| Tuesday, May 16
By Mitch Lawrence
Special to ESPN.com |
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LOS ANGELES -- Whomever that team was wearing purple and gold uniforms and impersonating the Lakers on Sunday, we're almost positive the real Lakers will resurface Tuesday night and send the Suns into the offseason.
|  | | After disposing of the Suns, will Phil Jackson be ready for the Blazers? |
Look for the imposters to be replaced by the same defensive stalwarts who held Phoenix to 90 points per game on 42 percent shooting in the first three games.
"We're going to beat the (expletive) out of them," guard Ron Harper said when asked if the Lakers will turn up the defensive intensity in Game 5.
Coupled with what should be a Portland victory over the Jazz, then we can all get on with the best matchup this entire playoff season has to
offer.
Los Angeles vs. Portland.
Scottie Pippen has already gone on record as saying the Blazers are better than the Bulls' championship teams.
Now honestly, how can Portland be better than a team that won six titles, was taken to only two Game 7s during its decade of dominance, never had to play a Game 7 in any of its Finals appearances, and oh, by the way, featured a guy named Michael Jordan?
A certain ex-Bulls coach begs to differ with Pippen, even though he'd love for his team to be cast in the underdog role when the conference finals open.
"They go 11, 12 deep," Phil Jackson said. "So this team is a better basketball club than the Bulls. But that doesn't take into account that you had Jordan, Pippen and (Dennis) Rodman on those Bulls teams -- or (Horace) Grant, if you want to interchange them -- that played with a surrounding cast that really knew their roles and played well within them. So they may be more talented as a basketball team. But they're not a better team, by any stretch of the imagination. But they have a lot of talent."
They might have big, long and athletic bodies to cover Shaquille O'Neal, even if Mike Dunleavy did mysteriously leave another card-carrying member of the Hack-a-Shaq club, Joe Kleine, off the playoff roster.
In the regular season, Shaq had at least one game of 30 points against every Western Conference playoff team -- except Portland. Against the Blazers, he averaged a paltry 20.5 ppg, on a mere 50 percent from the field and only 43 percent from the foul line. All those numbers were well off his regular-season stats (29.7 ppg, 57 percent on FGs, 52 percent on FTs). Shaq's meager output helps account for the fact that the Lakers averaged only 89 points per game against Portland, as opposed to 101 ppg. against the rest of the league.
From Arvydas Sabonis to Rasheed Wallace to Brian Grant to Jermaine O'Neal, Portland will have plenty of fouls to use up.
"Portland is the one team that is big enough to deal with Shaq," Sacramento's Nick Anderson said. "They've got four or five guys who they can use to play him. The Lakers took their hearts out when they won up in Portland back in February. But that's a long time ago."
Except for the Suns' Game 4 blowout of the Lakers on Sunday, Shaq has stayed out of foul trouble in the postseason. To beat L.A., you have to
have someone Shaq will have to defend in the low post. Portland just might get Shaq in foul trouble.
There are other intriguing matchups to watch: How do the Blazers play Kobe Bryant, who riddled them for 25 ppg. on 56 percent shooting? Bryant's quickness has been too much for Pippen in their previous showdowns. How do the Lakers contend with Damon Stoudamire, one of those quick, little guards who sometimes give the Lakers' bigger guards fits? Will Pippen's
long arms continue to get in the way of entry passes into Shaq?
Don't expect there to be any carryover effects from the regular season. Three of the four games came before the All-Star break. But Jackson maintains the one thing he's been saying all season about Portland.
"It's the best team money can buy in basketball," he said. "It's obvious that they are playing at a level that they were playing at earlier this season. We have to look at the fact that they have so many people contributing to their game, you have to cover seven or eight guys, instead of the normal three or four. That's been their strength
all year. They finished the season rather mediocre. But they've stepped up their play in the playoffs."
Just not to the heights of those Bulls teams.
Rim Shots I
Shaquille O'Neal issued what he called "kind of an ultimatum" to the Lakers when Kurt Rambis' future and the Lakers'
coaching position came up for discussion last summer.
"I really didn't want to exercise my option with the Lakers," he said, referring to his contractual out last summer. "But I was tired of winning 60 games and going home early from the playoffs. So I told them, 'get a coach in here who can get us to the next level.' "
For once, someone listened. It wasn't the first time that Shaq had gone to his bosses with such a demand. He did the same thing in Orlando in 1996, telling owner Rich DeVos that he wanted $125 million and Chuck Daly as the new coach.
The Magic has always said it did all it could to keep O'Neal, although privately it told him it couldn't make a profit if it re-signed Shaq and Anfernee Hardaway to contracts in excess of $100 million.
For his part, O'Neal has never really divulged his demands. But before Game 3 of the Suns series, he said he lowered his asking price, first to $100 million, and finally to $80 million over four years. Getting nowhere, he finally jacked it through the roof, knowing the Magic would never give him his final demand of $150 million. He got about as far with his power play to bring in Daly.
"I wanted Chuck because I thought we needed him to win the championship," O'Neal said. "I was surprised they didn't do it. When I wanted them to get Penny, they got him. When I wanted them to get Horace (Grant), they got him. But when I told them I wanted Chuck, they said, 'coach (Brian) Hill is going to remain the coach.' They
thought they were big time."
The Lakers, on the other hand, were ready to listen to Shaq when he issued his ultimatum to executive VP Jerry West.
"It was an easy conversation," Shaq said. "Jerry had the same frustrations I had. I thought Phil would be just what we needed."
Jackson has been exactly what Shaq needed.
"Shaq needed Phil to bring out all of that potential that he had in him," Magic Johnson said. "Phil's approach has been, 'You keep saying you want to win a championship. But you're not doing all of the things it takes to be a champion.' He's doing the things now that win championships. He's taken his game to a level no one had seen from him before. And, he's been a vocal leader, which is what this team lacked before."
Right down to issuing ultimatums.
Rim Shots II
Don't be shocked if the Clippers end the Elgin Baylor Era and hire a new GM along with their new coach. Ownership sources have told several agents they're in the market for a new basketball executive, with the idea of reassigning Baylor within the organization. With Baylor entrenched as long as he has been for Donald Sterling, such a move would be major, if not long overdue.
The Kings are looking to unload Nick Anderson and Corliss Williamson.
Unable to get the Atlanta job, Isiah Thomas is shifting focus to the Nets' coaching opening.
Stromile Swift, who had no intentions of staying at LSU, even when he originally announced he was returning to school, is guaranteed to be a top five
pick. The Rockets are already making plans to move up to get him.
Glen Rice, shooting less than 40 percent in the playoffs, says he's not playing tight due to the fact his contract is up. "If I was pressing, I'd be taking 50 shots a game," he said. Rice wants $14 mil per, but he'll be getting no more than $6-$7 mil when all is said and done.
The Clips' latest game plan involving free agents Maurice Taylor and Derek Anderson: Sign and deal off both unhappy campers. The Spurs, looking to get more athletic on the perimeter, hope to be be involved in an Anderson deal.
The way Charlie Ward burned Anthony Carter in Game 4, you think Terry Porter could have helped the Heat?
Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.
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Lawrence: Like Magic, now it's Shaq vs. Penny
