He Is Baited by Fans No More : Trail Blazers: Center Duckworth, booed in Portland after a poor start this season, becomes a hero against the Lakers.

Voted the NBA’s most improved player four years ago, Portland Trail Blazer center Kevin Duckworth was one of the NBA’s most disappointing players this season, his scoring average dropping from 15.8 points last season to 10.7.

“I was on the All-Star team last year, but this year I couldn’t even make water boy,” Duckworth said.

But Duckworth played like an All-Star as the Trail Blazers beat the Lakers, 101-79, in a first-round playoff game Saturday before a sellout crowd of 12,888 at the Coliseum, scoring a game-high 19 points, grabbing nine rebounds and blocking two shots as Portland took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

After helping the Trail Blazers reach the NBA Western Conference finals for the second consecutive season in 1991, Duckworth was the scapegoat as the Lakers eliminated Portland. Duckworth shot 36.8% and averaged 4.5 turnovers for the six-game series.

In foul trouble for much of the series against the Lakers last season, Duckworth maintained that the referees took him out of the series, complaining that Laker center Vlade Divac drew fouls by acting.

But Duckworth wasn’t in foul trouble Saturday.

“(Divac) tends to get to me when he does all this flopping and the referees go with it,” Duckworth said. “Now I just don’t care. If he flops, he just flops.”

Divac said he doesn’t take dives.

“He says I flop. He is strong,” Divac said. “He hits me, I must go back.”

Perhaps angry about being ejected during Portland’s 109-101 loss to the Lakers last Saturday, Duckworth told Kerry Eggers, who covers the Trail Blazers for the Portland Oregonian, that Divac, who outscored him, 25-11, is a wimp.

“He makes statements to fans, media, referees (that) I do this and I do that,” Divac said. “That’s not fair. I just want to play. My name is not wimp.

“When he lose last game, he was angry because he played bad. When I play bad I am mad at myself. Don’t go around saying, ‘Vlade does this, Vlade does that.’ ”

Duckworth was criticized by Portland’s fans after the Trail Blazers started poorly this season. It didn’t help that Duckworth, 7-feet, 280-pounds, was overweight and out of shape when he reported to training camp.

“I’m not as sensitive as people make it seem,” Duckworth said. “But I don’t appreciate things that aren’t true. If you’ve got something to say to me, I’d appreciate it if you’d print it right and don’t make it seem like I’m the one who’s not out here trying to work hard and I’m the bad guy. I work hard every day.”

Duckworth was so depressed by his start this season that he said he wanted to escape from the NBA by buying a farm to raise bait worms.

“You try to play in my position and get all the grief I get,” Duckworth said. “People just don’t appreciate it. They don’t appreciate nothing. You can’t run anywhere. You just play.”

Duckworth drew a standing ovation from the fans after Saturday’s game. But he will always remember the hurt he felt when the fans booed him.

“This doesn’t make up for nothing,” Duckworth said. “I’ll never forget it. I know that people aren’t true . . . making me feel all great one moment and then talking about me behind my back the next.”