Careless Victory Bothers Harris

The All-Star break came five minutes early to the Lakers on Wednesday night, having started the mini-vacation without the Portland Trail Blazers doing the same. So what was once an impressive showing, from 23 points ahead in the third quarter and 16 points up with 5:05 left in the fourth, became a tainted seven-point victory over Portland.

Along the way, the Lakers got the answer to how long they could maintain the intensity found Sunday against the Chicago Bulls. Not an entire game.

“Basically, I hate to see our team get careless and loose-ended with the lead,” Coach Del Harris said. “That’s embarrassing. Not to be able to execute better with a big lead.”

Especially on defense. The Trail Blazers made 15 of 26 shots (57.7%) in the fourth quarter and forced Harris to keep his regulars in when they should have gotten rest.

The Lakers were outscored, 41-28, in the period. The Lakers were left with a bad feeling over what should have been a nice win.

“I want it to hurt as much when a team scores when we’re up by 20 points as when we’re tied,” Harris said. “That’s when you have defensive pride.”

Added Shaquille O’Neal: “We kind of laid down in the fourth quarter. When we came out in the fourth, we saw that their starters had quit, and we kind of laid down.”

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Nick Van Exel reported no problems with his strained hip or sore knee after playing 34 minutes against the Trail Blazers, his first action in a week.

“I was feeling good as far as my conditioning was concerned,” he said. “I wasn’t nervous. I don’t think I was pressing or anything.”

Not even close. Van Exel made nine of 12 shots, scored 23 points and had 11 assists without a turnover.