Jackson Ready for Pippen to Start Fast

Coach Phil Jackson said he knows exactly what to expect from the Trail Blazers in today’s crucial Game 4: lots of Scottie Pippen going right at the Laker offense.

“Well, the way he ended that game makes me think he’s going to want to start that game the way he ended it,” Jackson said, referring to Pippen scoring eight of Portland’s final 10 points in Game 3--after totaling only four before that outburst.

“He came right at us. Of course, Kobe [Bryant] had five fouls and [Pippen] took the offense right to the front of our hoop, basically.

“I think that’s what we’re going to have to be prepared for. Scottie has said to himself, ‘I have to take advantage of what I have and create the aggressiveness for this team.’ ”

Jackson indicated he would keep Bryant on Pippen for Game 4.

“I think that’s why I matched him up with Scottie, so that it would be a situation where he would have enough pressure on him so he wouldn’t feel comfortable going at the basket and he would back off and make plays for other players,” Jackson said. “That worked to our advantage the first three quarters.”

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Jackson pointed to the Lakers’ Game 3 victory and subsequent Game 4 turkey two days later at Phoenix a round earlier and said he hopes his players have learned from it.

“We’ve had a Phoenix experience a week and a half ago--the same Friday-Sunday scenario,” Jackson said. “There’s a lesson that’s been in the making. So if they haven’t learned that lesson now, they haven’t learned much as a team.

“The goal is if you get one [on the road], get two to keep the momentum going.”

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Shaquille O’Neal had 18 of his game-high 26 points and 11 of his 17 shots after halftime Friday--not coincidentally after point guard Derek Fisher and Laker security official Jerome Crawford got on him for being too passive against the Trail Blazer defense.

Fisher actually had tried to light a fire under O’Neal and Bryant before the game, telling them the Lakers will win or lose based on their play. Bryant, likely inspired already by two quiet games to start the series, responded with 14 points in the first quarter and 18 in the half. But O’Neal was dormant, so Fisher got on him, offering a challenge this time instead of the chat from earlier.

“I just don’t like to see him step back,” Fisher said. “When things aren’t going well or he’s not scoring, he still has to be aggressive. Even if he has a nine-for-30 shooting night, for us to be successful, he has to get 40, 50 touches and 20-plus shots.

“It was more, ‘Look, we can’t have another half like that one. I know they were coming at you and there was a lot of stuff not being called.’ It was a real physical game in the first half and the referees, I think, were really trying to let the players decide the tone of the game. But at halftime, his output wasn’t enough for us to win the game.”

Said Crawford, O’Neal’s bodyguard and close friend: “It didn’t look to me like he was playing hard enough. So I told him that, that’s all. ‘Let’s go. Let’s get in the game.’ He had like six, seven points the first half. That’s not his game.”