This Is Time Lakers Must Get Serious : Portland Has First Shot at Defending Champions

Not even the Lakers, models of stability and predictability in the National Basketball Assn., can expect to go through a regular season without experiencing a few twists of fate and ankles.

But there were enough strange and unexpected occurrences for the Lakers during the 1988-89 season to warrant mention in those supermarket tabloids. In fact, Magic Johnson recently made the cover of one such publication in a wildly concocted account of a love triangle involving Mike Tyson and Robin Givens.

Fiction, though, would pale in comparison to a few of the Lakers’ real problems this season, which could have been tabloid fodder:

Goggled Giant Gets Ritualist Gifts!

Unexplained Phenomenon: Lakers Lose Eight Straight on Road

Scott Felled by Mysterious Illness

Phoenixians Invade Lakers’ Territorial Boundaries

Now, though, the Lakers have made it through an anything-but-pacific division race and begin their first-round playoff series against the Portland Trail Blazers tonight at 7:30 in the Forum, seemingly in as good a shape as ever.

Despite the strange events, the Lakers finished the season with 57 victories, the best record in the Western Conference, and have the home-court advantage against every playoff team except the Detroit Pistons.

Their goal for this spring being a third consecutive NBA title, and a priceless going-away gift for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the Lakers seem more confident, comfortable and interested than at any point since, well, last June.

“Things just kind of happened this year,” said Byron Scott, long recovered from a urinary disorder but now playing with a sore wrist. “But the type of adversity we’ve faced, with injuries and perhaps not having a great attitude about the (regular) season, it just seems to me we were waiting for the playoffs to start.”

Even Riley, who has tried every motivational ploy in his repertoire to spur his team from November to April, now admits that all of his regular-season fretting was not really necessary.

“I know this team too well,” Riley said. “They have a biological clock unlike anyone else’s in this league. . . . They are addicted to the playoffs, that type of competition. It is like we’ve been freed now. We can play.

“We had some difficult periods, but I trust that (the players will) be there. I don’t have any doubts in my mind anymore. I think we will win it. We’ll find a way to get it done this year. We always do.”

No one, however, is saying it will be easy. The Lakers believe this to be an even tougher challenge than last season’s playoff run, when three series went to seven games.

“This is going to be the toughest playoff we’ve ever had in the West,” Magic Johnson said. “A lot of teams are a lot better. This is the year you can get beat in any round.”

However, on paper, it appears that Portland, the Lakers’ opponent in the best-of-five first round, shouldn’t put up much resistance.

The Trail Blazers lost all five meetings against the Lakers this season, including losses in the Forum by one point in November, 13 points in January and 11 in February.

History also overwhelmingly favors the Lakers in first-round matchups. In the last five seasons, the Lakers have recorded three-game sweeps of first-round opponents. The last first-round opponent to even win a game was the Trail Blazers in 1983.

Yet, the Lakers predict that Portland will not turn out to be another approximation of a first-round bye for the defending champions.

“Everybody’s good now,” Johnson said. “You’re never going to win by 25 or 40 like we used to (in the first round). You can lose to anyone now. You can’t think ahead.

“Like, Detroit is not even in existence right now. Only Portland. You can’t look past anyone, or you might get beat.”

Riley said he has maintained all season that the Trail Blazers have the talent to contend. But they struggled almost from the outset. At one point, four players expressed unhappiness and desires to be traded. And then-Coach Mike Schuler was engaged in a public feud with star guard Clyde Drexler.

On Feb. 16, the day after Portland had lost to the Lakers by nine points at Portland, Schuler was fired and replaced by assistant Rick Adelman. Forward Kiki Vandeweghe then got his wish and was traded to the New York Knicks.

A disappointing 25-22 under Schuler, the Trail Blazers went only 14-21 under Adelman. But at least, they appear to be a happier, more cohesive team. One that Riley insists can give the Lakers a difficult time.

“I know the record speaks for itself, but that’s behind us,” Riley said. “Playoff basketball is different. That 5-0 thing makes us favored, and we do have the home-court advantage, but I know the guys are expecting a tough series. They have a lot of respect for Portland. The Celtics and Trail Blazers are probably the two strongest eighth-playoff-spot teams in NBA history. A lot of people (at least one national magazine) picked Portland to win the NBA championship before the season.

