Shaw’s Stock Could Be About to Rise

ORLANDO, Fla. —  With Ron Harper immersed in a scoring slump, backup guard Brian Shaw, who scored 10 points in Wednesday’s victory at Charlotte and played the entire fourth quarter, could become a bigger factor in the Laker rotation.

“I was happy to have the opportunity to be out there in that situation, for it to work out the way it did for us,” said Shaw, who has been the fourth guard in a rotation that often has included only three guards.

“Hopefully, it’s something I can build on and Coach [Phil Jackson] will have more confidence I can come through in that situation in the future.”

Harper has averaged only 3.4 points in his last six games and has had only one double-digit scoring performance in his last nine.

At the same time, main backup Derek Fisher is in his own deep shooting slump, which has Jackson looking for other outside scorers.

“It really doesn’t matter as long as you’ve got a team that has somebody step up, and a veteran bench like we have, we have a chance to have three guys, maybe four even, in Brian’s case, to step up and play well,” Jackson said after the Lakers’ workout Thursday.

“Derek hasn’t shot the ball well for a while. . . . Brian can come in and give us something off the bench in that department.”

Said Shaw: “You know, I’m not a rookie, this is my 12th season. So I’ve been in those situations before. . . . I welcome as many minutes as there are for me to get out there on the court.”

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Jackson said he was pleased Glen Rice broke out of his recent slide with a 21-point game against Charlotte, his former team, but said he wasn’t overly concerned that trade rumors were affecting his play.

“I haven’t sat down and said, you know, ‘Do you want to talk about this?’ or anything like that,” Jackson said. “He doesn’t need my support. He’s a proven pro.”

TONIGHT

at Orlando, 4:30 PST

Channel 9 (delayed, 6)

* Site--TD Waterhouse Centre.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 39-11, Magic 25-26.

* Record vs. Magic--1-0.

* Update--Wednesday’s pummeling of the Clippers was the Magic’s fifth victory in a row. Jackson says his players told him a few days ago that they could win all six games on this trip, and so far they are 2-0, with a big victory over Charlotte, which had the second-best home record in the NBA.