In This Game, They Never Had a Shot

For Laker backup forward Robert Horry, it was shooting as usual in Tuesday night’s 96-88 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 5 of their Western Conference finals.

Horry, a major offensive contributor for the Lakers in their victories over Sacramento and Phoenix in the first two rounds of the playoffs, continued to remodel Staples Center with his brick shooting as he made only three of 11 shots from the field and finished with seven points.

After making three three-point baskets and scoring 12 points in the Lakers’ Game 1 blowout victory over Portland, Horry has been a construction worker moonlighting as a Laker.

Over the last four games, Horry has made only eight of 26 field goals.

“We’re always looking for that dagger,” said Horry, who tried to explain his desire to shoot from behind the three-point line, where he is one for 13 since Game 1.

“We’re tying to put up too many of them.”

That is an understatement. In the Lakers’ two victories at Portland, they were nine of 26 on three-pointers. In their two losses to the Trail Blazers at Staples Center, they are 12 of 50 from behind the arc.

“We did not shoot the ball well and we shot the ball for too many three-point shots,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said about Tuesday’s loss. “We ended up staying on the perimeter a lot in this ballgame, trying to get the ball into [Shaquille O’Neal] but not finding a way. You have to credit Portland for some of that.”

It’s no secret that whenever Horry is on his game, the Lakers are a much better team. But throughout his career, Horry has been a streaky player and right now, his shooting confidence is simply not there.

When he made his lone three-pointer Tuesday night, Horry threw both his hands in the air as if to thank a higher source.

But Horry was not alone when it came to poor shooting. For Glen Rice, a hero in Game 4 with 21 points, and the rest of the Lakers’ perimeter players, it was brick city for them too.

Rice was even colder than Horry. He made only one of eight field goal attempts and finished with four points in 33 minutes.

“We had a lot of opportunities to put the ball in the basket, it just didn’t drop for us,” Rice said. “We didn’t shoot good, and I don’t think that that will happen again.”

The Lakers shot 38% from the floor and made only six of 27 three-point attempts. Only O’Neal, Ron Harper and Brian Shaw made at least half of their field goal attempts.

The Trail Blazers said the difference was that they got a lead and held onto it, which they didn’t do in Games 3 and 4.

“When you are up 10 points, you are going to get open shots and it is much easier to make them then,” Portland forward Detlef Schrempf said. “But when you are down 10 points and we’re playing good defense, those shots do not come that easy.

“We did a better job not giving those guys easy shots early on. You know, layups and fastbreak shots to give them confidence. Anyone can take and make a wide-open shot when they have made a couple of layups. I think tonight we did a better job taking that away early.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Becoming Three-Dimensional

The Lakers kept their three-point attempts low when they won in Portland, but seemed to resort to shots from behind the arc in the games they lost at home:

Laker three-point shooting in losses at home:

Game 2: 6 for 23

Game 5: 6 for 27

Total 12 for 50

Laker three-point shooting in

victories on road:

Game 3: 3 for 13

Game 4: 6 for 13

Total 9 for 26