Harris Nearing Victory No. 500

The most recent weeks of his personal highlight reel have been more like a fast forward--win, win, win, win . . . so Del Harris reaches the threshold of a milestone well ahead of schedule.

The Laker season-opening, franchise-record 10-game winning streak has their coach one victory away from 500 in his NBA career.

Only 18 others have reached that plateau, and only seven current counterparts: Lenny Wilkens, Bill Fitch, Pat Riley, Larry Brown, Jerry Sloan, Chuck Daly and Mike Fratello.

“It’s obviously hard to be a head coach in this league for the length of time required to win 500 games, so it’s going to be an exciting thing for me,” said Harris, 167-89 (.652) in three-plus seasons with the Lakers. “I always respected that number. Years ago, I would see coaches reach that milestone and would think, ‘That’s something I won’t do.’ I didn’t think I would reach that.

“But thanks to the Lakers and a higher being, I’m close to reaching it. But I haven’t got there yet.”

He gets his first chance Sunday at the Forum against the Clippers, coached by the man who has 928 victories.

“With Fitch in our town and [about] 1,000 of them, it doesn’t seem like much of a deal,” Harris joked.

It’s big enough.

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An MRI exam on Thursday confirmed that Robert Horry has nothing worse than a strained left hamstring, so the starting power forward remains day to day after having already missed two games.

The other good news for the Lakers is provided by the schedule: the three days off before their game against the Clippers, allowing more rest for Horry.

The injury interrupted what had been a good start after his move from small forward. Horry averaged 8.3 rebounds and 2.13 steals. Four times, he’s had double figures in rebounding.