Knight Making Big Step Forward

The pressure Travis Knight is putting on Elden Campbell for the starting job at power forward? That’s nothing. You should see the pressure Shaquille O’Neal is putting on Knight.

“He just knows if he messes up, I’m going to be on his backside,” O’Neal said. “So he’s been playing well.”

So he has. But Friday night he was outstanding in recording 16 points and 15 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end, in the Lakers’ 114-97 victory over the Golden State Warriors before 17,505 at the Forum, a win that ended their home stand at 5-2 and gave Coach Del Harris another reason to consider benching Campbell.

“Seniority only goes so far,” Harris said.

It goes at least as far as Seattle, though, because Campbell is expected back in the opening lineup Sunday afternoon against the SuperSonics. From there, if Campbell posts another game like Friday’s six rebounds and five points in 17 minutes and Knight stays on his recent impressive pace, all bets are off.

“Elden’s still my guy,” Harris said. “Elden’s a great player. There’s room for Elden and room for Travis. Elden’s not going anywhere.”

The only place Knight was going was the trainer’s room after the game, to get treatment for the leg cramps that crept up in the fourth quarter, then, after he came out for a rest with 8:19 left, kept him out for good. The rookie will have to settle for tying Lorenzen Wright of the Clippers for the most rebounds by a rookie this season and for becoming only the eighth Laker to record at least 10 offensive boards.

“That’s because I kept getting it, missing, and getting my offensive rebounds,” he joked.

O’Neal wasn’t bad either, with 33 points and 11 rebounds.

The game featured two of the players pushing Western Conference coaches for consideration as all-star reserves at guard, though neither campaign needed speeches. Only the highlights, and the highlight reel, from the first half of the season.

Eddie Jones of the Lakers, still leading the league in steals. No. 13 in three-point percentage. Averaging 18.3 points in the six games before Friday, just as coaches are about to do their balloting.

Latrell Sprewell of the Warriors, fourth in the NBA in scoring and first among Western Conference guards. Averaging 28.7 points, 8.8 assists and two steals the previous four outings.

Jones or Sprewell?

Or both?

“I would be disappointed [to not make it],” Jones said. “I would. Any player in the position I am would be sort of disappointed. But I know my attitude on the whole thing. If I go, fine. If I don’t go, it’ll still be fine.”

Gary Payton and John Stockton, far ahead in the late returns, are the likely starters in the West backcourt Feb. 9 at Cleveland, as determined by fan voting. Sacramento’s Mitch Richmond is a lock for one of the spots when coaches vote on the reserves.

That leaves either one or two openings at guard, probably the latter since David Robinson’s back-breaker of a season probably means only two centers, Hakeem Olajuwon and O’Neal, will go. Clyde Drexler will get some consideration--if the Lakers deserve two representatives, as Coach Del Harris believes, then don’t the Rockets?--maybe even Mark Jackson.

That could leave Jones and Sprewell. Or Jones or Sprewell.

“He’s going to be right there,” Harris said of Jones. “It’s going to be real close. If everyone takes into consideration the total contribution--offense and defense, the total statistics across the board--then I think Eddie deserves it.

“When you look at statistics and such, you’ve got to give the nod to guys on a winning team. Sprewell is a good player, no doubt, but it’s easier to put together numbers when you’re down in the standings.”

It wasn’t because of those comments, but Sprewell showed he could at least put together numbers against teams up in the standings, hitting the Lakers for 17 points in the first half. He had 24 by the end of the third quarter, enough to keep the Warriors within five.

But when Golden State went nearly four minutes without a point, in the closing seconds of that period and then the first six possessions of the fourth, the Lakers began to pull away. Their first double-digit lead came at 97-87, after O’Neal slammed Nick Van Exel’s lob pass. The next trip downcourt, the pair hooked up again, same play, same result, this time making the score 99-87 with 6:03 remaining.

Sprewell finished with 27 points. Jones had 13 points on four-of-15 shooting.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

A Season of Expectations

The Lakers acquired nine new players this season, including Shaquille O’Neal and his $120-million contract. In turn, with big acquisitions come big expectations. Throughout the season, The Times will monitor O’Neal’s numbers along with how the team compares to some of the best Laker teams in history.

GAME 42 OF 82

* Record: 30-12

* Standing: Tied for 1st place

Pacific Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 3 Overall 1987-88 3-0 62-20 1986-87 2-1 65-17 1984-85 1-2 62-20 1979-80 2-1 60-22 1971-72 3-0 69-13

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Note: The five teams above all won NBA championships

THE SHAQ SCOREBOARD

Basketball Numbers

Friday’s Game:

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Min FG FT Reb Ast Blk Pts 38 15-25 3-6 11 3 6 33

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1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Ast Blk Pts 39.6 .562 .477 13.2 3.2 3.1 26.3

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1995-96 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Ast Blk Pts 36.0 .573 .487 11.0 2.9 2.1 26.6

*--*

Money Numbers

* Friday’s Salary: $130,658.53

* Season Totals: $5,356,999.73

* FACTOID: Michael Jordan came to town in Game 42 of the 1987-88 season. Jordan scored 22 of his 39 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough to rally the Bulls, who lost to the Lakers, 110-101. “It’s like when you were a kid and the circus came to town,” Laker Mychal Thompson said. “I couldn’t sleep all night I was so excited about Jordan coming here. He’s one heck of a basketball player.”