Harper Says Lakers Need to Be Letter Perfect to Get Job Done

Two superstars versus the team that could field two separate, competitive starting fives. The best record versus the second-best record. Phil Jackson versus Scottie Pippen in the ultimate post-Michael Jordan clash.

The Lakers versus the Portland Trail Blazers, in the Western Conference finals, starts today with loads of dramatic angles and a tension that has been building practically all season.

“This is what we asked for and y’all asked for and every fan said--these are the two teams here,” said Laker co-captain Ron Harper. “So, we’re here now. . . .

“We know they are a good team. Our main concern is that we have to use our ‘A’ game. They can play their ‘C’ game and be a good team. We have to bring our team game. Every guy on our team needs to play a sound game.”

Jackson, though, put it another way: His stars--Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant--will carry the Lakers; who will carry the Trail Blazers?

“Our star players, the guys that are our money guys, have to do their job and carry the load,” Jackson said. “Portland doesn’t have guys that carry that kind of a scoring average except for maybe Rasheed Wallace; outside of that, everybody else pretty much fills it in.

“We have to be able to keep those guys not clicking, so that a guy like [Steve] Smith doesn’t all of a sudden hit us for 24 or something like that, or [Arvydas] Sabonis [doesn’t] get 20 points or whatever. . . .”

In fact, Jackson said he considers the matchup of Smith defending Glen Rice the most important of the series.

“They’ve been able to get away with playing Smith on Rice,” Jackson said. “And we have not really taken advantage of Steve Smith. He’s a kid that’s playing with a pretty bad leg and defensively he has some liabilities, and we haven’t really exploited that with Glen.

“That’s a matchup where he’s got to show he can overwhelm him.”

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Don’t tell Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy that the Lakers’ bench is a weak link, compared to the Trail Blazers’ second unit, because he is not buying that theory.

“They’ve got three guys who were starters on a 61-win team from last season,” Dunleavy said. “They have [Derek] Fisher, [Rick] Fox and [Robert] Horry, who has won championships as a starter. I think they try and deflect some of that attention . . . but they, as much as anybody, have a strong and talented bench.”

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Jackson said he isn’t too concerned that Pippen, who played in Jackson’s triangle offense for nine seasons in Chicago, can use his knowledge to blow up the Laker offense.

“We’ve always said the more people know about our offense, the more susceptible they are to getting burned,” Jackson said. “We like to use it against people.”

Pippen admits he still remembers the triangle but said his familiarity with Jackson and the coach’s system will be of little help to the Trail Blazers.

“What I know and what I see is not going to slow Shaq down, it’s not going to slow Kobe down, and it’s not going to slow Rice down,” Pippen told the Portland Oregonian. “We have to go out there and play.”

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Jackson had a minor comeback for Dunleavy’s suggestion earlier this week that O’Neal could have been called for illegal defense many times in a recent playoff game.

“I’m concerned that Mike’s concerned about the officiating and Mike’s concerned about counting illegal defenses,” Jackson said, grinning. “That bothers me. . . .

“If you’ve got to play a series in hopes that the officiating is in your favor or sees things your way, I think you’ve misconstrued what your game’s all about.”

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Portland point guard Greg Anthony, who played for the New York Knicks when they battled the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s, believes the Lakers-Trail Blazers could turn into a heated rivalry.

“It’s a little different because neither team has won a championship and I don’t think necessarily there’s a clear-cut favorite,” Anthony said. “Initially, going into those New York-versus-Chicago series, the Bulls had won a championship by the time I had got there along with Pat Riley. We basically put ourselves to be a challenger to them.

“It’s a little different now because both teams are going into it probably at the same level, regardless of the regular season. . . . This could be the start of something great in terms of a rivalry. Hopefully, we’ll be the one to win a championship and start a rivalry.”