Laker Glass Is Half Phil With Cleamons

By J.A. ADANDE

May 22, 2001 12 AM PT

SAN ANTONIO — It was the backup coach’s call. He stayed with the backup power forward.

Every decision, every action seems to be working for the Lakers right now.

We already knew they went two-deep in the superstar category. In their 88-81 throat-slit of a victory against San Antonio in Game 2 Monday, they showed they also are deep on the sidelines and in the trenches.

Phil Jackson was ejected with four minutes left in the third quarter of the Lakers’ most important game to date, and it didn’t matter at all. They went from Zen to Cleam and from Horace to Horry, as assistant Jim Cleamons slid over to the head coach’s seat and guided the Lakers home while Robert Horry did the dirty work on defense.

Horace Grant was saddled with four personal fouls and the Lakers didn’t suffer. Horry hung tough against Tim Duncan, enabling Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal (with a cameo by Derek Fisher) to take care of business on offense.

Even though Horry had to leave the game briefly after being poked in the eye and cut on the nose, Cleamons sent him back into the fray as soon as the bleeding stopped.

“As coaches, sometimes you have feelings in your gut,” Cleamons said. “I liked the way Robert was bodying [Duncan], staying without fouling him, keeping his body close to him. He was making him work. As long as Robert was fresh, I was going to keep riding him.”

As an added bonus, 30 seconds after Horry returned, he hit his most important shot, a three-point basket that broke a 72-72 tie with 8:07 remaining.

“I basically didn’t lose any rhythm,” Horry said. “I was feeling good the whole game. When Phil went out everyone said, ‘Ohhh, you can shoot some wild shots right now.’ ”

The deficit was eight points when Antonio Daniels made the free throw after Jackson’s second technical. By the end of the quarter, the margin was one.

The Laker bench players were jumping up to celebrate every basket, and that included Grant. He wasn’t about to mope because he wasn’t on the court.

“I don’t think I’ve been this confident in a power forward in a long time,” Grant said. “It makes you think, ‘OK, I’m on the bench with four fouls, but Robert is out there, he’s going to do a great job.’ Everything was flowing, there’s no reason to throw a pebble in the water.”

That sounds very Zen-like. It appears Jackson’s ways have rubbed off on his players. One of his greatest traits is calm during adversity, and the Lakers displayed that Monday.

Cleamons was ready for the moment as well. He filled in for Jackson once before, when they were coaching in Chicago and Jackson was ejected from Game 4 of the 1992 Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Knicks. (The Bulls lost that game). Cleamons also had the benefit of a year as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks in 1996-97.

“It’s a lot different,” Cleamons said. In 1992, “He caught me completely by surprise, even though New York was my team [to scout] and I was very familiar with what they were trying to do. But having the experience of being a head coach now and stepping into this situation, you’re nine years older, you’re much calmer, much more aware of what you need to do.”

Jackson helped set the tone by reacting to his ejection with the type of smirk that drives his enemies crazy.

On the second technical, referees Hugh Evans and Bob Delaney had a running conversation while Terry Porter was dribbling in front of the Laker bench. When Horry knocked a pass out of bounds, the Spurs were preparing to inbound the ball and Jackson was still jawing at Delaney. Delaney told Jackson he was standing out of the coach’s box.

“I just asked him, ‘What the hell are you talking about?’ ” Jackson said. “And he threw me out of the game.”

Jackson smiled and shook his head. He almost looked as if he enjoyed it. He walked off the court, still smiling, then he cast a long look around the Alamodome. A fan yelled at him from just outside the roped-off path to the locker room. Jackson leaned closer, but still couldn’t make out what he was saying. So he just smiled some more.

“When he got tossed, we all met at halfcourt and we said, ‘Let’s go out and play hard and do what we need to do to win this ballgame,’ ” Horry said. “[Cleamons] did a great job. He kept it really simple for us. His big emphasis was to move the ball.”

Horry emphasized moving his feet on defense. At halftime, while watching tape of Duncan, Horry noticed he was relying on his hands too much. Duncan, the Quiet Storm, was in full rage during the first half, raining 25 points on the Lakers--including a drive by Horry for a reverse dunk.

But with Horry staying between Duncan and the basket and everyone from O’Neal to Fisher to Brian Shaw coming to help, Duncan made only two of six shots and scored seven points in the fourth quarter. Three of those came on a meaningless three-pointer with 1.4 seconds left.

So you saw a little bit of everything the Lakers had Monday night. Their firepower, their resolve, their maturation--and even a little bit of their mischievous streak, thanks to Jackson’s ejection.

“When the teacher leaves and the substitute comes in, be loose,” Grant said.

J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].