Some Unlikely Heroes Make It Easy for Lakers

They came from nowhere. Not the Lakers, who followed up their victory at Seattle by crushing the Denver Nuggets, 110-85, at the Forum on Wednesday night, their fifth consecutive victory and one that was good for a first-place tie in the Pacific Division with the idle SuperSonics.

Some of the Laker players. They came from nowhere.

Robert Horry, out the previous 21 games, got eight rebounds, seven points, four steals and two blocks in 20 minutes in his unexpected return. So unexpected that it was his second big-time workout of the day, although the first one may have been more strenuous considering the showing by the Nuggets.

George McCloud, pretty much out the previous 18 games, better known as his entire Laker career, was a major factor for the first time, making four of seven three-point shots and scoring 16 points.

Sean Rooks, forced into the starting lineup at center because Elden Campbell and Travis Knight were injured, went from averaging a team-low 8.5 minutes a game to making seven of 10 shots for a season-high 14 points.

“It definitely felt good,” Rooks said. “I just wanted to go out and concentrate on doing something good out there, and that’s definitely what happened.”

For almost all the Lakers. That, for a change, included Horry.

“I thought Robert was terrific,” Coach Del Harris said. “I had forgotten how good he is.”

No other transaction had to come with Horry being activated because the Laker roster had been at 11 since March 15. But it nonetheless was a move they had no intention of making for at least one more game, until the San Antonio Spurs come to town Friday. The events of Tuesday at Seattle, however, accelerated the timetable.

When Knight suffered a “mild-to-moderate” sprain of the right knee on the last play of the first quarter and Campbell left in the third quarter because of a bruised buttock after a hard fall, the Lakers were suddenly staring at the possibility of having only nine players for the second night of the back-to-back. Those concerns having become reality by Wednesday afternoon, Horry got the word about 2 p.m. he would be playing that night, a surprise development even for him.

“Very much so,” he said.

Which is not to be confused, the Lakers insist, with a player being brought back from an injury before being fully recovered.

“He was cleared to play last week,” Harris said. “We were just waiting for a time for him to feel comfortable with it. On Monday [when the decision had been made that Horry would not face the SuperSonics or Nuggets], he said he didn’t. Today, he said he did.”

So in he went, appearing for the first time since a freak collision with teammate Jerome Kersey resulted in a sprained knee ligament and 6 1/2 weeks on the injured list. And because of the depleted Laker front line, Horry went in early, with 6:15 gone in the opening quarter and without benefit of being eased into the flow.

Without benefit of being fresh, either--he had already gone through a morning workout with Magic Johnson’s touring team before suiting up in the evening for the first time since Feb. 16. That the nightcap was a rout for the entire second half at least allowed him the opportunity to play around 20 minutes, as the doctors had wanted, without worry that his lack of basketball conditioning could cost the Lakers.

“I felt in the flow,” Horry said. “It’s just the fact that my legs were a little bit tired out there. That comes from working out twice today.”

It quickly became apparent that there would be more than one unplanned arrival. McCloud--at 27.9% shooting since being acquired on the day of the trade deadline, with a frustration level somewhere around 98%--missed his first shot, but then hit his next two three-pointers and three of the next four field-goal attempts overall.

Having waited weeks for a game like this, not to mention minutes like this, McCloud kept shooting. Two more three-pointers came in the third quarter, on four tries. A two-pointer in the fourth quarter put him at six of 10 for the night in 24 minutes.

“It’s been the most shots and the best looks at the basket since I’ve been here,” he said. “But it’s only one game. That’s what they brought me here for. I’m not surprised. I’ve got to do it again Friday.”

When the Lakers will again be without Knight, who won’t even be re-evaluated until Saturday. Campbell, meanwhile, is day-to-day.