Horry, Blount Back in Old Roles

While Del Harris went with his third starting shooting guard in as many games, thanks to the sinus infection and flu that grounded Eddie Jones for the second consecutive contest, the Laker coach Wednesday night put Robert Horry back in the opening lineup at power forward.

The return to normalcy, Horry having come off the bench Tuesday at Portland after missing the previous three games because of a hernia, came even though he does not appear ready to play big minutes--and, interestingly, even though he would not have had a problem turning the starting job over to Corie Blount.

“It wouldn’t bother me at all,” Horry said. “And I know it wouldn’t bother Corie.”

Instead, Blount returned to a reserve role after averaging 26 minutes and 9.3 rebounds in those three games. He got one rebound in 17 minutes against the Golden State Warriors, while Horry had eight in 33 minutes in his first start since Jan. 28.

“I’m not going to play him huge minutes until he gets in just a little better shape,” Harris said of Horry.

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Shaquille O’Neal became upset midway through the fourth quarter at Portland when Trail Blazer Coach Mike Dunleavy came on to the court, all the way out to near the free-throw line, prompting a jawing session between the two before Dunleavy was escorted back to the bench by referee Ron Garretson. “I thought about going Latrell Sprewell and then changed my mind,” O’Neal said. Dunleavy was upset because he thought Mario Bennett was stepping on Portland’s Alvin Williams while Williams was down on the court. . . . O’Neal reached the 10,000-point plateau Tuesday, in his 370th career game. That tied him with Jerry West as the ninth fastest in league history to reach the milestone.