INSIGHTS

THE SCENE

Staples Center did not have the same energy as it did for the start of Saturday afternoon’s Game 1, but it still had a championship-series feel. Because of the 6:30 p.m. start, many late-arriving fans missed most of an evenly played first quarter. Even the Laker girls looked sluggish early.

Music specialist Andre Russell kept the arena rocking with hot tracks, but everyone seemed to be waiting for something big to happen.

But instead of getting a Laker second-half run, the crowd was muzzled when the Trail Blazers dominated the third quarter, and most were on their way home by midway through the fourth.

MOMENT OF THE DAY

Who would have imagined the Lakers holding a four-point lead with the unlikeliest of lineups--Travis Knight, John Salley, Rick Fox, Derek Fisher and Brian Shaw. Because of foul trouble with Shaquille O’Neal, Ron Harper, A.C. Green and Glen Rice, Coach Phil Jackson showed off his cockiness by even taking out Kobe Bryant, who did not have any fouls at the time, and still hoped to have a lead at halftime.

MATCHING UP

Jackson said before Game 1 that the matchup between Rice and Steve Smith would be the key to the series. In the first game, neither Rice or Smith had too much of an impact because of the Lakers’ big early lead. Monday night, Smith gave Portland good balance with four points and four rebounds in the first quarter while Rice went to the bench early with two fouls. In the second quarter, Rice stepped up with four key points in a late Laker run before halftime.

Smith took his game to higher level with 11 points in the third quarter, forcing the Lakers to switch Bryant on him and sending Rice to the bench.

TALE OF THE TAPE

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29 Minutes 36 6 Points 24 3-9 Field goals 8-14 0-5 3-pt FG 2-2 2 Rebounds 4

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OTHER VIEWS

CHUCK CULPEPPER

The Oregonian

*

At various stages of the season, the Trail Blazers have seemed torrid, deflated, wealthy, remote, hip, forgotten, puzzling, refurbished. On Monday night, they just seemed special.

It’s difficult to define special, but you know it when you see it.

Special is when you spend one day in an unsightly debacle looking like you’re running around the woods in the dark with no flashlight, then two days later play as if you’re certain you’re the best anyway.

Special is when you come into a vivid arena ever so sure of its entitlement to a championship, and you empty out the place so dramatically that by the fourth quarter the movie stars are in the hallway chatting and the court might as well be in a barn in Iowa.

Special is when you hold the best team in the league across seven months to eight points in the third quarter in front of those who adore it. The Lakers had looked more like the Grizzlies than the Lakers in playoff games before this month. It’s just that nobody had made them do it at the Staples Center. Must have taken some force to do that.

Special came Monday night, though, wearing black and red. And special stuck around. And special was aggressive and efficient and at moments dazzling.

Special, granted, might not stick around. It might be gone by Friday. It might leak out of this compelling series by Sunday. Who knows? The whole series could be the exercise in whiplash it already has become.

But for one night, special showed, glaring like any billboard on Sunset.

IN QUOTES

“No one said it was going to be easy. Now we’ve got our hands full.”

SHAQUILLE O’NEAL

Laker center

*

“The first half was just awful and we were only down by three points. We certainly could play a better second half was my message to the team at halftime, and we went out and played worse.”

PHIL JACKSON

Laker coach