Wallace Should Play Despite Ankle Sprain

Three games played. Three games in which the Lakers did not have a clue on stopping Portland’s Rasheed Wallace.

In Game 1, Wallace took himself out by getting ejected for staring down the officials after scoring 11 points in 16 minutes. In Game 2, Wallace stayed out of trouble and scored 29 points.

In Game 3, Wallace again was unstoppable, but his effectiveness in the fourth quarter was limited because of a sprained left ankle. He finished with 19 points on nine-of-11 shooting.

Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy said a less-than-100% Wallace not only hampered the Trail Blazers’ offense but also their defense.

“When Rasheed sprained his ankle, he was a little slower on double teams,” Dunleavy said. “Rasheed is a big deterrent inside.”

Wallace practiced Saturday and is expected to play today. Because Wallace has made 22 of 37 field-goal attempts in the series, Dunleavy has been criticized for not getting the ball to him enough.

Wallace, however, is not one of Dunleavy’s critics.

“I am not a selfish player, I play for the team aspect,” Wallace said. “I don’t worry if I get a million shots. My main concern is for us to get a win. If we win and I get only one or two shots, I’m fine.”

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Any time a team blows a 12-point lead in the third quarter and loses at home, it isn’t unusual for people to start pointing fingers. On Saturday, the Trail Blazers tried not to pass blame for their Game 3 second-half collapse, but their disappointment was obvious.

“The game was right there for us,” forward Scottie Pippen said. “When you lose a game by two points the way we played . . . it’s one of those things.

“If we could have gotten a shot up in one of our final three possessions we had, we could have won the game. We all wanted the ball for the last shot. I didn’t get it. It’s frustrating that we didn’t get a shot at the basket.”

Dunleavy, questioned for not calling a timeout in the final minute Friday, said he doesn’t blame his critics.

“You are always able to look back after a game and then be able to come back to pick and choose what you want,” he said. “We had a lot of things going on.”

In the fourth quarter, the Trail Blazers had four turnovers and two rebounds.

“We have to just try and win games. Sometimes, you cannot have a pretty win like we did in Game 2, where everything was going right,” guard Steve Smith said. “We’re going to have to win an ugly game like the Lakers did in Game 3.”

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One move Dunleavy made in Game 3 that worked well was playing seldom-used veteran Stacey Augmon against the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant in the second quarter. When Dunleavy decided to use that matchup in the fourth quarter with Portland trailing, he was questioned for not using Bonzi Wells.

“We thought we had a better matchup with Stacey Augmon on Kobe Bryant in the post,” Dunleavy said. “It was a positive one for us at the time.”