VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE

Then there was that day in early June, a Friday without apparent flaw when Portland looked like the prettiest place on earth, Mt. Hood sat over there at arm’s length like some glorious dessert and the Trail Blazers tore through L.A. like vicious gossip.

When a city in blinding sun seemed to have gotten out of bed on the right side. When the Blazers dismissed all possible goblins, proved irreversibly they were no fraud and finished a four-day rise from the lip of the crypt to a de facto NBA championship game coming Sunday afternoon. When, while the Blazers made Rose Garden swishes to fend off various Lakers threats, across the river the symphony played.

Some days are better than others. As if all that weren’t enough, the Portland search party looking for Game 7 had a Portlander carrying one of the flashlights, reminding everyone of his capabilities and setting the proverbial tone in the early quarters. Crossing up proponents of the Blazers’ useful big lineup from Game 5, not to mention the Lakers, Damon Stoudamire took meandering jaunts through the forest for a fine collection of field goals. He was the surprise wild-card brandished near the end of the series.

By the end of the day . . . the first NBA title in 23 years looked visible on the horizon, in Laker Coach Phil Jackson’s words when considering what might happen Sunday: “Who knows?”

That’s the beauty of it: nobody. For another day, nobody knows. It’s great when nobody knows.

This particular Friday was so sterling the non-Shaquille Lakers shot 12 for 19 from three-point range to one for eight for the Blazers, generally a signal of doom, but it came off as irrelevant. Scottie Pippen went without a field goal for three quarters, generally a signal of doom, but it came off as another endorsement of his underappreciated capacity to share honors, whereupon he referred to Steve Smith as the “heart and soul” of the team.

Kobe Bryant scored 33 points, and it came off as something pretty to dress up the box score, nothing more. Brian Grant got the ball, waited, looked, waited, moved in and scored. Bonzi Wells was putting Ball State on the map again with a big Friday night flash that screamed promise, and his three-pointer from the edge in the fourth quarter pretty much sealed things.

Smith was the king this time; when he stood at the line in the third quarter, wiped his temple like always and canned free throws, there was an ultimate sense of control. Arvydas Sabonis fought to a virtual draw with Shaquille O’Neal, whose shots often appeared low-percentage, no small trick there. O’Neal, vaunted Maravichian foul-shooter when in Portland, even went three for 10 from the line.

Maybe the Lakers aren’t ready to win yet. Maybe the Blazers are.