Home Not Sweet as Portland Stays Alive

There is no place like home, but no victories there lately, either.

In yet another macabre twist to an already bewildering series, the Lakers’ house was haunted again, inhabited and controlled by the spirit of Scottie Pippen, Steve Smith, Rasheed Wallace and several other things that went dunk in the night.

After the two surging Laker victories in Portland, suddenly, once again, there were howls in the background and gremlins in the Laker machinery.

They had a chance to wrap it up, but . . .

By the time Kobe Bryant had limped out and fouled out, Glen Rice and Robert Horry had shot themselves out, Shaquille O’Neal had been worn out and the rest of the Laker team had bombed out, the Trail Blazers were on the way to a 96-88 victory in Game 5 of the best-of-seven Western Conference finals at Staples Center.

It was the fourth consecutive victory by a road team in this series--after the teams had been won all of their home games in the playoffs--and it narrowed the Laker series lead to 3-2.

Pippen scored 22 points, grabbed six rebounds, had six steals, blocked four shots, and got the entire Laker backcourt into foul trouble.

The Lakers, however disappointed they were about blowing a chance to put this dangerous Portland team away--and losing their second in a row at Staples--mostly shrugged off the defeat.

And they looked north to Portland, where they had won the last three meetings. Portland, meanwhile, was 2-1 against the Lakers at Staples over the same period.

IN QUOTES

“We know in our hearts we can outplay this team. We have throughout this series, but we haven’t completed it in the games. We feel like we’re going to outplay them every time out on the court.”

SCOTTIE PIPPEN,

Trail Blazer forward

THE SERIES

Lakers lead, 3-2