Worthy High Is Laker Low at the Finish : Pro basketball: Forward reaches 15,000 points, but Trail Blazers rally behind Drexler and Porter, 105-103.

The cheers were nice, the souvenir ball even nicer, but James Worthy would gladly have sacrificed his personal milestone for a better team effort in the closing minutes on Thursday night.

Worthy became the fifth Laker and 63rd NBA player to amass 15,000 points when he made a layup with 6:59 to play in the third quarter, stopping the game so the sellout crowd of 12,888 at Memorial Coliseum could pay tribute. If the Lakers could have stopped a late Trail Blazer surge as effectively, they might have been celebrating instead of bemoaning a 105-103 loss.

“I would have rather had a victory,” said Worthy, who joined Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson at the Lakers’ 15,000-point level. “But they hit a couple of threes down the stretch. It happens. We were playing a little conservative, trying to play the game in the last couple of minutes. A couple of threes for them and a couple of miscommunications on defense, and we couldn’t knock down the last couple.

“I only wish we could have had this game going into the All-Star break. But we played hard and it went down to the last shot, so I guess there is something good about that.”

After Sedale Threatt missed a shot from inside the three-point line, Byron Scott hit the rim just before the buzzer, ending the Lakers’ three-game winning streak. In truth, it ended moments earlier, when Portland suddenly rediscovered its long-range touch after shooting miserably from long range most of the game.

A jumper by A.C. Green gave the Lakers a 99-91 lead, but Portland’s All-Star duo of Clyde Drexler and Terry Porter took over. Drexler made two three-pointers and Porter made one, cutting the Lakers’ lead to 103-101 with 1:11 to play. Drexler tied it with two free throws and Porter scored what proved to be the winner, a driving layup with 26.5 seconds to play.

“We worked hard all night not to give Porter and Drexler those looks outside, and then they hit when it hurt the most,” Coach Randy Pfund said after the Lakers’ first loss to Portland in four games this season. “We had two real good looks and we couldn’t knock it down. It was a tough last three minutes.”

Worthy finished with 26 points to lead the Lakers, who made 53.8% of their shots. Drexler scored 20 points.

Despite the loss, the Lakers head into the All-Star break with six victories in nine games and a four-game home winning streak. However, they still face the possibility of a trade before they reconvene Monday afternoon.

“Some teams with this record (26-23) at the All-Star break would say, ‘We’re in the top 11, 12 teams in the league and if we’re OK in the second half we can be a serious contender.’ That kind of approach does not get a lot of headlines in L.A.,” Pfund said. “For a number of years, we were so good, to be somewhat good and be in the pack fighting is not achieving what we want to achieve.”

“As a coach, all you can do is get guys to work hard for you. The first half we had a lot of ups and downs and I’ve tried not to focus on that. I’ve tried to focus on the high points, that we can play with any team in the league. Randy Pfund is not discouraged at all by this team’s position at this point.”

Laker Notes

Because of a technicality related to roster changes, Tracy Murray did not return Thursday from the three-game suspension imposed against him and Dave Johnson for their involvement with three teen-age girls in a Salt Lake City hotel room. The Trail Blazers were told they could bring back only one player, and Johnson won the coin toss. . . . “This whole situation has made me a stronger human being, a stronger person, so I don’t think anything can bother me,” Murray said of public criticism. “I’m sure fans are going to yell out different things and I’m sure it’s going to bounce off me.”