Lakers Keep Trail Blazers in the Dark

Once again, the Lakers won their race against Portland. Trail Blazer forward Kenny Carr said the margin of victory this time was by a head.

“We have to believe we can beat that team,” Carr said. “We have to know instead of just hope we stay in the game and don’t get blown out.”

There was no blowout Thursday night in the Forum, only a fairly cozy 114-102 Laker victory, but some other unseen forces were at work.

The Lakers were able to reassert some sort of psychological edge that they’ve managed to maintain over the up-and-coming Trail Blazers.

They swamped them last season in the playoffs and they pretty well dominated them again in the first regular-season matchup against the team they fully expect to see again.

What will happen in the playoffs will be a meeting of the minds, Laker forward Maurice Lucas said.

“We’re the team they have to beat, and when you’ve got that stigma working against you, it’s a little tough,” he said. “They’ve got a stick and they can use it to beat everyone else, but we’re still bigger, stronger and more physical.”

Not even a loose tooth kept Magic Johnson from bagging his season-high 30 points and not even a very tight Trail Blazer trapping defense kept the Lakers from blowing a 19-point lead in the second half. But they came close.

Coach Jack Ramsay’s team tried something that no one else has done this season. The Trail Blazers sprung a half-court trap that not only confused the Lakers, but also got Portland back into the game.

Twice in the fourth quarter the Lakers saw their lead melt to only four points, the second time on Darnell Valentine’s driving layup with 5:44 to go. The Lakers, who had no trouble scoring in the first half, had a great deal of trouble in the second half.

Laker Coach Pat Riley, who assumed the blame for his team’s inability to deal with Portland’s trap, said the Lakers were mentally out of it, even though they were ahead.

“We had a big lead and we just wanted the game to end,” Riley said. “We took a 19-point lead and went to the park.”

The Lakers should have sent out an all-points bulletin for themselves. After shooting 57% in the first half, which was worth an 11-point lead, the Lakers made only 32% of their shots in the second half.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has had better nights. Although he scored 20 points, he made only 7 of 22 shots.

That didn’t matter very much down the stretch because Abdul-Jabbar scored when he needed to. He came up with a three-point play right after Valentine’s fourth-quarter basket, then scored again on an inbounds play to give the Lakers enough room to play out the clock.

The Laker lead was still 106-100 when the outcome was finally decided on a critical play. Portland’s Steve Colter got called for an offensive foul when he made a driving layup. Seconds later, Johnson picked up a loose ball and then scored again on an off-balance one-hander in the lane.

All that remained was for a unique 360-degree spin move by James Worthy on a breakaway, which gave the Lakers a 112-100 lead with 1:17 left.

Worthy finished with 29 points, and Johnson finished with a loose right front tooth. That was courtesy of 250-pound Portland rookie Ken Johnson, who got a rebound and then accidentally stuck his arm in Magic’s face near the end of the first half.

Magic wasn’t the only casualty. Carr whacked his right hand on the rim and may have broken it, although he said he hoped it was only a bad bruise.

The Trail Blazers got 19 points from Clyde Drexler and 18 from Sam Bowie in one of his better performances against Abdul-Jabbar.

“It’s really a matter of luck,” Bowie said. “You have to hope he has an off-night. I’ll probably retire before him.”

Kiki Vandeweghe scored 15 points, but Portland could never quite take away the advantage away from the Lakers.

“They get a couple of steals and a couple of rebounds and pretty soon the lead is back up to 10,” Carr said. “We can handle all the rest of the teams in the league pretty readily, but our chances just aren’t as good against the Lakers.”

Jim Paxson said the Trail Blazers can’t challenge the Lakers until they play the type of defense that doesn’t give up 66 points, like they did in the first half.

“Until we do, we won’t be a top-notch team,” he said.

The Lakers are already there, so they’ve got to work on other things. One of them will be how to defeat a half-court trap because they’re probably going to see it some more until they prove they can beat it.

Johnson, who was told by Riley to take more shots now that Byron Scott is hurt, made 12 of 19 from the field with 12 assists, but he fell one rebound short of a triple-double.

The Lakers were 5-1 against Portland in the regular season and took them out, 4-1, in the playoffs, so Johnson said the Trail Blazers have some catching up to do.

“Right now, it’s hard for them to say they can beat us,” Johnson said. “We have that edge. I don’t know if it’s experience or what, but we seem to have it on them.

“But we also know that they are the team we’ll have to beat in the playoffs, them and Houston,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of time left until then.”

Laker Notes

Portland Coach Jack Ramsay, who coached Maurice Lucas when he played for the Trail Blazers from 1976 until the 1979-80 season, said the addition of Lucas to the Lakers makes them a better team. “If Lucas had gone to a team that wasn’t going to win any games, I doubt that he would be a factor,” Ramsay said. “But now that’s he with a team that can win the championship again, that’s got to be a big motivation for him.” . . . Byron Scott, on the injured list with a slightly torn left hamstring, said the timing of his injury wasn’t very good. “I’m just frustrated a little because everything was going so well,” Scott said.