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May 27, 2000 SportsLine.com wire reports |
PORTLAND, Ore. -- After what might have been their biggest victory so
far in the playoffs, the Los Angeles Lakers can put the Portland Trail Blazers
on the brink of elimination in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals on
Sunday.
They'll have to do it without one of their role players, though. Reserve
guard Brian Shaw
was suspended for the game for leaving the bench during a
brief shoving match between Portland's Scottie Pippen and Rick Fox in Friday
night's 93-91 Los Angeles victory.
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"It's a big loss for us," coach Phil Jackson said. "He came off the bench, took a couple of steps toward the fracas between Fox and Pippen. The league is very protective of this sort of thing, even though it was during a timeout and a player has every right to come off the bench during a timeout."
Shaw played only three minutes in Game 3, but his absence further depletes a bench already without injured rookie guard Davean George.
Los Angeles leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. If the Lakers win Sunday, they can advance to the finals with a victory in Los Angeles Tuesday night.
On the Portland side, the concern is Rasheed Wallace's sore left ankle. Wallace injured the ankle in the third quarter of Friday night's 93-91 loss. After the injury, he seemed less effective and was limping and grimacing during stops in play.
"It's cool," was all Wallace would say about the injury Saturday.
Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said there was no doubt Wallace will play after scoring 29 and 19 points in the last two games.
"It's still sore and there's some swelling there," Dunleavy said. "I see him playing. He's a gamer. His foot would have to be hanging off before he can't play."
The Lakers have ridden the talents of Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant to the best regular-season record in the NBA, and both were the leaders in Friday night's victory, scoring 25 points apiece.
After just eight points in the first half, O'Neal scored 18 in the second, 13 in the third quarter when Los Angeles caught the Blazers with a 20-6 run.
O'Neal's status as the game's MVP and his 7-foot-1, 315-pound stature (he probably weighs more than that) didn't stop some of his teammates from getting on him at halftime.
"I told him `Shoot more, score more. You've got to be selfish,"' Robert Horry said.
The Blazers' double- and triple-team of O'Neal, so quick and effective in the first half, slowed just enough to allow the big guy to get going in the third quarter.
`They were coming hard, especially in the first half," O'Neal said. "I was giving it up, and my teammates were hitting the shots, and that kind of opened it up for me."
Bryant kept the Lakers close with an 18-point first half, and his defense held Pippen to just four points until the Blazers' floor leader broke loose with eight points in the final four minutes.
Bryant had three big plays in the final half-minute.
On a drive to the basket with the score tied at 91-91, Bryant drew a double-team, then found Ron Harper alone on the baseline for what proved to be the winning 18-footer with 29.9 seconds to go.
When the Blazers went for the tying basket, Bryant knocked the ball away from Wallace, Portland's 15th turnover. Wallace stole Glen Rice's pass at the other end to give the Blazers a last shot.
But Arvydas Sabonis passed on an outside jumper and drove to the hoop instead. Bryant soared for the block and the Lakers had the victory.
"To be able to win the game at both ends of the floor is something I take pride in," Bryant said. "I think my teammates trust me. When it comes to tight situations, they know I'm going to be there for them."
Jackson said he expects Pippen to start Sunday's game the way he ended Friday's game, on the attack. Pippen said his old Chicago coach is right.
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| Shaquille O'Neal and the Lakers hold a 2-1 series lead on the Blazers.(AP) |
"I have to be more aggressive," Pippen said. "I probably held back a little bit too much last night and let the game get out of hand to the point where I had to start really pressuring, trying to make sure I could get us back in the game. I'm just looking to be a little bit more aggressive and give us a little bit more offense."
The Blazers said they haven't lost any confidence. They just feel they let a big game they should have won slip away.
"We felt like we had them right where we wanted them," Pippen said. "If we can keep it close, we feel like those are the games we should pull out, but we were knuckleheads last night, and we made knucklehead mistakes."
The Lakers have eased up a bit in similar situations in the playoffs, most noticeably in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals in Phoenix. Los Angeles could have completed a sweep with a road victory, but the Suns won with ease, forcing the Lakers to have to return home for the clinching win.
"You're obviously concerned that you want a team to ease up," Jackson said, "but these guys know what it takes. We had a Phoenix experience a week and a half ago in the same Friday-Sunday scenario. 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."
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