Piece de Resistance

Some here have referred to tonight’s game at The Rose Garden as The Fifth Quarter, in capital letters, like it was The Hundred Years’ War or something.

Under ordinary circumstances, that would be considered Totally Idiotic, in caps.

Except that since the Portland Trail Blazers technically did not play the fourth and--technically--final quarter on June 4, in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, Commissioner David Stern might grant them a fifth.

You remember.

Portland missed 13 consecutive fourth-quarter shots, six by Rasheed Wallace. Scottie Pippen fouled out. Coach Mike Dunleavy became so woozy he intentionally fouled himself four times down the stretch.

The Trail Blazers gave up 15 consecutive points, were outscored, 31-13, and then had to go back to Portland, the indignities not necessarily listed in order.

It was the Lakers who went on to beat the undermanned Indiana Pacers, the Lakers who have “Bling-Bling” inscribed on the sides of their championship rings, the Lakers who partied until the patrol cars went out, and the Trail Blazers who sat home thinking up revenge slogans such as The Fifth Quarter, in caps.

“It’s tough to swallow right now,” Pippen said then, “and I’m sure it will be all summer.”

As of tonight, summer’s over in the NBA. The Lakers have some repeating to do, some defending to do. It starts as it ended in the Western Conference, the Lakers against the Trail Blazers, who retooled their frontcourt with Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis.

Davis played last season for the Pacers, so he’s got hurt coming from all sides.

He’s spunky, though. He said the Lakers “definitely” are vulnerable and added, “They should have been beat by Portland last year.”

Well, the Lakers can imagine. They’re sure it hurt. They’re sure it still does. They don’t expect Portland, the town or the basketball team, to forget until they’ve got a little Bling-Bling of their own.

“You never forget those things,” Laker Coach Phil Jackson said. “It’s a memory factor. It’ll be a charged crowd. They’ll try to vindicate themselves at some level. I think that Portland made the changes they thought were necessary for the club because of Game 7 and they weren’t going to be caught.”

Almost five months later, they’ll get to see. Everyone will.

“When you think about where their guys have been all summer, they have to be looking forward to this game,” Laker forward Rick Fox said. “There had to be a residue of ‘Was it luck or was it supposed to be?’ We don’t feel it was luck. But, everyone else does, even in our own city. People think Portland flopped.”

It is entirely possible that in that fourth quarter, 12 minutes of equal parts Laker heroism and Trail Blazer flop, a personality was created that the NBA must now deal with for a decade. A team that did not know it could win, won big. Shaquille O’Neal, derided for his inability to win, won big. Kobe Bryant, criticized for not taming his game in the name of a win, won big. Jackson, who without Michael could not win, won big.

Then the Lakers awoke in their season-after to the news that the Trail Blazers, and not the Lakers, would be favored in the Pacific Division and in the Western Conference. It didn’t leave much room to repeat.

Just this week, O’Neal stood in a parking lot in El Segundo, sneered and declared: “I’m healthy. And I’m ready to go play the best team in the West.”

The Lakers are enjoying this, actually.

“If Portland is the team to beat, my hat is off to them,” Laker guard Ron Harper said. “Last year they were the team to beat too. Right? They got beat. Right?”

OK, Jackson said, he’ll bite.

“They’re the team to beat for us, maybe not for everybody else,” he said. “The team to beat for everybody else might be us. The team to beat [for us] last year was San Antonio. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t get through the first round of the playoffs.

“Portland is a very, very good team. Any team that will pay that kind of money to build that kind of roster with that much attention to detail, personnel one through 12, there has got to be firepower.”

The Lakers seem to have retained their lessons of last season. The Trail Blazers can have The Fifth Quarter, in caps, should it work out that way. As long as it comes in October. As long as the Lakers get the ball last.

“We are the underdogs,” Harper said. “Last year, we were too. We weren’t expected to be a good team, just an OK team. So, as long as we know what we can do and we can go out there and do our jobs, everything is just fine. Nobody expects us to do anything. We’re supposed to lose.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Laker Roster

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NBA No. Player Pos. Season 2 *Derek Fisher G 5th 3 Devean George G-F 2nd 4 Ron Harper G 15th 5 Robert Horry F 9th 7 Isaiah Rider G 8th 8 Kobe Bryant G-F 5th 10 Tyronn Lue G 3rd 12 *Mike Penberthy G 1st 14 *Stanislav Medvedenko F 1st 17 Rick Fox F 10th 20 Brian Shaw G 12th 34 Shaquille O’Neal C 9th 35 Mark Madsen F 1st 40 Greg Foster C 11th 54 Horace Grant F 14th

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* on injured list