Lakers Try to Get Feet on Ground
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The Lakers had a day out of the air Monday, their only one in five, and spent it in El Segundo sorting through the details of a fourth quarter Phil Jackson called, among other things, “unprofessional.”
The morning after San Antonio played from five back to 13 ahead, 10 fourth-quarter minutes that carried the Spurs to an 88-78 win and a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals, the Lakers tried again to find function in their game.
The theme of 22 turnovers, half in the fourth quarter, ran through an hour-long film session and a 90-minute practice. In the final quarter of Game 1, the Spurs had gone to Tim Duncan, and he played them to stability and precision, while the Lakers turned scattered and uncertain.
Asked what he had stressed Monday, Jackson said, “Just precision. More than anything else, we were unpoised, unprofessional in a lot of our attack. You have to credit the aggressive behavior of the Spurs. They got into us and made us turn the ball over 22 times, which gave them 17 fastbreak points.
“Those are things that, professionally, if you’re paying attention to your business you can take care of that.”
So, they grinded through the particulars of the Spurs’ defensive pressure and the Lakers’ inability -- or unwillingness -- to move the ball against it.
And they waited on Gary Payton, who was an hour late, causing him to miss the film study. A team official said Payton’s tardiness was because of “personal reasons,” and that he’d called ahead, per team policy. According to teammates, Payton then had a lackluster practice and walked off the floor 15 minutes early because of a sore lower back, summoning Bryon Russell to replace him.
And they tried again to understand how the fourth quarter went so wrong, how six consecutive turnovers turned up with the game on the line, and with their most reliable players on the floor.
It was in those times when Duncan shot freely from 17 feet, a bank shot on the left wing to give the Spurs a six-point lead, and the Lakers responded with Kobe Bryant’s dribbling for nearly all of 24 seconds before hoisting a 25-foot airball.
“We have operations that we thought failed us,” Jackson said. “Some of it has to do with the familiarity that players still don’t have [with each other] in pressure situations.”
If so, the Lakers have reached May and aren’t sure where teammates will be, or if they’ll make a play, which is not new. But, presumably, Jackson squeezed his rotation -- Karl Malone, Shaquille O’Neal and Bryant each played at least 43 minutes, Payton played 38 -- to avoid late-season, late-game clumsiness, and guards Bryant, Payton and Derek Fisher combined for six fourth-quarter turnovers.
“They’ll make adjustments as they go through,” Jackson said. “We’ll get the right situation going out there and we’ll find a right pattern of substitution.”
Bryant and O’Neal left again without addressing the media, after so many years having found a common activity outside of basketball. On his way through the parking lot, Payton said over his shoulder he’d be well enough to play in Wednesday’s Game 2.
That left Malone, who accepted the responsibility for the loss, even in parts that were not necessarily his obligation, and then talked eagerly of moving on. Malone is so busy lifting the physical and emotional burdens of his teammates, it’s a wonder he’s got the strength to play the games. But, among other things, he promised to shoot better and spend his fouls more freely.
“We were passive,” Malone said. “I’ve got to get out of my mind how many fouls I’ve got.”
He called it “that Houston mentality,” where the Laker big men feared foul trouble because of what Yao Ming would do to the rest of them. “I don’t want to look around at the end of the night and have three fouls,” he said. “I want four or five.”
As many in the organization have, Jackson has taken such a liking to Malone he can barely stand to criticize him.
“I told him it’s fun to play the blame game, but we can blame the full moon. It was a full moon yesterday, we’ll just say the full moon set things off,” Jackson said.
“Karl, just shoot the ball, basically. He played a good enough ballgame if he just shoots the basketball with any kind of accuracy.... He and Shaquille’s free throws make a big difference in the ballgame. Some of the wide-open shots and the free-throw situation. That may not change in Shaquille’s department, but we hope it will.”
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The Big Four
How the Lakers’ four future Hall of Famers have performed in six playoff games (per-game averages):
*--* Player Min FG% 3P% FT% Reb Ast St Blk TO PF Pts Kobe 44.5 386 240 907 6.30 5.8 2.67 17 1.67 2.80 25.5 Bryant Karl 39.5 471 000 645 10.50 3.5 1.50 00 2.33 3.20 16.7 Malone Shaqui 42.0 525 000 281 11.50 3.3 50 3.17 2.50 4.30 16.7 lle O’Neal Gary 33.7 333 250 778 3.20 5.2 1.33 00 1.50 2.20 7.7 Payton
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Key: Min-minutes; Reb-rebounds; Ast-Assists; St-Steals; Blk-blocks; TO-turnovers; PF-personal fouls; Pts-points.
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