Associated Press LOS ANGELES -- Scottie Pippen's urgency set the tone for the Portland Trail Blazers. He crashed the boards, pounded the ball inside and created fouls for the Los Angeles Lakers. Pippen's play was contagious as the Trail Blazers rediscovered their aggressiveness in beating the Lakers 106-77 Monday night to tie the best-of-seven Western Conference finals 1-1. Games 3 and 4 are in Portland beginning Friday. "He pressured their team into playing aggressively," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said of Pippen, who had 21 points and 11 rebounds. The Blazers employed the same strategy they used in Game 1, but with much different results. They lost the opener 109-94 Saturday. "We added a little bit more aggression," said Brian Grant, whose defense on Shaquille O'Neal resulted in the Lakers center getting 23 points, 12 rebounds and four fouls. The Blazers scored the game's first eight points, punctuated by Pippen's slam dunk off a steal by Steve Smith. That quieted the crowd of 18,997 at Staples Center. But Portland played its best in the third quarter, outscoring the Lakers 28-8, which tied the Los Angeles franchise playoff record for fewest points in a quarter. "We all knew we were all going to come out with attitude. Everybody had attitude in different areas," Grant said. "We were able to post up and kind of get them rattled. Whoever was posting up, we just wanted to go at them hard." Portland scored 17 points off the Lakers' 14 turnovers, while committing just seven miscues that resulted in no points for Los Angeles. Rasheed Wallace had 29 points and 12 rebounds in 46 minutes, proving how costly his ejection after 16 minutes was in Game 1. "Everyone went out there enthusiastic and in an attack mode," he said. "Coach D (Mike Dunleavy) just wanted us to try our inside shots and rebound well." |
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Scottie Pippen talks about going back to Portland.| |
