Never Call Him Dull Harris Again

Suddenly, The Streak was in jeopardy. Chick Hearn looked up and saw a whirl of gray coming at him--gray hair, gray shirt, gray suit--and was nearly frightened to death, though it’s debatable whether even that final state would have knocked him off the air.

“I’ve never wet my pants before,” Hearn said.

That’s OK. Coach Del Harris, feistier than most realize, has probably never been more visibly excited about a victory in his three-plus seasons with the Lakers than the one that came Tuesday at Utah.

“I really do get a lot more excited than people think, but I hold it in,” he said Wednesday, replaying the emotions from the final minutes of the night before that allowed Kobe Bryant to shake whatever demons remained from his end-of-playoffs shooting struggles six months ago. “It’s just what I do. I’m actually very excitable and emotional, but part of my job is not to show it. Obviously, it boiled over a little last night.”

A little being Harris running to Hearn in the front row of the scorer’s table, pounding on the padding, pumping his fist like Tiger Woods after making a money putt and screaming in hopes the microphone would pick up his comments.

“It scared me,” Hearn said. “I thought, ‘What the hell is this?’ He was totally overtaken with joy.”

How overtaken?

Harris was asked whether the victory was more special because it meant redemption for Bryant or because it meant the Lakers set a franchise record with their ninth consecutive victory to start a season.

“That’s a good question,” the coach replied. “It’s close. You know, it’s close.”

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Robert Horry sat out his second consecutive game because of the strained left hamstring and is scheduled to undergo an MRI exam today, but the Lakers say it’s more of a precaution than out of concern of something more serious.

In fact, Horry may return for the next game, Sunday against the Clippers at the Forum. Meanwhile, they were forced to again go without their starting power forward while facing an all-star at that position, Tom Gugliotta of the Minnesota Timberwolves on the heels of dealing with Karl Malone the night before.

Not that it mattered, as it turned out, on both nights.

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Wednesday marked the first night of the Lakers’ annual toy drive. Three more dates remain for fans to bring unwrapped gifts to be collected upon entering the Forum and later distributed to kids and organizations around Southern California by the Magic Johnson Toy Drive. The other collection dates: Sunday against the Clippers, Dec. 5 against the San Antonio Spurs and Dec. 12 against the Houston Rockets.