Grizzlies Are Made to Order

How do you like your Grizzly?

Sauteed on a toothpick? Grilled on a little piece of rye? Lightly breaded with Dijon mustard?

Into every star-spangled Hollywood opening, some hors d’oeuvres must fall, which is how Vancouver’s young Grizzlies fit into Wednesday night as the Lakers’ first opponent in the gaudy Staples Center.

It was your basic Pamela Anderson Lee-with-bare-midriff-seated-courtside, celebrity-packed crowd, the kind usually seen in the playoffs. Unaccustomed to regular-season play, many of the celebs may not even have known Vancouver had a team in the NBA before Wednesday.

Of course, the Grizzlies lost.

In five seasons in the league, they’ve only won twice in Los Angeles, both times over the Clippers, whose down cycles reduce them to expansion caliber every three or four years. Vancouver’s best chance of beating the Lakers here would be playing in an arena with the lights out.

The Grizzlies started the night in their usual desperate straits, with the team winless after an opening-night rout by Portland, coming off a 1-7 exhibition season, with the very future of the franchise up in the air, absentee owner Tom McGaw having sold to Wal-Mart son-in-law Bill Laurie with the proviso that McGaw would get an extra $50 million if Laurie moves the team to St. Louis.

The league put that one on hold for the moment, Commissioner David Stern being much enamored of his “international” involvement with Canada. Stern reportedly learned of the sale at the Vancouver airport in October, where he had just landed to preside over the league meetings, so you can imagine how delighted he was.

Meanwhile, the team that had never won 20 games in any of its first four seasons, was hard at work dealing with its top draft pick, Maryland’s Steve Francis.

Francis’ agent had told the Grizzlies that while their client appreciated their interest, he didn’t want to go there.

Nevertheless, Vancouver took him anyway with the No. 2 pick, passing up . . . Lamar Odom.

Then, when Francis went public with his distress, Vancouver shopped him around the league, ultimately sending him to Houston for Michael Dickerson and a bunch of veterans, many of whom are now on the injured list.

“This season was really the first opportunity we’ve had to get some veteran players who are quality veteran players, that have won, that have played deep into the playoffs, that bring some veteran leadership to the team,” Coach Brian Hill said before the game. “Guys like Grant Long, Antoine Carr, Doug West, Dennis Scott.

“I think we have a group of guys that can really help our young players develop and mature and are going to be able to help win basketball games.”

Of course, not right away.

“Well, right now, we have Grant Long [sprained right knee] out, Antoine Carr [sore right knee], Dennis Scott [pulled right hamstring] out,” Hill said.

“Doug West [coming off toe surgery] hasn’t really taken a full practice yet . . . so we’re a little short on the vets right now, but we’re looking forward to getting them all back.”

With their vets indisposed, the Grizzlies took the floor with the usual talented-if-painfully-tender gang: center Bryant Reeves, 26, forwards Othella Harrington, 25, and Shareef Abdur-Rahim, 22, and guards Dickerson, 24, and Mike Bibby, 21.

Reeves is the dean of the unit, having been in Vancouver for four seasons, although this is the first one that he reported in shape.

Of course, the present Lakers are not yet the powerhouse that Phil Jackson has in mind, and may not even be as good as some of the clubs Del Harris fielded, so they didn’t exactly bomb the Grizzlies back to the stone age.

At halftime, the Lakers were only leading by a point and it might have been a different story if Shaquille O’Neal didn’t have 14 of their 49 points, nine of their 21 rebounds, four of their 17 assists and two of their four blocked shots.

In the second half, of course, the Grizzlies faded, right on cue. Even if this season isn’t shaping up as the usual Laker tour de force, their first-night fans went home happy.

Hill finished the game calling two late timeouts, seeming to irritate Jackson, who noted it later, and taking several intentional fouls. The Grizzly coach said he just wanted to work on some game situations.

“I said to them [his players], ‘We’ve got 80 left,’ ” Hill said afterward. “We couldn’t say that last year.”

Last season only had 50 games, so that’s something. There’s a future out there waiting for the Grizzlies, if only they can get to it.