Lakers Hope This Is Only a Mini-Cramp : Pro basketball: Portland hands L.A. sixth loss in seven games, 111-97, as 50-victory hopes end.

Remain calm, Coach Del Harris insists. Please keep all arms and legs inside until the Laker season has come to a full and complete stop.

It’s just that when teams talk about gaining momentum heading into the playoffs, this isn’t exactly the kind they have in mind: losses in six of seven games heading into the regular-season finale, most recently a 111-97 setback to the Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday night before 12,888 at Memorial Coliseum despite 36 points from Cedric Ceballos and 19 points and 15 rebounds from pinch-starter Sam Bowie.

One game after falling behind by 37 points against Seattle, the Lakers stepped into a 24-point hole against Portland, needing only until early in the second quarter to earn that rout-in-the-making. The only thing that saved them from a second consecutive blowout was a respectable second half.

Now to save the season.

“This is the time you should be getting your game together,” said Bowie, the former Trail Blazer who started in place of flu-ridden Vlade Divac. “We’ve got a long ways to go. The way things are going right now, we’re going to be one of the worst teams heading into the playoffs from the last part of the season.

“It’s not like you can turn it on and off. We need some work to get ready for the playoffs. Hopefully we’ll get that done.”

Added Ceballos: “There should be some concerns.”

If so, Harris is hiding his well.

“You’d like to win every game,” he said, “but the playoffs are a whole different thing. So whether you win all of them or lose all of them, it’s still a whole different mind-set when you go into the playoffs. It’s that simple.

“It really doesn’t affect the playoffs as much as some people think. How you play now just doesn’t equate in the playoffs.”

Divac had been one of only 15 players in the NBA to start every game this season before being forced out. Sedale Threatt, meanwhile, missed his sixth game in a row because of a strained abdominal muscle, a number that is expected to grow to seven Saturday as the Lakers hope the extra time will get him sound in time for next’s week pre-playoff mini-camp.

“He says he can play, but I’m going to resist that temptation,” Harris said of Threatt. “I feel we’re going to get some scrimmages in in Palm Desert, so I don’t want to risk it. The doctors told me the more time the better.”

Divac was the lucky one Thursday. He went back to the hotel and didn’t have to watch the first half, when the Lakers, having suffered the worst defeat in franchise history in their last visit, fell behind, 61-37.

“The ball was Portland’s,” said Ceballos, who made seven three-point baskets, one shy of the franchise record, in 12 attempts. “Every loose ball, every tipped ball, every rebound.”

The Lakers chipped away after intermission, getting as close as 90-83 with 7:39 left. The deficit was eight about a minute and a half later, but the Lakers blew any chance of a successful comeback with three turnovers in the next four possessions, allowing the Trail Blazers to pull ahead by 14 with 3:33 remaining.

Despite the defeat, and despite falling to 48-33 to miss their chance for the first 50-victory season since 1990-91, the Lakers still clinched the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference because Houston lost at Seattle. The Rockets will be No. 6, the Trail Blazers No. 7.

Laker Notes

The Lakers will err on the side of caution when deciding whether Vlade Divac will play Saturday, realizing it is more important to have him completely healthy for the mini-camp in Palm Desert than for the regular-season finale against the Trail Blazers at the Forum. “He’s like Sedale (Threatt),” Coach Del Harris said. “Unless it’s an easy answer, we’ll go the other way. Nothing has changed from Day 1. We want to win games, we want to get to 50 wins, blah, blah, blah. But the name of the game in the NBA is still the playoffs.” . . . The Lakers may have some company next week in the desert. The Trail Blazers are considering that area for a mini-camp of their own if they have a first-round matchup with the Phoenix Suns. Tucson is also a possibility. The Seattle SuperSonics, meanwhile, may be in Santa Barbara.