Lakers can expect to win a championship playing the kind of defense they played in Games 4 and 5:

“Come to L.A. and find out!” Fox shouted. “Come to L.A. and ask that question!”

So they are here. Where it ends.

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No Match for Shaq

How Shaquille O’Neal’s playoff statistics compare to the centers he has faced: COMPOSITE OPPONENT: Height: 7-2 1/2 Weight: 269. Age: 32 years 9 months. PLAYER G FGM-A FTM-A/Pct. OFF/DEF/TR AS BLK TO PF PPG HG Divac 5 20-56/.357 16-23/.696 9-27-36 14 4 9 22 11.2 15 Longley 5 13-35/.371 0-1/.000 7-10-17 7 1 9 23 5.2 12 Sabonis 7 21-55/.382 14-15/.933 8-31-39 15 6 5 32 8.3 14 Smits 5 26-50/.520 6-6/1.000 6-12-18 2 6 7 19 11.6 24 Comp. 22 80-196/.408 36-45/.800 30-80-110 38 17 30 101 9.0 -- SHAQUILLE O’NEAL: Height: 7-1. Weight: 315. Age: 28 years 3 months. PLAYER G FGM-A FTM-A/Pct. OFF/DEF/TR AS BLK TO PF PPG HG O’Neal 22 267-473/.564 132-284/.465 114-229-343 70 51 56 65 30.3 46 *

--Research by ROY JURGENS

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Bringing a Championship Home?

How the Lakers’ playoff statistics at Staples Center compare to those on the road:

HOME (10-2)

* Lakers 113, Kings 86

* Lakers 113, Kings 89

* Lakers 117, Kings 107

* Lakers 87, Suns 65

* Lakers 97, Suns 96

* Lakers 105, Suns 77

* Lakers 109, Trail Blazers 94

* Trail Blazers 106, Lakers 77

* Trail Blazers 96, Lakers 88

* Lakers 89, Trail Blazers 84

* Lakers 104, Pacers 87

* Lakers 111, Pacers 104

Laker average points 100.8

Opponent average points 90.9

Laker field-goal percentage .466

Opponent field-goal percentage .405

ROAD (4-6)

* Kings 101, Lakers 88

* Kings 99, Lakers 91

* Lakers 105, Suns 99

* Suns 117, Lakers 98

* Lakers 93, Trail Blazers 91

* Lakers 103, Trail Blazers 91

* Trail Blazers 103, Lakers 93

* Pacers 100, Lakers 91

* Lakers 120, Pacers 118 OT

* Pacers 120, Lakers 87

Laker average points 96.9

Opponent average points 103.9

Laker field-goal percentage .455

Opponent field-goal percentage .478

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NBA FINALS

LAKERS vs. INDIANA

THE SERIES

Lakers lead series, 3-2

GAME 1

Lakers104

Indiana: 87

GAME 2

Lakers: 111

Indiana: 104

GAME 3

Indiana: 100

Lakers: 91

GAME 4

Lakers: 120

Indiana: (OT) 118

GAME 5

Indiana: 120

Lakers: 87

GAME 6

Monday at

Staples Center, 6 p.m.

GAME 7*

Wednesday at

Staples Center, 6 p.m.

*-if necessary.

Games on Channel 4

COVERAGE

MARK HEISLER

It’s time for two things to end: The NBA finals, which have been better than expected, and any more talk of a new Jordan. Page 10

LAKERS

Jackson is looking for his team to challenge the outside shooting of the Pacers, who made 57% from the floor in Game 5. Page 12

PACERS

“We absolutely, positively, have nothing to lose and everything in the world to gain,” Reggie Miller says. Page 12