Trail Blazers Leave Lakers in Their Dust

There was no joy in Mudville for the Laker nine Wednesday night, but Coach Pat Riley isn’t buying a depleted bench as the reason for the Lakers going belly up to the Portland Trail Blazers, 117-104, at the Forum.

You really didn’t think Mike Smrek going home with a bellyache was the difference in this one, did you? Or that Conner Henry, the ex-beach boy and ex-Celtic, cleared waivers Wednesday afternoon and is there for the signing, should the Lakers choose to do so?

“Conner Henry?” Riley said. “We don’t need Conner Henry.

“I don’t care (how many players the Lakers were missing). I only play with 8 even when I have 12.”

The Lakers could have added Bull Connor, Carroll O’Connor and Chuck Connors, and it probably would have made no difference to the Trail Blazers, although maybe the Rifleman is the only guy around who could slow down Clyde Drexler.

Portland, which only two weeks ago lost here by 27 points and hadn’t won here since the last game of the 1982-83 season, ended a 19-game Forum losing streak behind a 1-2 punch of Drexler and Jerome Kersey, who until recently had been Kiki Vandeweghe’s caddy on the bench.

Vandeweghe’s back gave out on him a couple of weeks ago, Kersey became a starter and the Trail Blazers won six straight. Wednesday night, it was Vandeweghe coming off the bench to aid and abet Kersey, who scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, in Portland’s seventh straight win.

Drexler, meanwhile, scored 28 points and also had 14 rebounds, which is an off-night for him, the way he’s been going. Clyde the Glide had come into the game averaging 30 points a pop in his last six games.

How do you explain a 40-point Laker turnaround against Portland in two weeks? Try this for starters:

--The Lakers held a six-point lead, 43-37, in the second quarter, then proceeded to go the remaining 7:55 with only one basket. They were lucky to be down only eight, 59-51, at the break.

--They climbed back into it to tie the score, 74-74, on two free throws by Michael Cooper, who started after X-rays on his right shoulder were negative. But after that, they scored just one basket in the last 5:20 of the third quarter to trail, 91-78. That made the fourth quarter all but garbage time for the Trail Blazers, who went from allowing the Lakers 84 points in the second half two weeks ago to 53 Wednesday night.

--The biggest difference in the teams showed up in the rebound column, where the Trail Blazers pounded the Lakers, 53-37. A.C. Green had 13 rebounds for the Lakers, but he was banging by himself.

“But it wasn’t just rebounding,” said Riley, whose critique of this bomb began with the word ugly, proceeded to horrible, and only because of great self-control omitted Tom Lasorda-class expletives.

“It was loose basketballs, movement, everything,” Riley said. “Portland was far superior in every facet of the game.

“We were too soft defensively, we’re not challenging anybody . . . believe it or not, we’re not a very good running team right now. We can’t sustain it except in spurts. We have individuals who aren’t in the shape to sustain the running game and defense we want to play.”

That just about covers it, doesn’t it? Almost makes a man wonder how the Lakers are 10-3 at this point, two games ahead of Portland in the Pacific Division.

Maurice Lucas, for one, smiled when told of Riley’s verbal body slam of the Lakers.

“When they were 8-0, no one was saying that,” said Lucas, who had 11 points and 6 rebounds in 17 minutes off the bench.

“They lose three games, and all of a sudden they need major changes?”

Lucas gave it that let’s-be-serious look.

“They’re the same team,” he said. “The way they were playing in the first eight games, that’s hard to sustain. I don’t care how good you are or how deep, at some point fatigue sets in.”

Someone ought to tell that to Drexler, who two weeks ago showed he could stop himself by blowing a wide-open jam, but has been unstoppable since.

“I’m on a roll right now and I can’t stop,” Drexler said. “ . . . I’ve got that feeling right now and as a basketball player, that’s what you live for.”

Because of Drexler, the livin’s been easy for all of the Trail Blazers. Portland Coach Mike Schuler said he has never seen Drexler any better.

“We were terrific tonight,” Schuler said. “You can’t take anything away from the way we played. We were very good offensively, very good defensively, and we had a great tempo, the way we wanted to play. We just played terrific.”

The Lakers, who played 9 of their first 13 at home, now go on the road for a five-game trip, beginning Friday in Milwaukee. And if they continue to play like this?

“We won’t win a game,” Riley said.

Laker Notes James Worthy missed his third game with tendinitis in his left knee. He’ll accompany the team to Milwaukee, but Coach Pat Riley said he didn’t know when Worthy will be ready to play. . . . Backup center Mike Smrek left before the game because of stomach flu. . . . The Lakers finally put Jeff Lamp, who is out for the season after shoulder surgery, on the injured list.