Sacramento Out-Foxed

[stephen beauregard <sb@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/155/sports/In_supporting_role_Fox_a_big_winner+.shtml

NBA FINALS

In supporting role, Fox a big winner


By Peter May, Globe Staff, 6/4/2002

ACRAMENTO - The game was over, but Rick Fox was still looking for a
result. He already knew, of course, that his Lakers had beaten the Kings
in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals and that he had played a
major role in the 112-106 overtime victory.




The result he wanted was coming in, albeit at an unacceptable pace, from
New York City. Fox wanted to know whether his wife, Vanessa Williams,
had won a Tony Award for her work in Stephen Sondheim's musical, ''Into
The Woods.''

Alas, the Fox/Williams household had only one winner Sunday night.
Williams, like the Sacramento Kings, will have to wait for another day.

It's impossible to understate Fox's performance in the Los Angeles
victory, for it stood out in the box score as if in bold face. In 48
minutes, he had 13 points, a game-high 14 rebounds, 7 assists and a
steal. As he rightly put it, ''This is about as exciting and rewarding a
game as I've ever been a part of in my whole career. It's nice to be
able to contribute.''

The Lakers are and will continue to be the team of Shaquille O'Neal and
Kobe Bryant. Those two lads had big games themselves Sunday, but, well,
that's why they make the big bucks.

LA also needs games like the one they got from Fox, and the one they got
from Robert Horry (16 points, 12 rebounds) to beat the better teams in
the bigger games, especially on the road. Time and again Sunday we saw
Fox dart for an offensive rebound, drive to the basket, make a
3-pointer, draw a foul (getting Vlade Divac's sixth), or drain free
throws as cowbells clanged and yahoos yelped.

''That's always been the case since I've been in LA,'' said Fox,
referring to the important contributions of the supporting cast. ''The
success is attributed to the stars. That's what made this team good. The
role players understand that. We don't get bent out of shape. We know at
certain times we're going to have to play as big as those guys do - and
this was one of those times.''

There were times in this series when the Lakers looked not only
vulnerable but beatable. Shaq is nowhere close to 100 percent, or so he
insisted the day before he went for 41 points in Game 6. He calmed down
for only 35 in Game 7. The Kings can look back on perhaps controlling
five of the seven games. The biggest LA lead in any game after Game 1
was 7 points, and the Laker bench managed two baskets in Game 7.

''We've been challenged to the level we haven't been challenged in our
first two runs,'' Fox said. ''And we've been counted out. We've been
talked about all year that we're a team that hasn't played like a
champion, that doesn't deserve to be talked about as a defending
champion.

''We did a lot of resting this year, which cost us a lot of games. We
had a lot of injuries this year that cost us a lot in the standings. But
we stayed healthy enough to get to this point and compete. We're still
not 100 percent healthy. But we're battling. We're fighting. And as long
as you have a fighting chance, and you have the experience, you can
usually muster up one last run.''

This is their third straight year in the Finals but, for a lot of these
guys, this is their fifth or sixth year together as Lakers. O'Neal,
Bryant, and Fisher arrived for the 1996-97 season. Horry arrived during
the 1996-97 season. Fox came on board a year later.

Before Game 6, Bryant called O'Neal at 2:30 a.m. because he was so
fidgety he couldn't sleep. The two, who not too long ago could never
have had this kind of conversation, reminisced about how far they had
come and how tough it had been along the way. They mentioned names like
Rodman and Rambis.

Fox can relate. He left the Celtics as a free agent when Rick Pitino
decided he'd rather have Travis Knight. He passed up guaranteed green in
Cleveland to play for the Lakers and a chance at a ring. He was there
when they were broomed out by Utah and San Antonio and he was there when
they celebrated title wins over Indiana and Philadelphia.

''Red light, green light, 1-2-3 - that's what we call it,'' Fox said.
''Remember that game we used to play in our childhood? In kindergarten?
We go way, way back. We've been through a whole lot. And that's
something that you can dig for in your memory bank. You think of those
days and the times you've had success together and that makes you just
pull tighter.''

That's what they did Sunday, and the Kings couldn't take it. That was
the result Fox wanted and knew, deep down, he'd get. Because he knows
that if you leave it up to somebody else, like Tony voters, you're going
to be disappointed.

This story ran on page F1 of the Boston Globe on 6/4/2002.
) Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company.


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