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Balancing act Kobe, Shaq look for support from role-player teammatesPosted: Saturday June 01, 2002 8:55 PMLOS ANGELES (AP) -- Try relying on two players against six. Or seven. The odds shouldn't be in your favor. But if Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant are the two, that's a heck of a pair to draw from. O'Neal and Bryant have carried the offensive load most successfully for Los Angeles since Phil Jackson became the team's coach before the 1999-00 season, leading the Lakers to a pair of championships. Now, as the Lakers go for a three-peat, the reliance on O'Neal and Bryant has never been greater, begging an obvious question: Can the Lakers beat the more balanced Sacramento Kings one more time in hostile territory without more scoring from the supporting cast? The Lakers think so, although several believe it's going to be different story Sunday. "Any time they've each scored 30 points, it's rare if we lose," Robert Horry said of O'Neal and Bryant before the Lakers practiced Saturday at their headquarters in nearby El Segundo. "Shaq and Kobe have predominantly carried the load for us," Rick Fox acknowledged. "Will (the Kings) leave the other guys open? I think the approach last night was to limit the supporting cast." If that was the strategy, it worked. But it didn't result in a Sacramento victory. O'Neal scored 41 points, Bryant added 31 and their teammates combined for 34 as the Lakers beat the Kings 106-102 on Friday night at Staples Center to set up a seventh and deciding game Sunday at Arco Arena. The winner will host the Eastern Conference-winning New Jersey Nets on Wednesday night to open the NBA Finals. "When Shaq is going good like he was last night, you have to keep on giving him the ball," Brian Shaw said. "We just have to take advantage of our opportunities when they're there. "Before the game even started, Shaq said, 'Bring me the ball.' When he makes a statement like that, it raises everybody else's confidence. That takes the pressure off everybody else." Shaw pointed out that O'Neal and Bryant carrying the load is nothing new, paving the way for two titles with perhaps another on the horizon. "The pressure's on Shaq and Kobe to get their 70, we think we can get our 30," Shaw said with a laugh. While O'Neal said he believes Lakers can get the job done with he and Bryant doing the bulk of the scoring, he said it's much easier when everyone's involved. "I have a lot of confidence in my guys," O'Neal added. Neither O'Neal nor Bryant got in foul trouble Friday night, which hasn't been the case in the games at Arco, so the Lakers might need more punch from the supporting cast in Game 7. Bryant said he believes that's going to happen. "I expect everybody to be involved in the game early," he said. "You just want to keep [the other players] in the flow of the game, take shots that are available to them, especially Rick. Derek [Fisher], too. Just play within the flow of the game." That being said, Bryant added: "Shaq and I accept the pressure to lead the team." Horry, Fox, Shaw and Fisher have all made significant offensive contributions in this series and otherwise -- a good example being Horry's 18 points in Game 4 capped by a 3-pointer as time expired to give the Lakers a 100-99 victory. But none of the role players has been consistent, and only Horry (10.7 points) is averaging in double figures. O'Neal is averaging 29.5 points and Bryant 26.7. Meanwhile, six Sacramento players have scored at least as many points as Horry, and a seventh, Peja Stojakovic, was the Kings' second-leading scorer during the season. After being sidelined nearly three weeks due to a sprained ankle, Stojakovic has been used sparingly in the last two games, but contributed in Game 6 with 10 points in 19 minutes. "You look at Game 1, it was the role players who did it," Horry said of the Lakers' 106-99 victory. "The ball bounces funny sometimes." O'Neal and Bryant combined to shoot 24-of-45 in Game 6; their teammates were 10-of-29. "We've got to keep (the Kings) honest by making them come out to play us on the perimeter," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "We need to have everybody involved. That's the message we'll get across today. That's part of the signature of this team." |
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