Divac Takes It to Portland : Western Conference finals: Laker center leads a third-quarter burst that gives Los Angeles a 106-92 victory over the Trail Blazers and a 2-1 lead in the series.

If Yugoslav folklore didn’t have a version of Rip Van Winkle, it does now.

Vlade Divac, the amiable peasant lad who hadn’t played his very best for a long while, awoke suddenly Friday night to lead the Lakers to a 106-92 thumping of the Portland Trail Blazers and a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

In true Vlade style, he rose above the furor, taking over in the third quarter as the Lakers broke open a 51-47 game, ran up a 20-point lead and coasted in.

During a 12-0 run, Divac scored six points with two steals and a block and turned the placid Forum into a raging sea.

He also blew kisses to the crowd and once slapped hands with Jack Nicholson as he ran by.

“That’s just what he can do,” Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy said, beaming.

“I had big pressure before the game,” Divac said. “. . . . Everybody watched me to see how I play. All day I thought about the game.

“I just need somebody to say some good things. You know, after the second game, it was pressure on me because I didn’t do a lot of things, but Magic (Johnson) and coach talked to me after practice today. . . . They said: ‘Play like usual. Play like in the first series against Houston and you’ll be OK.’ ”

Said Johnson: “He came out and played a tremendous game. He was very aggressive. He was ready. There’s only so much he can take, and then he’s going to explode.”

Divac must have taken enough.

The man who had four rebounds in the first two games and was being roundly challenged in print by teammates, started the Laker run by blocking Jerome Kersey’s shot, triggering a fast break on which Byron Scott was fouled and made two free throws.

Then Divac stole the ball from Kevin Duckworth, starting another break.

This one ended with Divac rebounding James Worthy’s miss and scoring on a short hook.

Moments later, Divac sneaked up on Clyde Drexler, tipped the ball away from him, starting yet another break.

This one ended with Divac scoring a layup, after a length-of-the-court pass from Johnson. The Laker lead was now 59-47, the crowd was in a frenzy and Johnson punched the air in triumph.

Then Divac hit another hook for 61-47.

He left the game 25 seconds later, never to return. His totals were 16 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes, but the night belonged to him.

“Everybody’s been down on Vlade,” Dunleavy said. “I’ve been trying to tell everybody, ‘Anyone who played a perfect game, you can talk about Vlade.’

“Vlade knows it. I talked to him about it. He didn’t play a great game (in Game 2), but he wasn’t the only one. It was our whole team. You guys can write what you want to write, but the Lakers lose as the Lakers, not as Vlade Divac.”

The Lakers also won as the Lakers, not Vlade Divac.

Off to a fast start Friday, they saw the Trail Blazers miss their first eight shots while turning the ball over three times. The Lakers had an 11-point lead midway through the first quarter.

But here came the Trail Blazers.

The team that rubbed out a 21-point deficit in one Forum victory and a six-point deficit in the last 1:40 of overtime in another, slashed the lead to 27-22 at the end of the first quarter.

The Lakers built it back up to 11.

The Trail Blazers cut it back to 37-36.

Despite an improved Laker effort on the boards, Portland took 13 offensive rebounds in the first half and was still looking dangerous until Divac went off.

After that, the Lakers went wild. Sam Perkins scored 14 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, and the Laker lead grew to 86-66 with 7:04 left, the first time in this series one of these teams has truly routed the other.

“Sam’s the man,” Dunleavy said. “He has a great heart.

“They took it to us in Game 2. I don’t think our guys liked it. I don’t think they liked reading the things they’ve been reading.

“But on the other side, a lot of it was true.”

It wasn’t true in Game 3.

Sunday is another day.

Laker Notes

Magic Johnson had 19 assists and is averaging 17 in this series. James Worthy led all scorers with 25 points. . . . Kevin Duckworth on Vlade Divac: “We knew he would come out hard tonight, but he didn’t do anything different from Game 2.”