Learning on the fly
http://www.pe.com/sports/breakout/stories/PE_Sports_Local_patton_24.a1938.html
There's a different kind of showtime at Staples Center these days. It's not a
performance, it's a thriller. The Lakers are fighting for their basketball
lives.
Oddly enough, it's appealing in its own foreign way - a Lakers team that
actually has to work hard to win, that even has to play with effort against a
lesser team from the Eastern Conference, like Milwaukee Tuesday night.
Home games against teams like the Bucks used to be no-doubters. You knew the
Lakers were winners before the game even started, just as long as the stars got
their luxury rides to the parking lot on time.
The suspense never used to be in the outcome, but what someone would say about
someone else afterward. Or who would give whom a dirty look, or who would stalk
out of the locker room, or who would be siding with whom in the inevitable,
next squabble.
All of that silly but fascinating stuff has vaporized. Or moved east to Detroit
and Indiana, for the time being.
The looming, much-hyped Christmas Day game - Kobe Bryant vs. Shaquille O'Neal
for the first time - has actually lost top billing to the Pistons-Pacers
rematch the same day.
I suppose when we get closer, "Kobe-Shaq I" will still have the feel of a Dodge
City showdown. But, on a strange side note, the Lakers will probably need the
win more than Bryant or O'Neal will need the ego boost.
If the season ended today (a preposterous concept, I know), the 7-5 Lakers are
right there clutching one of the last postseason spots.
It's all very ... edgy.
"We can't take anything for granted," said forward Lamar Odom after the Lakers
hung on to beat the Bucks, 100-96. "If they hit some of their shots, we'd be
having a different conversation."
Before the game, Odom said the Lakers were still "picking up on each other's
habits."
The learn-as-they-go Lakers certainly don't toy with anyone anymore. The old
Lakers would have taken that 13-point lead the team built over Milwaukee early
in the second quarter Tuesday, and then started having fun.
The new Lakers played the 32-19 lead into a 52-47 halftime deficit. It was a
grind the rest of the way, to the final minute as the Bucks - a struggling, 3-6
also-ran - wouldn't let go of the Lakers' pants legs.
Someone pointed out to Coach Rudy Tomjanovich before the game that his team has
the look of a .500 team.
Tomjanovich shrugged and asked the reporter, "Do you remember your honeymoon?
I'll bet you had a good day, then a bad day, then a good day. We still have to
get to know each other."
Some of the pieces look like they are falling into place. Odom has been
stringing together more consistent performances, and forward Caron Butler has
established himself as a third scoring option.
They did it again Tuesday, with Odom scoring 17 and Butler 16 behind the leader
of the pack, Bryant.
Bryant is following a pattern, too. He tries to set up his teammates early in
the game before firing away. But he does, eventually, always fire away. Tuesday
he scored 10 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter.
Of course, the old Lakers usually made it look easier.
When the new Lakers win, it looks like work. Imagine that.
Obviously, Staples regulars have been spoiled by the graceful, cool success of
its past champions. The new way will take some getting used to.
The biggest cheer in the first half came when the large screen over the floor
showed Karl Malone sitting courtside, in a large cowboy hat.
He isn't riding to the rescue. The Lakers will rise or fall with the guys they
have now.
Vlade Divac came off the injured list Tuesday and played his first few (very
rusty) minutes of the season. He replaced Brian Grant, who gets to rest his
sore knee. Divac makes the Lakers deeper, but he isn't riding to the rescue,
either.
The Lakers used to be all about star power, glitz and a deceptive ease. Now?
"Every game is going to be tough," said Butler. "We can't be fooled by anyone's
record. We're not heads above the rest of the league. We have to bring it every
night."
They have to keep hammering away, playing defense, finding help for Bryant.
So this is where it is now. Tinseltown's favorite team is ... the working-class
Lakers.
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