Lakers Plow Through a Grizzly Effort

VANCOUVER, Canada —  In the hours before the Lakers would shovel grim efficiency at the Vancouver Grizzlies, before four protesters in bear suits were rushed rudely from the court at General Motors Place, before Shaquille O’Neal made Bryant Reeves look just like Bryant Reeves, Phil Jackson leaned against a gray cinder-block wall.

He had mulled the conversation topic--this team, and why last year’s championship softened it, rather than emboldened it, as he might have expected. He did not argue the premise.

“It has to do with chemistry,” Jackson said. “That’s what winning and losing does. When you win, it strengthens those bonds. This year, we’ve had some things that have happened that have not strengthened the chemistry of this basketball club.”

It is why the next six weeks are so daunting for the Lakers, and why their fifth victory in six games--by 98-88 Saturday, when O’Neal scored 34 points and Kobe Bryant hobbled to 20 points and seven turnovers--lacked much in the way of exuberance. In the hyper-competitive Western Conference, the Lakers still have much to prove.

“Everybody on this team feels a little shocked by it, and yet responsible in their own ways for it,” Jackson said. “As a result, we’re trying to put Band-Aids, quick applications, on these things to make it better as the season goes through. What will do it, and I keep telling the team this, is to build a winning streak, to go through a segment of the season and build a winning streak, particularly on the road, where it has to be done under duress. We haven’t been able to do that so far.”

Afterward, they plucked cheeseburgers and ketchup-stained French fries from cardboard boxes and considered their victory merely the first game of four in five days. They were satisfied that they had expended just enough effort to keep the game just out of the reach of the air-balling Grizzlies.

“I think we found ways to keep them at bay,” Rick Fox said.

For every couple of victories, the Lakers own a discouraging loss to the Indiana Pacers. Or a loss to the Golden State Warriors. Another to the Clippers. Two to the Denver Nuggets.

If it keeps them grounded, then it has stunted their confidence as well.

“As I told my staff about a week ago, this is going to be a ‘dog’ season,” Jackson said. “It’s going to be one of those seasons everything is going to be two steps forward, one step back. We’ll go to the playoffs without a whole lot of confidence of what you can do. You’re just going to have to play hard, make adjustments game by game. No one has momentum to be what I would call an outright favorite in the NBA right now.”

All of which means the Lakers won’t play from too far back, no matter what the last weeks of the regular season bring. Neither will they play from ahead, though, and so they’ve lost the chippy attitude that drove them through several difficult playoff series last year.

“We have the capabilities,” Jackson said. “Some of that has to do with the ability to defend and the ability to score. We’ve got two prime movers, scoring-wise, in the league. Not too many teams have that. We also have the ability to defend, at times, even though that has not been our strength. As we’ve gone through, it’s gotten worse, as a matter of fact.”

In what might have been their final game in Vancouver--the likelihood brought the demonstrating bears wearing “Save the Grizzlies” T-shirts, and their subsequent roughing up--the Lakers ground through the Grizzlies behind O’Neal. He played 38 minutes, making 13 of 19 shots and eight of 12 free throws. He also had 13 rebounds. Reeves was game but overmatched.

“I tried to keep him out,” Reeves said. “But he was going anywhere he wanted to.”

Horace Grant took a season-high 15 rebounds. Brian Shaw had 11 rebounds and nine assists.

Bryant, in his second game back after being sidelined for three because of a sprained and bruised right ankle, ran delicately. His left ankle also pains him. He took only three shots in the first quarter, and 16 overall, well below his season average.

“I’ll rest in the summer,” Bryant said. “The one thing I take out of it, I’ve been able to play on one sprained ankle. But, I’ve never had to play on two of them. It’s a challenge.”

The Lakers have plenty more ahead.

“Shoot, I didn’t know we had 17 [games in March],” O’Neal said. “That’s going to be a big test for us.”

Los Angeles Lakers

In 10 games since the All-Star break, Shaquille O’Neal’s numbers have returned to last season’s MVP effort:

Points Rebounds

1999-2000

29.7 13.6

Since Break

30.9 12.3

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