Portland’s Win Underscores Two Big Questions for L.A.

Despite the many dynamics at work in the getting-

better-all-the-time rivalry between the Lakers and Portland Trail Blazers, a playoff series between the teams will come down to two things: what the Lakers can do about Rasheed Wallace, and whether Shaquille O’Neal can make his free throws in crunch time.

The answers to those topics Christmas Day were nothing and nope, which is why Portland went home quite content with a 109-104 victory.

The Lakers indeed are “very capable of beating this team,” as O’Neal said Monday. But he’ll have to shoot free throws as effectively as he did during the Western Conference finals (particularly in the fourth quarter of Game 1 and all of Game 4) and the Lakers have to make Wallace their top priority.

He wore them out last season, and even with some changes in Laker personnel he continued his assault on them Monday.

There were times newcomer Horace Grant defended him perfectly, and Wallace still scored. Wallace’s 33 points were not necessarily a reflection on Grant and backup Robert Horry.

Wallace can do that to almost anyone. As teammate Bonzi Wells said: “The only person I ever saw stop him from doing anything is his wife.”

The Trail Blazers are supposed to be a team of many weapons, but Wallace kept them in the game almost single-handedly during the first half.

He came up with 20 points, keeping the Trail Blazers in the game even though they surrendered 61 points to the Lakers.

He added 11 points in the third quarter, including six during the Trail Blazers’ 9-2 run that opened the second half and gave them their first lead of the game.

Wallace also racked up the fouls on Grant and Horry. The answer is not as simple as sending another defender to double-team him, because with Portland just about any player you leave open can hurt you.

“We think we’ve got so much of a mismatch with Rasheed,” guard Steve Smith said. “We thought their game plan would be they’d start doubling, but I guess they feel they don’t want to double him.

“He started shooting it well. The plays we were going to run for other people, we said, ‘Hey, let’s go to him until they start stopping him or doubling.’ ”

The Lakers finally sent Rick Fox (off Scottie Pippen) to help in the second half. Then Fox got into foul trouble as well, and there went that idea.

You want to start a sports discussion that can last all day? Ask your buddies to pick the top power forward in the NBA. Or even the top two. Or try to limit it to three. It’s not easy with a field that includes Tim Duncan, Chris Webber, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone--and Wallace.

Horry includes Wallace in his top three, along with Malone and Duncan.

“He’s one of the best power forwards, he just doesn’t get a lot of credit for it because he gets a lot of techs,” Horry said.

Those technical fouls are Wallace’s biggest weakness. The referees are more effective against him than any defender. Wallace had 38 technicals and six ejections last season. He has two ejections this season, and he picked up his 16th technical Monday while protesting a loose ball foul.

That’s what he’s known for by the fans. What the players realize is Wallace can sink the straightaway jump shot if he’s left open, but he loves to go to the baseline and do work with that turnaround jumper. He’s mobile defensively, and he ranks 11th in the league in blocked shots (2.19 a game). He bangs inside too.

“The hardest thing is, he’s stronger than what people think he is, because he’s not cut up like most strong guys,” Horry said. “Then he jumps so high.”

When he’s at full extension, with his long arms, he looks like a construction crane, swinging steel beams into place atop a skyscraper.

For the Lakers, Monday’s loss was built brick by brick. O’Neal missed a chance to cap a three-point play and pad the Lakers’ two-point lead with 5:38 remaining. He missed two more free throws after an Arvydas Sabonis foul, leaving the Lakers down by four with 3:03 left. With 2:11 remaining and the Trail Blazers ahead by six, Portland tried a quick Hack-a-Shaq away from the ball and he complied by missing both free throws.

At 38% for the season, O’Neal’s free throws are a “random event,” as Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy called them during last season’s playoffs. At least back then, O’Neal had a 50-50 chance, the odds being as good as a flip of a coin.

His errant free throws are becoming one of the planet’s great mysteries, as inexplicable as the Great Pyramids, the Easter Island statues, and Eddie Murphy’s decision to star in “The Golden Child” while at the peak of his career.

When O’Neal steps up and makes them, as he did at Houston last week, the Lakers win. When he misses as he did Monday, the Lakers lose the close games.

O’Neal had it going in the first half, when he made five of his first seven attempts from the line. But he lost his rhythm in the second half.

That underscores the importance of keeping him involved in the offense. When the Lakers are feeding him the ball his confidence seems to grow in every aspect of the game. When they stop paying attention to him, he becomes disconnected.

This time it wasn’t a case of Kobe Bryant overstepping his bounds. Bryant had a very restrained game, matching O’Neal by attempting 20 field goals and 14 free throws. If anything, it was a game that cried out for Bryant to take over, but he didn’t put his stamp on the game.

Instead the game belonged to Wallace. Even though Stoudamire did most of the scoring in the fourth, Wallace made a big jumper for that six-point lead, and drew a charge on Bryant to crush the Lakers’ last hope. “He’s our all-star,” Wells said. “He’s our everything.”

On the “best team money can buy,” Wallace is looking like the wisest investment.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: ja.adande@latimes.com