One for the Road Is Enough : Lakers: They have to do everything better today to avoid more embarrassment against Trail Blazers.

Keeping their heads above water is getting harder all the time.

Taken apart by the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night, the Lakers trooped onto their bus--only to find their driver had been drinking.

Noting the way back to their hotel lay across the bridges over the Willamette River, they elected to take cabs instead.

“Crazy night,” Byron Scott said Friday, laughing. “I’m trying to figure out if he was drunk because they won or because we lost.”

Said Coach Mike Dunleavy: “Typical of the evening. When things go, things go.”

Things could go again this afternoon in Game 2 unless the Lakers make major changes:

Overall effort--The Lakers walked into a maelstrom Thursday. The Trail Blazers are not only more talented, more physical and deeper, but they also outworked the Lakers, a potent combination.

“I think we were just happy to be in the playoffs because of the situation we were put in the last two games,” Scott said.

“A lot of guys haven’t been here for many years, so they don’t understand how we feel about the playoffs and how we prepare for them. We were happy to be here--probably elated to be here--and didn’t really look at the game with the importance that it had.”

Rebounding--This was a mismatch on paper--the No. 1 team in the league against the No. 19--but far worse on the floor, where Portland took three rebounds to every one the Lakers did for most of the first half.

“We’re going to have to get in there and rebound, do the dirty work,” Scott said. “We used to have a saying here when we had all the great teams--no rebounds, no rings. It still applies.”

Despite their size disadvantage, the Lakers actually outrebounded the Trail Blazers in three of this season’s five games.

Getting back against Portland’s fast break--Seventeen of the Trail Blazers’ 26 first-half baskets were layups or dunks, 12 of them on the break.

“This team, in a footrace, beats any team in the league,” Dunleavy said. “Between (Jerome) Kersey and (Clyde) Drexler, you’ve got two 440 stars in a track meet. They’re hard to stay with, so you’ve got to get a head start.”

The center matchup--Portland’s Rick Adelman, tired of watching Vlade Divac run rings around Kevin Duckworth, double-teamed Divac from the start.

It was a wise move because Divac is the most erratic of the Laker starters, capable of scoring 25 points, as he did here last weekend, or five, as he did Thursday night.

In the absence of Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Sam Perkins, the Lakers must squeeze every ounce of firepower out of their roster.

Little but Divac remains of the Lakers’ once-dangerous post game. Adelman aims to stop that, too.

In all, it represents enough challenge to keep the Lakers busy for an afternoon.

On the bright side, at least they are still here.

Laker Notes

The Van Halen concert May 1 at the Forum has been moved to May 2 to avoid a conflict with Game 4 of this best-of-five series, should it be necessary. Tickets for the May 1 concert will be honored on May 2. . . . A.C. Green suffered a bruised right hip in a fourth-quarter collision with Jerome Kersey in Game 1. Green practiced lightly Friday but says he will play today. “He’s got a significant injury,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “For him to sit out is significant.”