Lakers Regain Their Edge on Road as Harper’s Shot Beat Trail Blazers

Did you see it? As Kobe Bryant cradled the precious game ball in his precocious hands in the eerily silent final second Friday night, did you see what popped out?

After he stifled the Portland Trail Blazer offense, crammed the ball down their smart defense, snapped shut the gaping mouths of their 20,135 fans, then stuffed Arvydas Sabonis on the game’s last play to ensure a victory . . . did you see what escaped?

His tongue.

Of course, his tongue, flapping happily, a sloppy victory flag, the NBA symbol of all that is good and right and . . .

“Jordanesque,” said teammate John Salley. “Kobe had a night that was Jordanesque.”

Well, why not?

It has been said about him so many times, and it has always been so very wrong, because he’s always been so very young.

But not Friday. Not even for one of his 47 minutes in the Lakers’ 93-91 victory over the Blazers to take a two-games-to-one lead in the NBA Western Conference finals.

If the tongue fits, wag it.

On this night, arguably the most important of his Laker career, Kobe carried them with his shot, then his feet, then his eyes, then finally with the hand that blocked Sabonis’ driving five-foot jumper and knocked the Blazers goofy.

It was fitting that his last great offensive play was not a shot but a pass to Ron Harper in the corner, nobody within five tree-lined city blocks, leading to Harper’s 19-foot game-winning jumper with 29.9 seconds left.

Not a melodramatic dunk, but a mature assist.

“I knew Scottie [Pippen] had been roaming all game long, I knew he had left Harper,” Bryant said with a smile. “And I knew where to find Harper. He’d been telling me about it all game long.”

Seconds later, it was also fitting that the block rescued Shaquille O’Neal, his former rival and now close teammate, who charged Sabonis at the three-point line and was left behind.

What happened? “I have no idea,” Bryant said, smiling again. “The adrenaline was running too much.”

Finally, it was absolutely perfect that after he had wagged his tongue and thrown the ball high into the heavy Rose Garden atmosphere, Bryant leaped one last time and slapped Shaq’s hand so hard it could be heard in the rafters.

“This is the first time since we’ve been together that we’ve had to lead a team together in playoffs,” Kobe said of Shaq. “We’re up to the challenge. We’re not going to let the team down, we’re not going to let the fans down. We’re going to give it our best.”

After being stifled in the first two games of this series--can you imagine a time when Kobe averaged only 12.5 points a game in anything?--his challenge was clear when he arrived with the team Thursday night.

It became more clear when two gentlemen showed up outside their hotel early Friday morning and began chanting, “Beat L.A. . . . “

And chanting. And chanting.

For several hours the chants reportedly continued, until the gentlemen were joined by passing cars honking their horns in rhythm to the words.

Then Bryant showed up at the Rose Garden late Friday afternoon, got one look at the usual flaming, deafening introductions . . . and he knew.

“I wanted to come out and set the tone, not just send the message to our ballclub that we could win, but send a message to their team,” Bryant said.

After scoring 14 of the Lakers’ 22 points in the first quarter, keeping them afloat during a slow start that resulted in a quick 13-point deficit, the message was delivered.

Despite the usual double-teams from a Portland defense that is essentially playing a zone, Bryant hit as many field goals (six) in that quarter as in his first two games of this series combined.

“They can send one, two or three guys, but you just have to pick your spot,” he said.

A timely spot it was.

In the quarter he outscored Shaq, 14-0, and outrebounded him, 1-0.

“Everybody was riding Kobe, saying he was averaging only nine shots a game, so he came out more aggressive, looking for his shot,” O’Neal said.

Looking for Scottie Pippen’s shot, too.

Assigned to guard the Portland star after aching Glen Rice was scorched in that capacity in Game 2, Bryant helped hold him to 12 points on five-of-13 shooting.

There were times when Portland’s depth and foul trouble plagued Bryant as in earlier games--this time it was Stacey Augmon taking him one-on-one--but he doesn’t embarrass easily.

Or, as we learned again Friday, wilt.

“We just had to suck this one up and get it out,” he said. “There was no two ways about it.”

Then there was the third way he helped, beginning in the third quarter, when the crowd around him became as thick as the intensity.

It was all about his vision.

With the Blazers still trying to desperately hold off the Laker charge, he flipped a pass through that surrounding traffic to Harper standing alone under the basket for a dunk that pulled them within two, 65-63.

“You have to make them pay after a point,” he said of the defense.

Then, early in the fourth quarter, he worked his way open at the three-point line to nail a jumper that gave the Lakers a lead they would never lose.

Afterward, Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy said, “Kobe had an excellent game. he made a lot of tough shots and did a lot of nice things, nothing that we didn’t know he was capable of.”

Nor us. But to see it now, when it counts the most, in the playoffs on the road, when the great ones become great, that’s nothing to stick out your tongue at.

Or maybe it is.

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