Shaq’s Best Simply Isn’t Good Enough

A tiny mishap, late in the play, put the Lakers away on Sunday.

As distracted, fragile and terribly talented as the Lakers are, sometimes it’s the little ripples, though, that create the tidal wave.

The Lakers were good enough to score 109 points against the Seattle SuperSonics, despite the absence of Glen Rice, out sick.

They were fragile enough to lose, 113-109, before 17,505 at the Great Western Forum after a disputed jump-ball call triggered a late, 10-2 Seattle run, as the Lakers fumbled down the stretch.

They were good enough to see Shaquille O’Neal rule the inside, with a season-high 38 points and eight rebounds; good enough to welcome back prodigal rebounder Dennis Rodman, who added 13 rebounds and six points.

They were inconsistent enough to give up 33 points to Gary Payton, 27 to Vin Baker, and 63 overall SuperSonic points in the second half.

“It’s disappointing,” O’Neal said. “I feel we can beat this team hands down. We’ve shown that before . . .

“Until we learn how to overcome those silly mistakes in the third and fourth quarters, we ain’t going to go anywhere. Turnovers, stupid plays, you know, just dumb fouls. Just not playing smart.”

They continue to be quite a broad drama these days, performing on a big stage under bright lights, with differing motivations, troubling irritants and occasional glimpses of how good they really can be.

The Lakers (25-14) were good enough to throw rookies Tyronn Lue and Ruben Patterson in the middle of juicy scenes and get away with it.

They were disjointed enough to have Rodman and O’Neal struggle with each other for a fourth-quarter defensive rebound, which caused the ball and O’Neal to tumble to the floor with the score tied, 88-88, and 6:34 left to play.

The referees ruled that the 6-foot Lue, who reached in late, had to participate in the resulting jump ball against Seattle center Olden Polynice, who won the tip, and Hersey Hawkins made it pay off with a huge three-point basket.

Laker Coach Kurt Rambis’ vehement protest drew a technical foul, Hawkins made the free throw, and Seattle never trailed after that, despite a frantic late Laker push.

“I shouldn’t have gotten a technical,” Rambis said. “I was mad at the time. But it was clearly the wrong call.

“Shaq should’ve had it. He was sitting on the ball. As soon as Olden put his hands in there to grab the ball, that’s when the jump ball was called. Ty came in there unbelievably late.”

Said O’Neal, fined $10,000 after ripping the officials following a previous defeat to Seattle: “[The referee] made a [wrong] call, like they always do.

“It was me and Dennis fighting for the ball. I had my hands [on it] and Ty Lue came from the back after the play. He was trying to be cute on the call. You know what happened.

“But they don’t get fined by the league.”

The defeat ended a recent span of nine home games out of the last 11 for the Lakers.

The final result was a 4-5 record and absolutely no momentum gained as they get set for six road games out of their next seven, including road games against division-leaders Portland and Utah in the next two games.

How big of an opportunity was lost in the last three weeks?

“That’s looking backward,” Rambis said. “I don’t do that. We’re just going to continue to push and try and do things to make us better.

“We did a lot of good things today. And I’m happy with the good things and I’m disappointed with some other things.”

The Lakers had a chance to put this game away in the third quarter, after surging to a halftime lead on the energy of Lue, O’Neal and Rodman, who, as usual, followed up a spate of controversy with a solid performance.

But in the third, the Lakers sagged, Seattle immediately started banging in jumpers (they were eight of 18 from three-point distance), and had a 78-67 lead with 2:42 left in the third.

Lue helped spur another Laker surge into the fourth, and then came the jump-ball mishap, and Seattle’s final push.

Said Kobe Bryant, who had 25 points and a career-high tying nine assists: “It’s tough, because you never want to lose on your home court. That’s something you have to cherish. That’s a lot of pride involved.

“You never want to lose at home, especially a game like this . . . “

So is it getting a bit late in the play to change what seems to be an inevitably frustrating finale?

“It’s never too late,” Bryant said. “We have certain parts of certain games where we’re playing great, everybody’s on the same page, we’re moving the ball, we’re moving, we’re cutting . . .

“And then other games, it’s not there. It just comes with playing together.”

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CLIPPERS 89, PORTLAND 83

A most improbable victory for the Clippers, who beat team with NBA’s best record for only their fifth win. Page 5

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PLAYOFF RACE

If the season ended today, this would be the order of finish in the Western Conference. Playoff pairings are 1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6 and 4 vs. 5. Division winners are seeded first and second:

Team Record

1. Portland: 28-8

2. Utah: 27-8

3. San Antonio: 24-11

4. LAKERS: 25-14

5. Houston: 23-13

6. Minnesota: 21-16

7. Seattle: 18-18

8. Phoenix: 18-19

LAKERS’ VS. OTHER TEAMS IN RACE:

Portland: 0-0

Utah: 1-2

San Antonio: 2-0

Houston: 2-0

Minnesota: 1-1

Seattle: 1-2

Phoenix: 3-1