Lakers Show Mettle in Standing Up to Fire

Trail blazers, indeed.

A wagonload of them rolled through the Rose Garden Tuesday night, trampling a pretty winning streak, planting some serious title hopes.

Amid the most hostile conditions of the season--they were nearly set on fire during introductions, for Phil’s sake--it was the Lakers who cut a new path.

It was the Lakers who cleared fresh ground.

It was the Lakers who found an unmarked course.

Defeating the Portland Trail Blazers, 90-87, in the NBA’s most compelling midseason game in recent history, the Lakers walked away under new horizons.

Not tough enough? Not this team.

The Lakers shrugged off early jitters, late hostilities, the weighty perception that this was a group that could not win this kind of game.

They trailed early and came back.

They lost the lead in the third quarter and came back.

They trailed by one point with three minutes to play and won.

“We did not get out of whack, we stayed in sync,” guard Derek Fisher said. “That was big.”

Not deep enough? Not here.

Shaquille O’Neal was again the man, but he was surrounded by men, the likes of Brian Shaw, Robert Horry, Rick Fox and Fisher.

Shaq didn’t score in the first eight minutes. Kobe Bryant didn’t score in the first quarter and a half. It didn’t matter.

“This is what it will take, all of us,” said Shaw, who offered 23 big minutes worth of rebounding and defense. “Tonight showed that.”

Not defensive enough? Not this time.

The Lakers hassled the league’s best shooting team into 40% shooting.

The Blazers’ final possessions, when they trailed by one point in the final minutes, were marked by wild three-point attempts and a baseline rainbow.

The temperamental Lakers were cool when they had to be cool. The flighty Lakers were tough when necessary.

Amid the deafening roar of 20,584 fans, they somehow always heard the two-fingered whistle of Coach Phil Jackson.

“There are times when you take on the personality of your coach,” Fisher said. “Tonight was one of those times. We could have gotten upset, but we didn’t. We just dug in and concentrated.”

Not humble enough? Not on Tuesday.

The Lakers didn’t strut when they led, didn’t rub it in when they got hot, didn’t show much more emotion than Bryant’s two raised fists at the end of the game.

“We’re not like that,” Fisher said. “Phil is not like that.”

That doesn’t mean that the rest of us can’t start getting giddy.

This is dangerous to write, and downright deadly to believe, but it’s time to fess up.

The Lakers are a championship-caliber team.

Jackson is a coach who can guide them there.

Shaq, whose improved foul shooting makes him nearly unstoppable, is a most valuable player who can lead them there.

The Lakers’ biggest test will be the Trail Blazers, and not only did the Lakers pass that test Tuesday, they showed the stuff that will be required to pass it again and again.

“This atmosphere is what it will be like in May and June,” Shaw said. “That’s why it was so important we showed what we could do under these circumstances.”

And what amazing circumstances they were.

The teams were tied for the league’s best record. It was the first time in NBA history that teams with identical 11-game winning streaks played each other.

The Trail Blazers were first in the league in field-goal percentage.

The Lakers were first in defensive field-goal percentage.

The Lakers lead the lead in rebounding.

The Blazers were second in the league in preventing rebounds.

“I’ve never seen a bigger game in the NBA in my history of the game, in 33 years, where two teams 50, almost 60 games into the season are tied and they’ve got the best record in the league and they’re still bumping it out in a divisional race,” Jackson said before the game. “I just haven’t seen anything quite this dramatic.”

Appropriately, the Lakers stepped on the court like unwelcome big-city crashers at a neighborhood block party.

They were heckled, taunted and booed . . . and then they took their seats for introductions.

By the opening tip, the Lakers had been doused in sparklers, startled with firecrackers, and warmed by billowing flames.

“Do they do that sort of thing all the time?” Shaw asked. “I mean, with the fire?”

As if the screaming red-clad fans needed more incentive, the Trail Blazers executed a sort of leaping slam-dance when taking the floor. What it lacked in form, it made up for in emotion.

It was no big surprise, then, that they scored the first six points, while the Lakers missed their first four shots.

Then something happened.

The Lakers showed a toughness that we have not seen in years.

Trailing, overwhelmed by the fans, smothering in the heat, the Lakers did something awesome.

They did not run from the ball. They ran to the ball.

The championship chase begins.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.