Dunleavy Gets Message to Play Green Against Trail Blazers

After lobbying Coach Mike Dunleavy for more playing time for rookie swingman Elden Campbell, Laker center Mychal Thompson has campaigned to get A.C. Green off the bench, where he has been for much of the NBA Western Conference finals against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“This is the kind of series that’s right up A.C.’s alley,” Thompson said. “The physical play . . . the battle on the boards . . . that’s A.C.’s bread and butter.

“He’s the best warrior we have, and against the Blazers he’s a desperate player.”

A starter at power forward in his first five seasons with the Lakers, Green lost his job to Sam Perkins a month into the season and has seen his playing time decline from an average of 26.4 minutes during the season to 18.6 minutes in the playoffs due to Campbell’s emergence.

Green played only three minutes--”I can’t ever remember playing less in a game for the Lakers”--when the Trail Blazers defeated the Lakers, 109-98, Tuesday night in Game 2 at Portland. Outrebounded, 51-28, the Lakers could have used Green, their leading rebounder for four consecutive seasons.

“That’s my fault,” Dunleavy said when asked why Green didn’t play more. “I talked to him afterwards about it because I had feelings from his standpoint, because I’m sure he wanted to play in front of his family up there (Green’s a Portland native). But I was trying to take a look at some different matchups. I knew what A.C. would do for me, but I was looking at Elden for his shot blocking against their penetration and Mychal Thompson against the bulk of (Kevin) Duckworth and Buck Williams.

“But after reviewing the film of the game, I saw that we had to get A.C. in there.”

Green came off the bench to jump start the Lakers to a 106-92 victory over the Trail Blazers Friday night at the Forum. He played 26 minutes, scoring nine points and grabbing nine rebounds--including a team-high five offensive rebounds--as the Lakers rebounded to take a 2-1 lead in the series that continues today at the Forum with Game 4 at 12:30 p.m.

“A.C. showed how valuable he is for us Friday night,” Thompson said. “If A.C. would have played the same amount of minutes in Game 2 as he played Friday night we could have been (ahead), 3-0.”

Portland Coach Rick Adelman said Green was the key to the game for the Lakers, who have been outrebounded, 136-104, in the first three games of the series. Green has 12 rebounds in 39 minutes against Portland, one more rebound that center Vlade Divac has accumulated in 86 minutes.

“I thought A.C. really helped them because he was always on the boards,” Adelman said. “It was a tribute to him because he hasn’t played a lot but when they called on him he was ready.”

Green, whose aggressive, physical style seems better suited than that of Campbell to playing against Portland, which finished No. 2 in the NBA in rebounding this season, said he tried to energize the team with rebounding.

“What I really want to do is just pick up the energy level,” Green said. “I didn’t know if I was going to be out there for a minute or whatever, but whatever it was I wasn’t going to have any more energy left by the time I came back to the bench.”

A devout Christian, Green said his faith helped him adjust to his new role as a substitute.

“For me (the adjustment) has been pretty easy because I’m not a man who plays with a great deal of pride,” Green said. “I have pride in the game, and I have pride in the way I play and I have pride in my teammates, but I don’t live, eat, sleep and drink this whole game of basketball. It’s something that is important to me, but there’s just not a big wall of pride around me.

“It took a little time to adjust mentally and physically because I’m so used to going in at the beginning of the game when I already have a sweat going. I wish they could make a 6-9 heating pad for me to wrap around myself on the bench.”

Perkins, who lost his starting job to Roy Tarpley in Dallas before signing with the Lakers as a free agent, empathizes with Green.

“It’s tough to go through that,” Perkins said. “But with A.C. it was kind of hard because I’d rather for him to start because he’s been here so long. I didn’t come here to move him out. It just happened that way.

“He could be doing what I do if he started and got more time. I don’t take anything away from A.C. at all because I respect him a great deal.”

Green became expendable after the acquisition of Perkins, and there was speculation that the Lakers would attempt to package Green, who earns a reported $1.7 million per season, in a trade for Indiana guard Reggie Miller or Cleveland forward John (Hot Rod) Williams. But the trades didn’t materialize.

But Green maintained that the trade talk wasn’t unsettling.

“There was so much talk last year that I really didn’t keep up with all of the rumors,” Green said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they do come up again. But I’m not going to be worried because I still have fun playing the game. Whatever happens next year will be fine, but right now we’re going to take care of business, and I’m going to try and keep my focus.”

Laker Notes

Portland Coach Rick Adelman was upset after looking at a videotape of Friday night’s game. “If anything, we were a lot worse than I thought we were,” Adelman said. “We were very disturbed with the way we played offensively.” Portland needs a better effort from center Kevin Duckworth, who shot 48.1% during the regular season but is shooting just 39% in the series. Duckworth, who had five turnovers Friday night, has a team-high 16 turnovers in the series.