Defense Is the Way to Win This Series

In the midst of all the worrying about the Lakers’ offensive woes, Phil Jackson kept insisting that the key to revitalizing their chances was to make the right changes on defense.

Yeah, right. As if the defense was what led them to that 77-point dud in Game 2 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Lakers fell 13 points behind out of the box in Game 3 and it took a game, series and season that was slipping away to prove him right. But when it all kicked in, when the Lakers started playing with more aggression, double-teaming and taking control of the paint again, Jackson had his point.

The Lakers took as firm a grip as can be had in this up-for-grabs series with a defensive turnaround that led to their dramatic 93-91 victory over the Blazers and a two games to one lead.

Even if the Lakers can’t always get what they want when they want on offense (do you really think they designed that last shot for Ron Harper?) they can win games with their defense.

Defense and offense always are intertwined with the Lakers. There’s probably some cosmic explanation for it. Ask Phil. But in basketball terms, they like to set up their defense with a deliberate, effective, offense and energize their offense with solid play on defense.

In one of the key stats of Game 3, the Lakers were able to convert 15 Portland turnovers into 25 points. That included a turnover by Scottie Pippen in the final minute that led to Harper’s winning basket.

When the Lakers aren’t getting it done defensively it can lead to the worst-case scenario, such as falling behind big early on the road.

The Trail Blazers shot 68% in the first quarter and scored on 16 of their first 22 possessions getting deep position inside by driving to the hoop and hitting open shots on those rare occasions when the Lakers did double-team.

“We just didn’t seem to be able to get things accomplished defensively,” Jackson said. “Trying to stop [Rasheed] Wallace, [we] had to get the ball out of his hands [and] Wells, try to do some things to get the ball out of their hands and make somebody else shoot it.

“They got a great effort from guys that stood on the outside and shot.”

That all changed in the third quarter. With the Lakers trailing by 12 points, they finally clamped down.

Harper stole a Damon Stoudamire pass, leading to a hook shot by Shaquille O’Neal.

The Lakers tweaked their offense a bit, Portland’s double-teams were a little slower to arrive and O’Neal finally was getting some room to operate inside. But he also began to assert himself down low on the other end of the court, after being content to spend most of the first half out on Arvydas Sabonis near the three-point line. He blocked three shots in the second half and made several other big defensive plays.

First, O’Neal dropped back and knocked away a lob pass that was intended for Wallace. On the other end of the court, O’Neal scored in the lane.

On Portland’s next possession O’Neal cut off the baseline to stop a driving Pippen, and Pippen traveled.

The Lakers got another basket, from A.C. Green.

O’Neal’s presence changed everything. Stoudamire drove to the hoop, but when he saw O’Neal lurking there he passed outside to Wallace for a jumper that missed.

There’s no statistic for turning inside shots into outside shots, but it’s easy to measure when you’re watching the game.

Now it was the Lakers who were getting to the hoop. Harper drove baseline for a layup and the Lakers were in business, back to within four points.

After getting outscored, 22-14, on points near the basket in the first half, the Lakers outscored Portland, 26-8, inside in the second half.

“They didn’t really leave the lanes open,” Pippen said. “Today they did a good job defensively of forcing us to take the outside shot.”

Said Robert Horry: “We just tried to get them to make the extra pass, get another shot to go off and do different things of that nature. We didn’t play that well in the first half. They got a lot of open shots. They got a lot of penetration, so we were trying to shut down their penetration and make them make the extra pass.”

Portland’s offense presents more difficult choices than those luscious dessert carts at Staples Center.

They can get points from nine players--10 now that Stacey Augmon joined the party with eight points Friday. So deciding to double-team, and whom to leave open, is not an easy task.

“It’s scary,” Horry said. ‘You hope that they keep passing and keep passing and no one wants to take the shot, because they’re all great shooters. Everybody they have can dive and post up and shoot threes. You just have to scramble and hope that they miss.”

The Lakers can rely a little less on hope and more on percentages when they aren’t watching Wallace go one-on-one along the baseline.

With the exception of the Lakers’ 37-point outburst in the second quarter of Game 1, defense has and will continue to be the key to this series. Even in Portland’s dominant quarter--the third period of Game 2--their 28 points weren’t as devastating as the mere eight points they allowed the Lakers to score.

Friday night it was fitting that even the offensive star of the night made his biggest play on defense: Kobe Bryant blocked the final shot of the game by Sabonis to preserve the victory.

So now perhaps the Lakers get the message.

“We know what we’ve got to do,” Horry said. “We accomplished a little bit of it in the second half. If we can do that for 48 minutes, we’ll be good. But a lot of times the crowd’s going to be hyped, their going to be out for blood, for revenge.

“We just have to stay focused and keep it basic.”

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.