Van Exel In Midseason Form In Beating Sonics At End

For a play that hasn’t been worked on in training camp, Nick Van Exel executed it perfectly.

The third-year point guard scored on a driving layup with 2 seconds remaining Friday night to give the Los Angeles Lakers a 103-101 victory over the Seattle SuperSonics in the preseason opener for both teams.

With 8 seconds left on the clock and the Lakers coming out of a timeout, Van Exel timed his drive perfectly, catching the Sonics in a switch defense.

“The play out of the huddle was a high pick-and-roll at the top of the key,” Van Exel said. “But I knew they would switch so I took it myself.”

Coach Del Harris wasn’t quite confident as Van Exel that the play would work.

“What you saw is what you got,” Harris said. “We didn’t practice it. That’s our play with under 24 seconds left. But Nick executed it perfectly.”

The game-winner ended a frantic final 3 minutes when the game was tied six times.

But Van Exel sparked Los Angeles’ offense down the stretch. After Anthony Peeler tied the score at 94, Van Exel scored the Lakers’ final nine points.

Seattle had one final shot at pulling it out, but a 3-point attempt by Hersey Hawkins bounced off the rim as the buzzer sounded.

“With 2 seconds to go, you just hope they make a mistake,” coach George Karl said of Seattle’s inbound play after Van Exel’s shot. “Hersey got a good shot, but he just hit the back iron.”

The Sonics made just 26 of 43 free throws.

It appeared Los Angeles run away in the first quarter, building up a 25-15 lead. But the play of Detlef Schrempf, Gary Payton and Sam Perkins helped Seattle tie it 54-54 at halftime.

Seattle opened an 81-73 lead on a 12-2 run late in the third quarter, but Cedric Ceballos, the game’s high scorer with 27 points, put the Lakers back within reach by scoring 10 points.

Then, Van Exel stepped up.

“Nick played better in this game than he has in practice,” Harris said. “He’s practiced well, but he played at another level in this game.

“It was a typical Lakers-Sonics game. It was well-fought, well-played and it went down to the end.”

The Lakers, who lost three reserves from last year’s team, got strong support from Corie Blount (nine rebounds) and Anthony Miller (eight rebounds).

“I thought they had terrific games,” Harris said.