| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
 GAME FLOW
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A celebration seemed inevitable. You could
almost see the Western Conference championship banner hanging above
the star-studded crowd at the Staples Center.
Talk radio was already speculating on who Los Angeles would face
in the NBA Finals.
Then the Portland Trail Blazers spoiled everything.
Led by Scottie Pippen, playing most of the game with two
dislocated fingers on his left hand, the Blazers stunned the Lakers
96-88 Tuesday night to stay alive in the conference finals.
|  | | Portland's Arvydas Sabonis follows up a missed shot Tuesday night. |
With Los Angeles up 3-2, the series shifts back to Portland for
Game 6 on Friday night. In the first five games, the home team has
won only once.
"We're going to have to take a little more time to win this
series," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "I think that's good for
us as a basketball team. This team hasn't grown enough to
understand the subtleties of what we are trying to do and it is a
good measure for us."
The Lakers lost two in a row at home for the first time all
season. A team so poised and confident in their weekend sweep in
Portland could never get rolling.
Portland never trailed. Despite injuring his fingers late in the
first quarter when he was called for an offensive foul against
Robert Horry, Pippen had 22 points, six steals and four blocked
shots. In the process, Pippen broke Michael Jordan's record for
career playoff steals with 380. Jordan's record was 376.
"That's just Pip being a warrior. This is no time to sit out,"
Portland's Rasheed Wallace said. "Like the other night when I hurt
my ankle. That team is just too tough for us to sit out."
Jackson said he told Pippen he shouldn't even have been playing
in the game after elbowing John Salley in the back of the head late
in Portland's home-court loss in Game 4 Sunday.
"He shouldn't have been playing in this ballgame," Jackson
said. "He clearly threw a cheap-shot elbow to the back of the head
and he just got fined $10,000. I wanted to tell him that he was a
presence who shouldn't have been there."
In the latest of what has been a back-and-forth bickering
between the player and his former coach, Pippen was unimpressed by
Jackson's opinion.
"Phil is not my coach. I'm not listening to nothing you tell me
about Phil. Have a good day," said Pippen, who then left the
postgame news conference.
Wallace was just 7-for-21 from the field but scored 22 points,
hitting seven of eight free throws and grabbing 10 rebounds.
Steve Smith added 13 points, and Arvydas Sabonis 12. Two reserves
who barely caused a ripple in the series, Brian Grant and Detlef
Schrempf, added nine each.
Shaquille O'Neal did his best to make it the big night everyone
expected for the Lakers with 31 points and 21 rebounds. Ron Harper added 14
points.
But Kobe Bryant made only four of 13 shots, scored 17 points and
committed six turnovers before fouling out with 4:45 to play. Glen
Rice was 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-5 from 3-point range,
finishing with four points.
The Lakers were just 6-for-27 from 3-point range and shot 38
percent from the field.
"I thought we played pretty good defense. We couldn't put the
ball in the basket," O'Neal said. "I think we tried to put them
away with all 3s. It's disappointing. We just have to learn from
this."
Portland coach Mike Dunleavy's defensive tactic of double- and
triple-teaming O'Neal and leaving others open worked to near
perfection.
"This game validates for us what it is we're doing and that we
can get it done," Dunleavy said. "It's just a matter of us making
it happen for ourselves. It's a high-risk business, and we're
taking chances. We're leaving a lot of people open."
Bryant sprained his right foot in the first half but said it
wasn't a big factor in his game. X-rays after the game were
negative.
"If we're going to be a championship team, we have to go
through some adverse situations," Bryant said.
Then he mentioned the noisy crowd in Portland and the prospect
of facing a deciding Game 7 Sunday in Los Angeles.
"I think it's good for us," he said.
Even though they never led, the Lakers were just a short run
away from taking the lead through most of the game.
Trailing 80-67 entering the fourth quarter, the Lakers mounted
one challenge. Bryant sank two free throws with 10:02 to play, then
scored on a layup and was fouled, making it 82-74 with 9:33
remaining.
O'Neal waved his arms to get the crowd roaring, but after a
timeout, Bryant missed the free throw. Grant scored inside and was
fouled by Horry for a three-point play to boost the lead back to
87-76, and the Lakers were finished.
Los Angeles closed to 72-67 on Harper's reverse layup with 1:52
left in the third. But the Lakers followed with three consecutive
turnovers, and the Blazers scored the final eight points of the
period for an 80-67 lead.
The Lakers are 43-7 at home this season, but three of those
losses are to Portland.
The Blazers led 52-45 at the break on Pippen's 3-pointer at the
halftime buzzer.
The Lakers shot 31 percent in the first half, 22 percent in the
second quarter (4-for-18).
The Lakers were 3-for-13 from 3-point range in the first half,
but made 14 of 15 free throws, while Portland was 11-for-17 at the
line.
Pippen scored 12 in the first quarter on 5-for-5 shooting, but
was only 2-for-5 at the foul line.
Game
notes
O'Neal made his first three free throws to run his string
to 15 without a miss over three games. ... Pippen was fined $10,000
by the NBA Tuesday for hitting John Salley in the back of the head
with a forearm late in Game 4. ... Portland was 9-for-15 at the
foul line in the first quarter, while Los Angeles was 3-for-3. ...
The Lakers were called for 11 fouls in the first quarter, three
apiece on Harper and Brian Shaw and two apiece on Bryant and Rice.
... Smith drew three fouls in 1½ minutes in the second quarter. ...
Robert Horry was 0-for-6 from the field in the first half. ...
Midway through the first quarter, referee Joe Crawford called a
technical on Wallace, his first since he was thrown out of Game 1
with two technicals.
| |
ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Portland Clubhouse
LA Lakers Clubhouse
Lakers' misery is three-fold
Pippen is a gem for Blazers in Game 5
RECAPS
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Mike Dunleavy said Scottie Pippen came up big for the Blazers.
wav: 226 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Phil Jackson was disappointed, yet not surprised by the loss.
wav: 153 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Detlef Schrempf attributed the win to a strong defensive effort.
wav: 120 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Coach Mike Dunleavy has nothing but good things to say about his team's character.
wav: 117 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Scottie Pippen took control of the Blazers' level of intensity.
wav: 143 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Scottie Pippen's play motivated Bonzi Wells and the Blazers.
wav: 96 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Tired of answering questions about Phil Jackson, Scottie Pippen storms out.
wav: 60 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
