Campbell Passes His Biggest Test

Those who came before included some also filling in (Isaac Austin), some not built to play center (Travis Knight, Lorenzen Wright) and some who were not built to play anything except Orson Welles’ double (Oliver Miller).

And then, on Friday night, came an officer and a gentleman and a real-life superstar center, David Robinson, not only the biggest test for Elden Campbell in his stint as replacement for Shaquille O’Neal, but the first real test for Campbell in these last seven games. Eric Montross, this wasn’t.

Turned out this wasn’t a crisis, either. Campbell got 21 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots and the Lakers got a 98-88 victory over the San Antonio Spurs before 17,505 at the Forum that showed they could handle the step up in competition as well.

“It’s a little more special,” Campbell said. “That’s a big-time center. But the win was probably most important.”

It definitely was. The Lakers not only improved to 8-0 at the Forum--remaining the only team in the league unbeaten at home--as Nick Van Exel scored a game-high 25 points, but shook off most of the cobwebs that recently had accumulated.

They did it because Campbell played Robinson (19 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks) to a virtual statistical standoff and the other big men produced in kind. Corie Blount, most notably, had 10 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench.

“I think that is the story of the game,” Coach Del Harris said. “Elden and his partners--Robert [Horry] and Corie and [Sean] Rooks.

“He led a parade of big people and the victory for the big people in what on paper appeared to be to their [the Spurs’] advantage. But our guys just wouldn’t adhere to that. I felt awfully good about the way our big guys played tonight.”

These teams were not to be confused with the ones that met Nov. 13 in San Antonio, a 109-100 victory for the Lakers in overtime after they had come from 10 points down midway through the fourth quarter. On that night, O’Neal played and Vinny Del Negro did not.

On this one, O’Neal, of course, did not and Del Negro did, giving the Spurs their starting shooting guard back. Not that San Antonio came in completely healthy--there was the matter of the loss at the Sports Arena the night before to a Clipper team minus Loy Vaught and Brent Barry. A substitute pain.

“Usually, teams have that I’m-gonna-do-better mentality,” Harris cautioned before the game. “A bounce-back syndrome.”

That went head-on with Laker desires to get a running start on the tough stretch of schedule that began Friday, having failed to completely capitalize on the soft portion that ended Wednesday at Denver, a game in which they also again appeared sluggish at times before taking control in the fourth quarter. The challenges ahead from there would come in different forms.

First, there was this run of three games in four nights, continuing Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers, winners of seven in a row, and then at Portland on the second night of a back-to-back.

Of the 11 games that would take the Lakers up to Christmas, seven were on the road. And the four home contests would be against the Spurs, Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, currently riding a seven-game win streak, in addition to the Dallas Mavericks.

At the start was this stretch of three games in four nights. At the end, five in seven, all road games, all against likely playoff teams and a couple that should challenge for a place in the finals: Minnesota, Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte and Houston.

The Spurs presented a formidable first step, a club that may have been limping some after the 6-1 opening but one that was still able to bring Robinson in against a team without O’Neal for the seventh consecutive outing. The Laker cause in that area was not helped when backup center Rooks got his third foul with only 1:08 gone in the second quarter.

San Antonio took enough advantage to control the offensive boards, but was unable to control the scoreboard after its early seven-point lead had been erased. By late in the third quarter, the Lakers had built an 11-point cushion as Harris leaned heavily on his starting big men and got production, with Campbell scoring eight in the period and Horry seven.

* WORDS ON CHOKING

In Bay Area, Latrell Sprewell is a savage, victim or pawn, depending on your viewpoint. A1