“They’ve experienced a rough season, but when you look at their roster, they have as much firepower as any team in the league. I mean, Clyde, we haven’t come close to stopping him. He makes us look like children out there trying to guard him. And (forward Jerome) Kersey and (center Kevin) Duckworth and (point guard Terry) Porter, those are quality players. And they’ve got four good players off the bench.”

The way Riley sees it, Portland may be the best 39-43 team in NBA history. But the Trail Blazers aren’t exactly blazing into the playoffs. They closed out the season losing four of five games and needed to go to overtime to beat the Sacramento Kings on the last day of the season to get the final Western Conference playoff spot.

As talented as the Trail Blazers may be, only Drexler has shown much in the five games between the team. He averaged 29.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 6.4 assists against the Lakers, including a 39-point performance last week in Portland.

But other Trail Blazer starters have not fared well against the Lakers. Porter has averaged 15.5 points and 10.4 assists, but he has not exploited the Lakers’ defensive weaknesses as he used to.

Duckworth, who returned Sunday night after missing last week’s game against the Lakers with strep throat, has averaged only 17.5 points and has not dominated Laker big men as other centers have.

And Kersey, who missed one game against the Lakers this season while serving a suspension for fighting, has wilted against James Worthy. Kersey averaged 15.3 points in the season series, Worthy 22.8.

Riley’s fear is that Duckworth, Porter and Kersey, all quality players, have saved their best for the playoffs. He said the Trail Blazers are at their best when running, but the same could be said of the Lakers. “Seventy percent of their offense is quick ups (fast breaks) and the passing game,” Riley said. “They do run a few sets (of plays), but they are at their best when they run.”

Adelman, however, may harness his team on offense in hopes of doing the same to the Lakers. That strategy worked last season, when the Trail Blazers went 3-3 against the Lakers in the season series.

“No. 1, we can’t let them get a quick start,” Adelman told a Portland writer after a recent practice in San Diego. “No. 2, at their place, we want to eliminate their spurts. What we’re really talking about is a sense of what the tempo of the game is. We can’t get involved in taking quick shots. We’ll run when we get the opportunity.”

Drexler, basically, has roamed free against the Lakers this season. Rather than letting him get his points and trying to stop the other options, the Lakers say they want to limit Drexler, too.

“What you’ve got to do with Clyde is stay in front of him,” said Scott, who likely will draw the assignment. “He gets a lot of points away from the ball, so you have to make sure where he is at all times. He drives to the hole a lot, but we want to force him into jump shots. It won’t be easy.”

Drexler may be a problem, but the Trail Blazers don’t figure to be. So the Lakers remain cautiously optimistic, perhaps mindful of their troublesome regular season.

“You can’t take anything for granted anymore,” Worthy said. “The league is better now, and that makes our job tougher. But we still have the attitude that we’ll win.”

Laker Notes

Byron Scott slipped and fell during practice at Loyola Marymount on Wednesday morning and aggravated a sore right wrist that apparently has bothered him for some time. Scott, though, said he will play tonight. “It’s something that’s hurt me for about a month,” Scott said. “At the beginning of games, the first two or three shots, it bothers me. But once you get into it, it goes away.” . . . It is too late to request a schedule change, but Laker Coach Pat Riley said he is not happy about having two days off between Games 1 and 2. After tonight’s game, the Lakers won’t play again until Sunday. “I’d like to play with only one day (off) because if we win the first game, that gives them two days to regroup,” Riley said. Likewise, there are two days off between Games 2 and 3, when the teams travel to Portland. “I’m expecting to win the first two home games,” Riley said. “But then, they get two days to go home and recover. I’ve always liked to play even back-to-back games at home.” . . . The Trail Blazers practiced Tuesday and Wednesday in San Diego and arrived by bus in Los Angeles Wednesday afternoon. . . . Portland is hoping reserve center Sam Bowie, who missed 15 of the last 19 games with soreness in his right ankle, will be ready to play in the series. Bowie, coming back from numerous operations on both legs, averaged 8.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 20 minutes playing time in 20 games. . . . The last time the teams met in the playoffs was in the Western Conference semifinals in 1985. The Lakers won, four games to one.