UCLA Wins With a Twist

Nothing is easy for the UCLA Bruins. Never.

Forget this season, or Steve Lavin’s fate. How about simply trying to get through Thursday night’s 79-77 overtime victory over Arizona?

The Bruin fans, rallying during one stretch to drown out the criticism that they’re too docile, were stunned into silence just as quickly.

The alumni were whipping out their checkbooks to contribute to the Steve Lavin buyout fund in the game’s final minute, then gleefully sang the alma mater after overtime.

The writers on press row were ready to compose a homage to the Bruins one minute, ready to recite a laundry list of their faults the next and ultimately proclaimed them victorious, 16-6 overall, 9-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference and in sole possession of second place.

You’re ready to harp on Dan Gadzuric’s frailty for his latest ailment, a sprained ankle that’s supposed to keep him out of the game. Then he comes out for warmups, starts and posts these numbers: 22 points and 17 rebounds.

The Bruins are down by two points in the final minute of regulation, they have a chance to make a free throw to take the lead in the final 13 seconds, they’re in overtime with Earl Watson, Jason Kapono and Matt Barnes playing with four fouls.

Arizona had chances to tie the score right until the game’s final shot.

If it’s this hard on everyone around the court, imagine how stressful it must be for the coach whose job depends on these guys.

You can’t feel too sorry for Lavin, because this precarious position is his own doing to some degree. But you’ve got to marvel at how he can withstand it all.

The Bruins blew a 13-point lead in the second half. And the unnecessarily close finish masks this fact: For the first 30 minutes of the game, the Bruins did a better job of exerting their will and their style on the game.

The press did its job, though it took more than 11 minutes to create its first turnover. Arizona played at such a fast tempo that it forgot to play with any patience on offense. The Wildcats took most of their shots from outside, even when they had mismatches such as Kapono on Loren Woods.

But then the Bruins got wobbly.

Some curious officiating enabled Arizona to go to the line for 33 free throws. The Wildcats took over from there, making 27.

UCLA missed its share of free throws (eight of 20), threw some its usual number of ill-advised alley-oops and actually fell behind.

But it didn’t collapse.

And Gilbert Arenas took over. Man this guy can hoop. Thirty points, most of them whenever he wanted.

This wasn’t quite the NCAA tournament, but it’s as important as it gets in February, especially for a league with no conference tournament.

With a victory on Thursday--and every remaining road game against teams with losing records in the conference--the Bruins could set their sights on a Pac-10 championship. And you know what would happen next: more damaging anti-Lavin leaks from the athletic department.

It’s all starting to look a lot like the New York Knicks of 1999, when word of team President Dave Checketts’ meetings with Phil Jackson leaked out, the Knicks kept moving right along through the playoffs and the Madison Square Garden fans chanted Coach Jeff Van Gundy’s name louder and louder with each victory.

Two seasons later, Van Gundy is still on the job. You wouldn’t want to make any such prediction about Lavin that far into the future. With his teams, you’re hesitant to predict the next game’s outcome.

All any prognosticator can do is take his best guess based on previous events. And what do we know about Lavin thus far? Things always work out for him.

Take the final minute of regulation.

UCLA had two possessions and didn’t call a timeout in either.

On the first, Barnes drove for a wild shot that missed. All of the Bruins were out of position, and Richard Jefferson had himself a breakaway dunk at the other end of the court for a two-point Arizona lead.

On the second, the Bruins appeared to be in trouble with time running out on the shot clock when Billy Knight found Gadzuric inside for a layup that tied the score with 12.7 seconds remaining. He was fouled on the play, but missed the free throw.

The Bruins come through for their coach. For all they put him through, he’s really attached to them.

“This is a special group,” Lavin said. “They re-energize my batteries.”

As if they could ever run down with this team.

*

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.