Wallace couldn't win Game 4 without help
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. -- Rasheed Wallace tried his best to rally
the Portland Trail Blazers. Without any help from his teammates, he
didn't stand a chance.
Wallace scored 18 of his playoff career-high 34 points in the
fourth quarter, when the rest of the Blazers managed just seven, as
the Los Angeles Lakers pulled away for a 103-91 victory Sunday and
a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals.
|  | | Portland's Rasheed Wallace keeps the ball away from Robert Horry in Game 4 Sunday. |
"We kind of corner ourselves when we get to standing around
watching, not doing anything," Blazers point guard Damon
Stoudamire said. "That's when we get stagnant, and we become a
mediocre ball club."
Wallace, playing on a sore left ankle, added 13 rebounds, also a
postseason best. His previous highs of 29 points and 12 rebounds
came in Portland's Game 2 victory.
Wallace acknowledged that his ankle, which he twisted during the
third quarter of Friday night's 93-91 loss in Game 3, was affecting
his play.
"It was bothering me, but I couldn't let an ankle stop me," he
said. "I got it going on offense, but it wasn't enough."
"He still was hard to stop," Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal
said.
Wallace missed his first two shots of the fourth quarter but
then scored the next 13 points for the Blazers. After the Lakers
pushed the lead to 80-66, Wallace responded with a fast-break dunk,
two free throws and a turnaround jumper to cut it to eight with
8:39 left.
His turnaround bank shot with 5:40 to play cut the lead to
89-79, and the Blazers still had a chance. But Wallace, never known
to demand the ball even when he has an advantage, somehow
disappeared in the Blazers' half-court offense.
By the time he scored again -- on a dunk after twice grabbing his
own miss -- the Blazers trailed 99-82 with just under three minutes
remaining.
For the quarter, Wallace was 6-for-12 from the field and 6-for-8
from the free-throw line. The rest of the Blazers took 10 shots,
making three.
"Our problem right now is that our offense has broken down for
two straight games in the third quarter," Blazers guard Steve
Smith said. "They are playing a set, one-on-one defense, always
trying to keep a guy in front of you. What we need is to score more
off transition. We're not doing that."
Smith was the first Portland player other than Wallace to score
in the fourth, hitting one of two free throws with 5:06 left.
Portland didn't get a basket from another player until a
meaningless dunk by center Arvydas Sabonis with 2:15 to go.
The Blazers were lost without the leadership of Scottie Pippen,
who scored four points and shot 1-for-8 after halftime.
Pippen had said he would come out strong after his 12-point,
5-for-13 shooting performance in Game 3, but he was seldom a factor
Sunday. He had three fouls by halftime and was particularly
ineffective in the third, scoring four points on 1-of-5 shooting
with one assist and no rebounds.
"I didn't think that I was very aggressive today," he said.
"It was the foul trouble that put me back on my heels and took my
aggressiveness out of me. I knew if I got another foul, I couldn't
be aggressive at all."
Portland also was hurt by Sabonis' two first-quarter fouls.
Sabonis hit two quick jumpers, including a 3-pointer, to start the
game, and O'Neal faced a long day of chasing the 7-foot-3
Lithuanian all over the court.
Sabonis played just eight minutes in the first half, however,
sitting out the entire second quarter. He came back with seven
points in the third, including a rousing baseline move on O'Neal
for a dunk and foul that cut the lead to 60-57 with 5:25 left.
Portland got within 60-58, but the Lakers went on a 9-2 run to
end another Blazers rally. |
