Dunleavy Not Sad Last Time Lakers Went Out This Early

Their demise in the playoffs at the hands of Portland was the first time the Lakers got the boot in the first round since 1981, when they lost a best-of-three mini-series to Houston, 2-1.

Who was the Rocket who scored the winning points in Game 3 to eliminate the defending NBA champion Lakers?

Mike Dunleavy.

Yes, on April 5, 1981, before 14,813 at the Forum, the-man-who-would-be-Laker-coach sank an uncontested 15-foot jump shot with 15 seconds left for what proved to be the winning points in an 89-86 Rocket victory.

Dunleavy scored 10 points in 14 minutes and said afterward that he felt vindicated.

“Everybody said we didn’t belong in the playoffs,” he said.

Sound familiar?

Add Dunleavy: He also said after the game that he was spurred on by a suggestion in The Times that day that he might not start Game 3 because he had been ineffective.

Last add Dunleavy: Even now, he clearly recalls his game-winning shot and its ramifications.

“After that, they put in the ‘Laker rule,’ ” he said.

The “Laker Rule?”

“Yeah, after that, they changed the first round from three games to five.”

Mr. Million: For what it’s worth, Monday marked the 17th anniversary of major league baseball’s millionth run, scored by Bob Watson of the Houston Astros, who crossed the plate at Candlestick Park on Milt May’s home run.

Trivia time: Who scored the 1,000,0001st run?

Long odds: Besides Sunday’s playoff game with the Trail Blazers, the only other time the Lakers played in Las Vegas was April 5, 1984, a regular-season game against the Utah Jazz in which Kareem Abdul-Jabbar broke Wilt Chamberlain’s scoring record of 31,419 points.

Lottery fever: In Milwaukee, the Bucks don’t have a general manager or even a coach, but they do have a lottery pick. Because of that, club Vice President John Steinmiller thinks there will be a number of coaches interested.

Said Steinmiller: “There may be candidates who don’t even know they’re candidates yet.”

Ole! For the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Barcelona, there will be more than 10,000 athletes, dozens of flamenco dancers, a 110-piece orchestra, some of the world’s great tenors, flags from 172 nations . . . and not one bull.

Bullfighting may be an integral part of Spanish culture, but when it was proposed that a bull be part of opening ceremonies, the suggestion was vetoed after complaints from animal-rights groups.

Ball 2: The ball Babe Ruth supposedly hit for his 60th home run in 1927 was sold for $200,000 last weekend at an auction in San Francisco. Only problem is, the Baseball Hall of Fame said the real No. 60 home run ball is actually safely in Cooperstown, which means the unidentified buyer either made a great deal or paid way too much.

Bedtime story: Terri and Kerri Kirkwood are both soccer stars at Union High in Tulsa, Okla., and identical twins, but Terri insists they really are different: “She’s a slob, I’m neat. All we do is argue about her not putting things away.”

Kerri said she actually is a slob. “My motto is, why make your bed when you’re going to sleep in it the next night anyway?”

Trivia answer: Dave Concepcion of Cincinnati, who was edged by Watson by just seconds.

Quotebook: From new Wisconsin basketball Coach Stu Jackson: “People tell me, ‘You don’t have the players Michigan has.’. . . Tell me something I don’t know.”