Divac Makes His Point(s) With Duckworth : Lakers: Called a wimp by the Trail Blazers’ center, he outscores his rival, 18-10, in Game 3.

Laker center Vlade Divac, called a wimp by Portland center Kevin Duckworth, didn’t play like a wimp against the Trail Blazers Wednesday.

After scoring just 15 points as Portland defeated the Lakers in the first two games of their NBA first-round playoff series, Divac scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds as the Lakers remained alive with a 121-119 victory in overtime before a crowd of 16,690 at the Forum.

Was Divac offended by Duckworth’s comments?

“I don’t care about it,” Divac said. “It hurt me because if I’m in his position I never say that. It hurt me the first day, but after that I don’t care about that because everybody can say anything.

“It motivate me because Portland is one of the best teams in the NBA this season. I had big wish before the game to play really good. I think we played one of best games this season. There was a lot of pressure but we wanted (to win) more than Portland this game.”

The Yugoslav-born center, who’s still learning the meaning of some American slang phrases, might not have fully understood the full implication of being called a wimp.

“He’s Americanized to a certain degree, but words really don’t bother him as much,” Laker guard Byron Scott said of Divac. “But I think us telling him what wimp means had him ready to play basketball.

“I’d hate to be called a name and if somebody called me a wimp then I’d definitely come on the court to prove a point.”

Divac had been outscored by Duckworth, 27-15, in the first two games. In Game 3, however, Duckworth scored just 10 points and had six rebounds.

“He went to the basket more and he got more shots tonight,” Duckworth said. “Next time I’ll know not to switch him off so much and let him get so many easy baskets.”

Does Duckworth regret calling Divac a wimp?

“I didn’t say Vlade is a wimp, I said wimps flop,” Duckworth said. “It doesn’t make any difference. He’s a man and I’m a man. I’m going to come out and play my hardest and he’s going to play his hardest.”

Divac said he didn’t talk to Duckworth during the game.

“We didn’t talk with language, just with the ball,” Divac said.

After Coach Mike Dunleavy appeared to get upset with Divac for taking several questionable shots in the final period, Divac made up for it when he took a pass from Elden Campbell and made a reverse layup and added a free throw to give the Lakers a 117-116 lead with 27.5 seconds left in overtime. Divac thrust both hands into the air in celebration afterward.

“Vlade’s the key for us,” Scott said. “If Vlade plays well like he did tonight and he’s very emotional then we have a good chance of winning the series.”

Laker guard Terry Teagle agreed. “Vlade really played well tonight,” Teagle said. “He pass much better tonight and read the trap better. I think he picked up his game a notch.”

Outrebounded, 96-59, in the first two games, the Lakers did a better job on the boards Wednesday, getting just five rebounds less than the Trail Blazers.

“I said before this series that the most important key is rebounding,” Divac said. “Rebounding is most important thing. We played really soft at Portland. If you try to win and you lose, you can say, ‘OK I tried.’ But we didn’t try.

“I think we had our greatest effort tonight.”