Lakers Caught in Mousetrap

Back to the hotel went the Lakers late Tuesday night, their luggage and their bodies and the heaviest load of all, their emotions, doing nothing to help expedite the process. Not dragging on the ground like that.

At least no one had to worry about lugging a broom back. Those images were forced to be discarded along with the plans for another lengthy break, both replaced by a 99-94 loss to the Trail Blazers before 21,558 at the Rose Garden that allowed Portland to remain alive in the best-of-five series.

This is how it’s possible for a team with a 2-1 lead and still in control, with two more chances to win one game, with one of those at home if needed, to be so disappointed. Because they had checked out Tuesday afternoon, planned to complete the sweep, to fly back to Los Angeles after, and to get several days off before starting the Western Conference semifinals while Seattle continued to fall on its sword.

Instead, turn-down service.

“We’re really upset about it,” Eddie Jones said after the Lakers lost for the third time in as many games this season in Portland. “We had an opportunity--a great opportunity--to close a team out. And we didn’t.”

Upset, but not surprised. Or at least they shouldn’t be.

The worst free-throw shooting team in the league lost by five points after going 19 of 35 (54.3%) from the line, a reminder that maybe the Trail Blazers shouldn’t have complained so much Sunday about all the Lakers getting all such calls and instead embraced it as a game plan. Shaquille O’Neal had 36 points--but missed eight of 12 tries there.

The team that had finished 16th in the league in rebounding percentage, even after a significant improvement in the second half, lost a close game after getting hammered on the boards, 52-38. O’Neal had 16--and no other Laker contributed more than five.

“That’s the way it goes,” Elden Campbell said. “Back here, try to finish it up on Thursday. It is Thursday, isn’t it?”

It is. Game 4 at the Rose Garden, when the Lakers get another chance to win the series, or the first chance to show they can avoid genuine trouble in the series. A win that night could still get them a few days off, but only as long as the SuperSonics and Timberwolves play a deciding Game 5 on Saturday, which would delay the start of the second round until Monday or Tuesday.

As much as the Lakers have themselves to blame for what has now become an extended stay, there’s also the little matter of the little point guard, 5-foot-10 Damon Stoudamire. The Mouse that roared.

In his first playoff series after having spent the previous 2 1/2 seasons in Toronto, and maybe even his first playoff effort considering the 35.5% in the two outings at the Great Western Forum that largely reduced him to a nonfactor, it was the Portland native who lifted the Portland team. Three consecutive times, he got past Nick Van Exel and down the lane, earning a three-point play, two free throws after being fouled by Van Exel and, finally, a driving layup, giving the Trail Blazers an 81-77 lead they would not relinquish.

In all, Stoudamire, known as Mighty Mouse, scored nine of his 18 points in the fourth quarter, when all the Trail Blazers combined to outscore the Lakers by eight points. Rasheed Wallace also had nine of his 11 in the same period.

O’Neal got 15 points and six rebounds then, with almost no support, ruining what could have been seen as a huge game had his team won.

He missed his first shot, from close range, and then made his next five. And that was a warmup. The 10 points in that time, and the showcase of the repertoire, was a followed by the second quarter . . . and a 12-point performance. That put him 22 points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes, and carried the Lakers to a 50-48 lead at intermission.

Then in the third quarter, he took just one shot, a miss, and grabbed two rebounds. He reemerged in the fourth, but single-handedly. That meant everyone had to stay around for two more days.

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* FANGS BARED: The Minnesota Timberwolves stunned Seattle, 98-90, to take a 2-1 series lead. C9