Lakers Hit Bottom After Loss to Spurs : Pro basketball: They fall into last place as San Antonio can’t give game away, 94-92.
SAN ANTONIO — A new year, a new view.
The Lakers opened 1994 by slipping into the most unfamiliar of territory, the basement in the Pacific Division, seventh place. Having to look up to find Sacramento might have been the strangest sight of Sunday night were it not for how they got there, a 94-92 loss to the San Antonio Spurs at the Alamodome.
The Lakers got almost every break possible in the final second and still couldn’t avoid their 11th loss in 13 games. A potentially critical mistake from a veteran who should have known better, Terry Cummings. A chance for overtime despite missing two free throws with 0.6 seconds left.
They got almost every break, but they didn’t get a bounce.
“It was right there,†Coach Randy Pfund said. “It was one of those nights when it seemed like everything fit for us to steal one. But the key didn’t fit.â€
The Spurs had a 94-92 lead when David Robinson went to the line with one second remaining. He missed the first attempt, then decided to miss the second on purpose, figuring the Lakers wouldn’t have enough time to grab the rebound, call a timeout and get a decent play. What Robinson, who finished with 36 points and 12 rebounds, didn’t figure was Cummings committing a loose-ball foul on James Edwards.
The Lakers suddenly had a gift, a chance to force overtime. But when Edwards missed the first try with six-tenths of a second to go, the strategy changed. Like Robinson moments before, he had to miss the second on purpose and hope for the right bounce.
It couldn’t have been a better bounce, even though the ball ricocheted off the backboard instead of getting the high bounce off the rim Edwards desired. But when the rebound went to Elden Campbell on the right side of the lane, and when Campbell had control with his right hand and pushed the ball the couple of feet toward the rim, the Lakers were still alive.
Just as quickly, though, they were done. Campbell’s tip banked long, and the Lakers were finally out of last chances.
“I always felt we were going to win,†Robinson said. “Stupid things just kept holding us back.â€
Anthony Peeler led the Lakers with 27 points, 10 in the fourth quarter. Campbell had 14 points and 12 rebounds, marking his first double-doubles in back-to-back games.
Laker Notes
The Lakers continue to call his injury a sprained left knee, but Sam Bowie said doctors last week discovered bone chips or fragments in the joint and that surgery will be needed at some point. It’s a matter of whether he can wait until after the season. “I want to see the response from rest,†said Bowie, who sat out his fourth consecutive game. “If I would have continued to feel the way I did four days ago, I would have gotten it done. But the pain has subsided to the point that, because I’m an optimist, I am hopeful of being able to wait until summer. But I’m going to have to get it done either way.†The decision is Bowie’s, and he said doctors have told him an operation could mean anywhere from three weeks to three months on the sidelines. Said Coach Randy Pfund: “I just know we need him back, if at all possible.†. . . The Lakers are 11 games below .500 for the first time since the end of the 1974-75 season, when they finished 30-52.
San Antonio’s Dennis Rodman was ejected with 8:49 left and the Spurs ahead by five points. It was the third time he has been kicked out this season. Rodman argued vehemently with official David Jones after getting the second technical foul, had to be restrained by teammates and coaches and, when he finally did head off the court, threw a gym bag from in front of the Laker bench and pushed aside a police officer assigned to walk to the locker room with him. “That stuff just can’t happen,†San Antonio’s David Robinson said. “But I agree with Dennis because he didn’t deserve the second technical. But I guess his body motions were threatening and the ref said he didn’t need that. That reputation gets around the league and it can be a burden for us later on.â€
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