Lakers remain loose
LOS ANGELES – Leave it to the Lakers to make light of a loss.
Coming off their low-effort virtual no-show in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Lakers all but laughed it off Monday and promised to try harder next time against the Detroit Pistons.
“You can probably blame it on the thong thing Shaq had on. It kind of traumatized everybody in the locker room,” Kobe Bryant joked, one of two underwear references the Lakers came up with while discussing what went wrong in Game 1 and what needs to get better in Game 2.
Having been on this stage four times in the past five years, the Lakers have the luxury of knowing from experience that one loss at the start of a seven-game series does not foretell doom.
Two losses might get their attention, but they don’t plan on allowing that to happen.
“We beat ourselves,” Shaquille O’Neal said. “You know, we just didn’t come out with that killer instinct. We didn’t have a sense of urgency, way too many turnovers and didn’t shoot the ball well. If we knock out all of those things or just one or two of those things, we could have won that game.”
Los Angeles has shown a tendency throughout this season and over the past few years to bring out its “A” game only when pushed. It happened in the second round after the Lakers fell behind 2-0 to the San Antonio Spurs, and again in the Western Conference finals when their lack of focus in Game 5 at Minnesota was followed by a precision performance in Game 6.
Now that they realize the Pistons won’t be bothered by butterflies or startled by the star-studded crowd, the Lakers know they’ll need to bring a different level of energy and focus tonight.
“It has gotten our attention,” O’Neal said. “We realize that this team is not going to lay down because the Lakers are in the house. We really have to go out and play. It’s not anything they did to throw us out of our game. I think it’s more us.”
Coach Phil Jackson tried to get his team’s attention by replaying a clip from Game 1 in which Detroit coach Larry Brown was imploring his team to take advantage of the Lakers’ indifferent attitude toward defense, telling them they could get any shot they wanted,
“Coach played it back about four or five times,” Karl Malone said. “The truth hurts.”
For Brown, the challenge Monday was getting his team to forget about Game 1 and turning its focus toward the opportunity of taking a 2-0 lead before the series moves to Detroit for Games 3, 4 and 5.
Never in NBA history has a home team lost the first two games of the finals and come back to win the series.
The Pistons played what was for them nearly a perfect game, dictating the tempo, shooting 47 percent, committing only four turnovers in the second half and getting strong contributions from several players – both in the starting lineup and off the bench – while holding Los Angeles to 75 points, more than 14 below their postseason average.
The Lakers got 34 points from O’Neal and 25 from Bryant but no more than five from anyone else. Their two newest superstars, Karl Malone and Gary Payton, were thoroughly outplayed by counterparts Rasheed Wallace (14 points) and Chauncey Billups (22).
Malone shot 2 for 9, Payton was 1 for 4, Derek Fisher was 1 for 9 and Kareem Rush missed all three of his attempts. O’Neal even sacrificed a few shot opportunities during the third quarter in an unsuccessful effort to try to get Malone involved.
Overnight ratings up for Game 1
The overnight ratings for Detroit’s 87-75 win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night were up 43 percent from last season’s Game 1.
ABC’s coverage of the game drew an 11.6 rating with an 18 share. That’s better than all six of the games in last year’s final when San Antonio beat New Jersey. Game 1 last year had an 8.1 rating with a 13 share.
The rating for Sunday night’s game peaked during the final 15 minutes with a 14.0 and a 25 share.
The rating for each team’s home market was strong, with a 29.3 with a 45 share in Los Angeles and a 33.2 with a 45 share for Detroit.
The game was also the highest rated show from 9-11 p.m. on network television Sunday night, beating NBC’s “Law and Order: Criminal Intent” and “Crossing Jordan” (a combined 8.4 rating with a 13 share) and CBS’ coverage of the 58th annual Tony Awards (5.2 with an 8).
Overnight ratings measure the 55 largest TV markets in the United States, covering nearly 70 percent of the country. Each overnight rating point represents about 735,000 TV homes.