It’s Portland’s Turn to Take a Run at Lakers

Their wish came true, and the Lakers are relieved that they don’t have to wait anymore for the lowdown on the slowdown.

The Portland Trail Blazers, not Dallas, will try the Lakers in a best-of-seven playoff series that begins today in the Forum, a matchup that the Lakers hope becomes a test of speed.

Portland is expected to run with the Lakers, something that the slower Mavericks would not have done, and that suits the Lakers just fine.

“They’re a good team for us to play,” Magic Johnson said. “Now we don’t have to go out there with a question mark of whether it would be a running game or not.”

Although none of the Lakers figure the Trail Blazers to be an easy mark on the way to the Western Conference finals, they are glad to be playing someone whose style of play more closely matches their own.

The Trail Blazers, who took out Dallas in four games, were just 1-5 with the Lakers during the regular season, but two of the games went into overtime. And just in time for the Lakers, Coach Jack Ramsay’s team is healthy again.

With such open-court talent as Clyde Drexler and Kiki Vandeweghe, plus the improved play of rookie center Sam Bowie, Portland had one of the NBA’s best records after the All-Star break.

“Everybody says that they’re on a roll,” Laker Coach Pat Riley said. “Well, we haven’t exactly been sleeping.”

Counting playoffs, the Lakers are 30-4 since the All-Star break. Portland has won 25 of its last 38.

Vandeweghe, who averaged 22.4 points during the regular season, led the Trail Blazers in scoring during the series with Dallas at 25.8. Drexler averaged 18.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 9.3 assists against Dallas while playing a team-high 40.5 minutes.

Vandeweghe has experienced defensive difficulties all season and the Lakers are likely to get the ball to James Worthy to try to take advantage of that matchup.

Riley, who said he felt all along that the Lakers would play Portland and not Dallas, said he would be greatly surprised if the Trail Blazers do anything but play a running game.

“They’re a good executing team, but they’re not as precise as they used to be in a half-court game,” Riley said. “Jack has really changed his style to accent his talent. Now, after the second pass, it’s one on one. But a controlled one on one.”

Vandeweghe said control will be important if the Trail Blazers are going to pull off an upset.

“We must get our break going,” he said. “They’re going to get points on their break, too, but we don’t want them to go crazy on us.”

Laker Notes Game 1 will begin at 12:30 p.m. The television blackout has been lifted and the game will be carried on Channel 2. The second game is set for Tuesday night at the Forum, with Game 3 and Game 4 tentatively scheduled for Friday night and Sunday afternoon in Portland. . . . Kiki Vandeweghe said that the Trail Blazers match up well with the Lakers. “You can’t count a team like us out,” he said. “We’re young, but we have a lot of talent and we aren’t the same team you saw earlier. We have some of the best talent (in the conference) to challenge the Lakers.” . . . Mychal Thompson said that the Trail Blazers have an advantage over the Lakers, who haven’t played since Tuesday night. “They’ve just been sitting around all week. The Lakers have to get re-adjusted to game situations.” Former Laker Kenny Carr disagreed. “You can’t go into the Lakers’ place thinking you have any type of advantage, whatever the circumstances,” he said. . . . Pat Riley listed two key areas for the Lakers--cut down on their turnovers and stop Portland’s second shots. . . . At home, the Trail Blazers have won 13 straight and 19 of 20. . . . The last time the Lakers met Portland in the playoffs was in 1983 when the Lakers won the series in five games.