Warriors pound Lakers
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Golden State Warriors finally got noticed last night in a 99-83 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in an NBA exhibition game at the Stan Sheriff Center.
A sellout crowd of 10,300 watched both teams conclude training camps in Hawai'i with a second exhibition game in as many nights.
"It was more of a pride thing," Golden State forward Mike Dunleavy said. "You come all the way over here, you want to get a win out of it. It's a long plane ride home, so if we had lost two games, it would have been no fun."
Prior to last night, the Warriors were lost in paradise while a media frenzy followed the Lakers training camp. In part because Los Angeles star Kobe Bryant is facing felony sexual assault charges, the Lakers faced an onslaught of media pressure since last week.
While more than 70 media members followed the Lakers on a daily basis in Honolulu, two newspaper reporters covered the Warriors in Hawai'i.
"They have four Hall of Famers, so you understand why," Dunleavy said of the Lakers' coverage. "I don't think it was us being overlooked, it was more that the people wanted to see the Lakers."
Bryant did not play in the exhibition games because he is recovering from knee surgery.
However, the Lakers still had three All-Stars in the starting lineup in center Shaquille O'Neal, forward Karl Malone and point guard Gary Payton. They proved that even future Hall of Fame players can have off nights.
"Everybody needs a good kicking every now and then," Payton said. "We need that to bring us back down to reality."
Payton led the Lakers with 11 points, but had just three assists. O'Neal contributed 10 points and eight rebounds and a team-high five assists. Malone had eight points and six rebounds.
"Preseason or not, you want to win," Malone said. "Games like this let you know there are things to work on."
In truth, the Laker reserves lost the lead during a dismal second quarter.
"We had a little bit of offensive confusion and as soon as that happened, the players went to their natural instincts, which is to try and score on their own outside the context of what our offense is," Lakers head coach Phil Jackson said. "That's what really hurt us tonight I thought our shots were out of rhythm."
As proof, the Lakers shot just .372 from the field, including .263 in the first half.
O'Neal had five points and seven rebounds in the first quarter, and Malone added seven points to guide the Lakers to a 24-22 lead.
"We won the first quarter with our first unit in there," Jackson said. "The second quarter was a nightmare."
The Los Angeles starters O'Neal, Malone, Payton, Derek Fisher and Devean George played only in the first and third quarters.
The Golden State reserves stole the spotlight in the second quarter, out-scoring the Lakers 33-11.
Reserve point guard Speedy Claxton scored 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting during a 19-3 run that put Golden State ahead for good, 41-27. The Warriors led by as many as 23 late in the second quarter before taking a 55-35 halftime lead.
Claxton and fellow reserve Calbert Cheaney combined to score 21 points in the second quarter.
Claxton finished with a game-high 20 points, while Cheaney, Jason Richardson and Erick Dampier contributed 14 each for the Warriors.
"Everybody was talking about the Lakers and we understand why," Dunleavy said. "But we feel good about our team."
Doubtful for next year: The Lakers are not expected to hold training camp in Honolulu next year, but could return in 2005, according to team spokesman John Black.
"Ideally, we'd like to come here every other year," Black said. "We love it in Hawai'i, but there are just a lot of things that need to be worked out still."
Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8101.