Lakers Respond a Little Too Late

This back-to-back knocked the Lakers on theirs. Flat. Like their approach to games.

A low-scoring, poor-shooting loss at home Sunday night was followed by one on the road Monday night that wasn’t much better. The Lakers lost, 105-99, to the Portland Trail Blazers before 20,721 at the Rose Garden despite 24 points and 12 assists by Nick Van Exel and 17 points, 12 rebounds and seven blocked shots by Elden Campbell.

But their offensive struggles, coming a day after they scored 84 points and shot 36.1% against the Cleveland Cavaliers, were not the biggest problem.

The team that started 11-0 because of its great energy--as opposed to having great energy because of an 11-0 start--is suddenly struggling to find the sense of urgency it only recently had been able to attach to every game. That much is a labor now, let alone finding the energy to come back from a double-digit deficit early in the fourth quarter for the second night in a row.

“We cannot fault the heart of the team,” Coach Del Harris said after his Lakers got within 97-93 with 58 seconds left but fell short again when forced to foul. “But we’re not coming out and playing with the same, oh, enthusiasm, energy and looseness that we were during the streak.

“We do when we get behind. It seems like we pick up the pace. But we don’t run the court as well and we don’t push ourselves at either end like we were. It looks like we’re coming out tired and yet it’s obvious that we’re in condition because we play good in the fourth quarter.”

Added Rick Fox: “I don’t know if it’s enthusiasm. Just a failure to recognize these teams are all out to knock us off. You don’t get to 15-2 unnoticed.”

The strange part is that the Lakers recognized their lofty standing around the league when they were 0-0.

“It’s one thing to know it,” Fox said, “Another to react and respond like you’re being hunted.”

They should have expected at least as much from the Trail Blazers, winners of four in a row and five of seven after getting a game-high 26 points from Isaiah Rider.

This was the first meeting since the teams played eight times in 1996-97, with the Trail Blazers winning three of four in the regular season and the Lakers winning three of four when it really mattered--the first round of the playoffs.

Of course, what came right before then mattered enough. A loss to Portland on the final day of the regular season cost the Lakers the Pacific Division championship.

Few teams trouble the Lakers as much as the Trail Blazers, who now hold a 23-11 lead in the series since the 1990-91 season. Even worse, the Trail Blazers also are in position to keep stride with these new Lakers--also young and also big and athletic, the exception in the mobility department being center Arvydas Sabonis and he counters by passing and shooting like a guard in a way that can present unique matchup problems.

“It should be two teams battling one another for some time,” Harris said. “Both have the financial resources, both have good cities to play in, although totally different, and have good management in both franchises.”

As if on cue, the teams played it close Monday. The Trail Blazers built a 10-point lead in the second quarter, but the Lakers cut that in half right before halftime and then eliminated it completely in the third period, the final time at 64-64. Portland took off again from there, pushing the lead back to 11 heading into the fourth, a lead that proved insurmountable.

The Trail Blazers, having won only four of their previous eight home games, played without point guard Kenny Anderson for the second game in a row because of a bruised left thigh. But his replacement, rookie Alvin Williams, made seven of 10 shots and finished with 16 points.

Backup point guard Rick Brunson also had a major role by making six consecutive free throws in the final 19 seconds.

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* NO PROBLEM: Perhaps a bit surprisingly, the Lakers were understanding about being booed at the Forum on Sunday night. C5

* COMPLAINT BOARD: “It’s tough because you never know what to expect,” Clipper Keith Closs says of his erratic playing time this season. C5