First Notable Test Comes in Portland

The Lakers are 2-0 but not too blind to know what awaits them tonight in Portland.

The Trail Blazers can go big, with Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith at guard and Rasheed Wallace, Detlef Schrempf and Arvydas Sabonis on the frontline.

They can go quick, with Damon Stoudamire and Greg Anthony at guard and Pippen or Stacey Augmon helping to pressure the ball.

And the Lakers, who lost badly to Portland in the exhibition season, right now aren’t particularly big or quick.

“Oh, they’re the best team money can buy in the NBA,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said Friday, referring to the Trail Blazers’ off-season acquisitions of Pippen, Smith and Schrempf--and the trading and then re-signing of Augmon.

“Whatever they’ve done, however they’ve manufactured that roster, my congratulations goes to whoever was able. Whether it was the owner who was able to spend that kind of money or it was the general manager. . . .

“I think [they made] great moves in the off-season.”

Swingman Rick Fox, who may get some time matched against the 6-foot-11 Wallace, said it’s important for the Lakers to show they can play with Portland.

“If it’s not a message sent now, we have to somewhere down the line be able to play with this team, prove that you can compete on your court as well as on their court,” Fox said.

Jackson is obviously very familiar with Pippen, who is familiar enough with the Lakers’ triangle offense that he single-handedly broke it apart in the exhibition matchup.

Jackson said the Lakers will definitely have to play better than in victories over Utah and Vancouver to counter Portland’s talent.

“We think we can beat them even though they’re the best team in the league,” Jackson said. “We believe we can beat teams, and we’ll find a way to do it.

“To do that, we’re going to have to be a very clever, intelligent basketball club, which I don’t know if we’re capable of doing for 48 minutes, let alone put the kind of energy into it in a game like this.”

TONIGHT

at Portland

7, Channel 9

* Site--Rose Garden, Portland, Ore.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 2-0, Trail Blazers 3-0.

* Record vs. Trail Blazers (1999)--2-2.

* Update--Portland is without power forward Brian Grant (injured list), but the Trail Blazers are so deep that, by putting Wallace in the starting lineup and getting Schrempf more minutes than expected, they’ve hardly missed a beat. The Lakers have lost six consecutive regular-season games in Portland, dating to April 1996.