A hand-written message was taped in Jerome Kersey's area inside the Lakers' locker room on Friday. It read, "Way to hold up the tradition of this stall."
It was signed, simply, "J.W."The author of the note, James Worthy, had been assigned that particular locker in the Forum during his playing days. Worthy had a stellar enough career that he was named as one of the "NBA's 50 Greatest Players" of all time.
But Worthy's heyday was back in the 1980s, when the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Western Conference - and the entire NBA, for that matter. Led by Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Worthy, the "Showtime" Lakers went to the NBA Finals eight times and won five world championships during the decade.
"Way to hold up the tradition."
In reality, though, this year's Laker team is trying to start a new tradition. Sure, Worthy has left notes of praise and Johnson has worked with a certain taco-eating center on his free throws. But guard Byron Scott is the only remnant remaining on the roster from the Laker glory days - and he's questionable for this afternoon's Game 4 against the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Semifinals.
This decade, let's just say, has been less tradition-rich. Los Angeles hasn't gotten past the second round of the playoffs since 1991 - and even missed the playoffs completely as recently as '94.
Yet the Laker swagger appears to be back, especially after Thursday night's blowout win over the Jazz.
"We're confident we can beat Utah," said point guard Nick Van Exel. "We never lost our confidence."
Said guard Eddie Jones, "We want to come out and do exactly what we did in Game 3."
Meaning, in essence, they want to embarrass the Jazz again. Utah shot poorly, never led and trailed by as many as 29 points Thursday night in the Forum before losing 104-84. Jazz superstar Karl Malone was particularly off, making just 2-of-20 shots from the field.
"Malone is a hall of fame player," said Jones. "You have to think he's going to shoot better, but you also have to hope that he doesn't."
Laker superstar Shaquille O'Neal didn't fare much better than Malone Thursday. O'Neal was effective when he played, but only stayed in the game 18 minutes due first to foul trouble and then to being ejected in the fourth quarter.
"Game 3 was a big game for us," said O'Neal, "but Game 4 is even bigger."
A Laker win this afternoon would knot the series at 2-2. With a Jazz win today, Utah could end the series with a victory Monday night at the Delta Center.
"We're still in a must-win situation," said Lakers coach Del Harris.
LAKER NOTES: The Lakers are 4-0 in playoff games this season when forward Elden Campbell scores 10 or more points. They are 0-3 in games when Campbell has been held to single digits . . . . Scott didn't participate in the Lakers' light workout Friday after spraining his right hand and wrist Thursday night. X-rays came out normal, however. He is listed as questionable for today's game, but Scott says he will play . . . . Harris said his team was pushed around in the first two games, but stood up to Utah physically in Game 3. "The talk around the league is that our guys might be soft," said Harris. "I don't see it that way." . . . The Laker reserves outscored the Jazz's 47-30 on Thursday, led by Kobe Bryant's team-high 19. "That's the way it should be," said Kersey.