Cavalier Attitude, Laker Win

There are the nights the Lakers just grind along, when the challenges are concentration and motivation and respect, when the Cleveland Cavaliers stand before them, but what they really want to know is what the Clippers are doing in Sacramento.

Now they know what it was like to be Billy Crystal all the years he spent alone in the Sports Arena.

Sometimes the Lakers don’t have much interest and sometimes they are attentive enough and game enough, and the Cavaliers were crestfallen to discover them in the latter condition for much of Tuesday night at Staples Center.

Shaquille O’Neal played 25 minutes and Kobe Bryant played 31 as Phil Jackson forced them to rest for the games that will demand more of them, and the Lakers were 121-116 winners despite giving up 72 second-half points.

They play tonight at Phoenix, where they have lost consecutive games. They also are 7-9 in the second of back-to-back games.

O’Neal scored 19 points, Bryant scored 17 and Rick Fox, still on the hairless high that began two weeks ago, scored 18 points, matching his season high.

It was not always comfortable. Jackson played his bench as the Cavaliers closed the gap, crossing his legs perhaps when he considered reinserting one of his stars in the fourth quarter. He resisted each time, and the Lakers won their 50th game, and their third in a row.

“I got accomplished what we wanted to get accomplished in that game,” Jackson said. “We’ve got a long week.”

The Clippers lost, 107-90, to the Kings, so the Lakers remained a half-game behind the Kings in the Pacific Division and Western Conference. Starting with the one-point victory Sunday in Sacramento, the Lakers in eight days will have played five games, with Portland (Friday) and San Antonio (Sunday) coming.

Bryant was the only Laker starter to play in the fourth quarter, and he played only five minutes. O’Neal played eight minutes in the second half, had only nine field-goal attempts for the second consecutive game, and again left without addressing the media.

Bryant said the time off his feet would serve him well in the coming days.

“We can get out of here early, get some rest and be ready to play,” he said.

Ricky Davis scored a career-high 35 points and Andre Miller scored 21, and the Cavaliers came within a three-pointer with 1:11 remaining, which set the departing crowd to grumble over its shoulder.

Brian Shaw calmed Jackson’s second unit, however. He scored 13 points, made three three-pointers, broke the Cavalier press sometimes by himself, and took three rebounds. It was enough to guide the Lakers past the Cavaliers, who might have been inspired by the sight of O’Neal and Bryant on the bench, leaning near each other.

“I’m just happy to get the opportunity to do something,” Shaw said. “Though it’s kind of unfortunate the game came down to what it did.”

Said Jackson: “I figured we had enough moxie in there to figure it out.”

Of some interest, Greg Willard became the first referee--at John Lucas’ urging--to assess O’Neal with a lane violation for stumbling over the free-throw line while shooting. Many league coaches and officials have lobbied for the call, most notably former Phoenix coach Scott Skiles and Dallas owner Mark Cuban. Maverick Coach Don Nelson pestered referees on the subject a week ago in Dallas, to no avail.

By rule, the shooter may not advance past the line before the ball reaches the rim or backboard, by which time O’Neal often has stepped forward.

O’Neal has enough trouble at the line without throwing technicalities at him. Willard made the call early in the third quarter. Though O’Neal had missed the free throw anyway, he glared at Willard often in the next few minutes.

Already in a fragile state-- having lost six of eight games and with only eight road victories--the Cavaliers played without Tyrone Hill, Lamond Murray, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Bimbo Coles and DeSagana Diop, all injured or ailing to some degree.

Still, Shaw made a 38-foot three-point heave as the halftime buzzer sounded, good for a 55-44 lead, and it felt as though the Lakers needed it.

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Way of the West

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