View From The Other Side

This time, there was no third-quarter collapse, no rash of turnovers, no defensive breakdowns, no long faces on the bench, and, ultimately, no end to the Trail Blazers’ season.

Yes, there will be a Game 6 on Friday.

The Trail Blazers defied the odds--the ones that said a road team would not win two consecutive playoff games at Staples Center--and beat the Lakers, 96-88, on Tuesday night to keep their NBA championship hopes alive.

The wire-to-wire win effectively erased the uneasy feelings the Blazers had after consecutive home losses and created talk about the possibility of a Game 7 on Sunday.

“We have a lot of pride and a lot of veterans on this team,” forward Detlef Schrempf said. “We didn’t want to go out like we did at home. Maybe we can go back home and finally win a game.”

Win at home? A novel idea perhaps in a series in which the road team has won each of the last four games but something the Trail Blazers are counting on.

“It’s really not saying much if we don’t handle our business at home,” guard Bonzi Wells said. “This game right here would be for nothing if we lose our next game.”

As in the previous two games, the Trail Blazers got off to a fast start and led at halftime. The difference was in the way they responded in the third quarter when the Lakers mounted a charge.

The Trail Blazers are not even considering a possible repeat of what happened in Games 3 and 4.

“Not that the Lakers didn’t beat us, they did a great job, but we kind of let Game 3 go,” guard Steve Smith said. “Now, we feel we gave ourselves a chance again, and we’re going to try to not slip up again going back to Portland.”

As well as the Trail Blazers played in Los Angeles, would they prefer to stay?

“We’ll try to come back,” Smith said. “That’s what we’re trying to do.”