The Lakers Get Caught Off Guard : Pro basketball: The Spurs roll to a 126-110 victory as Tony Smith watches from the bench.

He is the shooting guard who is shooting only 39.2%, apparently destined to be the caretaker for the spot in the opening lineup between Anthony Peeler’s injury and, perhaps, Doug Christie’s recovery.

But, suddenly, Tony Smith is noticeably absent from the Lakers. What was curious Thursday at Sacramento as he went from a starter the previous 14 games to not even getting in the game became downright eyebrow-raising Friday night at the Forum, where the best backcourt defender on the team stayed on the bench again as the San Antonio guards scored 69 points in a 126-110 victory for the Spurs before 13,783.

Willie Anderson had 33 points, making 14 of 18 shots. Vinny Del Negro had 24 while going 10 of 14. Negele Knight had 12 points off the bench.

Smith had few answers.

“Yes and no,” he said after the Lakers lost for the fourth time in five games. “Ask the guy up there. He knows everything.”

Smith was motioning toward Coach Randy Pfund.

“I pretty much know what’s going on,” Smith said. “But there’s nothing I can do about it.”

So what is going on?

“I can’t say,” Smith said. “But it is going on.”

The only thing going on, Pfund said, is that the Lakers figure it would be a good idea to have some scoring in their offense. Even if that means starting a small backcourt of 6-foot-2 Threatt and 6-1 Nick Van Exel and leaving Smith to watch and wonder as the Spurs shot 60.5% and won for the 14th time in the last 15 games. Even if it means that, yes, Pfund might understand Smith feeling unsure about his role.

“Maybe,” Pfund said. “The main reason I took Tony out of the starting lineup was not because of defense. He had, I think, 10 consecutive games where he didn’t shoot 50%. He was not shooting the ball at all. It became a real struggle.

“I just have to try some other things. Tony had a good 10-game run, but he hadn’t been going well lately. Tonight, I thought rather than go with James Worthy or Tony that I would give a look at Reggie Jordan and see if he could give us a shot in the arm.”

Coming off a double-overtime loss Wednesday at Utah that ended their 13-game winning streak, the longest in franchise history, the Spurs quickly found their stride again. So quick that they needed only 7:10 to take a 23-12 lead.

About a minute later, the lead reached 27-12, before dipping to 33-22 at the end of the first quarter. No wonder. The Spurs shot 61.5%, got 13 points from Willie Anderson and had this comfort zone in rebounding:

Dennis Rodman 9, Lakers 9.

The Lakers slowed Rodman in the second period, but not the Spurs. Finding a soft spot in the interior defense, San Antonio continued to shoot well and stretched the lead to 65-45 at halftime, Anderson accounting for 27 of the points.

It looked a lot like the start the last time the teams met at the Forum, with one exception. The Lakers scored more than 25 points in the first half this time. The Spurs were in control and the home team got booed.

At least on that Jan. 9 night, the Lakers made a second-half comeback for a respectable 95-89 loss. That possibility disappeared this time when the Spurs, and Del Negro in particular, broke into a quarter-long layup drill after intermission, hindered only occasionally by having to weave through another team en route to the basket.