At the Start, Signs Weren’t Good for L.A.

As usual when the Lakers come to town, the placards were in full bloom at the Rose Garden.

“L.A.’s Joker Isn’t Smiling Anymore,” read one featuring a picture of Jack Nicholson.

“Better Jackals Than . . . .” read another one featuring a large photo of a donkey.

And there was one that actually made sense as the Trail Blazers took a large early lead.

“Who Needs A Go-To Guy When We Have a Go-To Team?” it read.

The only visible L.A. celebrity in the stands was Penny Marshall, who at least had the decency to wear a Laker shirt this time. When the Lakers played in Sacramento, she attended one game wearing a Kings shirt.

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Portland’s celebrated bench, the good and the bad:

Stacey Augmon, from Pasadena’s Muir High, entered the game with one point in the entire postseason.

He left after scoring eight points in 13 minutes, with a couple of his shots coming in one-on-one situations against foul-plagued Kobe Bryant.

Bonzi Wells entered the game averaging 14.5 points in this series, but he scored only three points, all on free throws, missing all three of his shots from the field.

For this, the Lakers can mostly thank Rick Fox.

Then there was Brian Grant. After grabbing 12 rebounds in two games, he grabbed one Friday with not even one shot while playing only 10 minutes.

Part of the reason for his limited minutes was that Rasheed Wallace was playing too well to be replaced. But another reason was increased toughness from Fox and Robert Horry.

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Over the final weeks of the regular season, Portland assistant coach Elston Turner spent so much time attending Laker games, you would have thought he was a season-ticket holder.

Turner was only doing his job. And that was to scout the Lakers as much as possible. After watching the Trail Blazers and Lakers split the first two games of this series, Turner has not noticed too much difference in how the Lakers are attacking Portland.

“They haven’t changed too much,” Turner said. “Not overall. They are playing more according to the advantages they think they have now. For example, they are quick to post Damon [Stoudamire]. In a lot of games I saw them play, they didn’t do that much posting direct. . . . Before they didn’t go out of their triangle with those sort of things. They went right at the mismatches they had.”