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Lakers-Kings Game 2 Preview Shaq and friends look to continue rolling
Posted: Thursday April 27, 2000 03:22 PM
Consider this game your TNT reward for watching the Suns and Spurs struggle for first-round points in their best-of-five. In fact these teams scored more points in three quarters of Game 1 than Phoenix and San Antonio scored in either of their first two games. By comparison, this is shirts vs. skins stuff. As you might expect, the days in between Game 1 and Game 2 have been filled with talk of Shaq, and how physical he is, and how the officials let him get away with this and that. Rick Adleman has planted a few seeds in the off days, but I'm not sure they're gonna take root in the minds of the officiating crew. Chris Webber, to his credit, has stayed away from that stuff, telling our TNT crew "God just made Shaq bigger than the rest of us, we've just got to go out and play." Webber certainly did in Game 1 before fouling out (28 points on 11-for-16 shooting). Jason Williams launched, and hit a few of those rainbow threes, and he only turned it over a couple of times, which was encouraging if you're Adelman. J dub's decision making in this series will be magnified because possessions are so important. He must stay away from that "try anything" mentality of the regular season that resulted in turnover upon turnover. And certainly Peja Stojakovic must be a factor, which he was not in the opener, going 1-for-8 from the floor. In short, the Kings have to be at their best, and hope Shaq and Company let down, but with Sacramento's luck, the Lakers will be out to prove that their guy, Phil Jackson, should have been the coach of the year.
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