[0] BLAZERS DOUSED; LAKERS DECIDE GAME 4 IS WINNIN' TIME.

Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer

Forty-five minutes before tipoff Thursday night, analytical Del Harris turned superstitious.

With the Lakers still smarting from a Game 3 loss, still annoyed they were not sleeping at home, the coach looked for something, anything, that could portend the desired results - a first-round series-clinching victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.

Someone mentioned the Blazers had passed out noisemakers to fans.

``They had them for Game 4 last year didn't they?'' Harris said.

Yes, they did.

``Good.''

Well, goofy omens are better than none. Harris' tarot reading proved accurate.

Repeating their pattern of a year ago, the Lakers captured their first-round playoff series with a dominating, 110-99 Game 4 victory before a record crowd of 21,616 at the Rose Garden.

Two nights earlier, the Lakers missed their shot at a series sweep with a flawed performance, and inspired the expressive Trail Blazers to resume their smack talking.

The Lakers simply wanted to end the discussion. Shaquille O'Neal, who scored a game-high 31 points, offered the last word.

``They're a perfect team,'' Shaquille O'Neal said, ``at running their mouths, and not backing it up. . . . But they'll learn. The jail Blazers will learn.''

The Lakers taught themselves a lesson in the wake of Tuesday's Game 3 loss, which prolonged the series and kept them in Portland for another two days. They needed to rebound better, shoot better, help each other on defense better.

Come Thursday, they were all better. The Lakers shot an incredible 58.1 percent from the field and for the first time in the series, beat the Blazers on the boards, 47-40. O'Neal was a one-man show Tuesday, but he got plenty of support this time, as Kobe Bryant scored 22 points off the bench, Nick Van Exel bounced back with 14 and Rick Fox posted 16 points and nine rebounds

The Lakers' bench, absent two nights prior, once again became their strength, scoring 48 points. The reserves also came up with 16 rebounds - six from Corie Blount and four from Elden Campbell.

``The bench was just fantastic,'' Harris said.

Even before he began reading tea leaves and noisemakers, Harris had a good feeling about his team's imminent turnaround.

``You could tell in the locker room hat the players were mentally prepared. They were all pumping each other up,'' he said.

The victory gave the Lakers a 3-1 series win and sets up a second-round showdown with either Pacific Division champion Seattle or seventh seed Minnesota. The Sonics and Timberwolves are tied at two games each and play the deciding Game 5 on Saturday.

That means the Lakers have earned three to four days of preparation and recovery time before playing Game 1 of the second round on Monday or Tuesday.

In the Lakers' most dominating game of the series, they took a 28-19 first-quarter lead and never relinquished it. But after leading by 20 with 4:20 left in the game, the Blazers, in a microcosm of the series, gave the Lakers a bit of a scare.

A late Portland burst, a 22-11 run that included five 3-pointers, cut the lead to 105-99 with 32.1 seconds left. But the Blazers had to resort to fouling at that point, and the Lakers, despite struggling with their foul shooting all series, closed it out as Van Exel, Bryant and Robert Horry hit 5 of 6 free throws.

``I knew I was going to be more aggressive,'' Bryant said. ``Everybody's intensity was a little higher than in Game 3.''

Analysis of the Game 3 collapse included everything from poor rebounding to poor free-throw shooting to poor bench play. But more than anything else, Harris said his team needed the right attitude.

``The key tonight is to come out and play to win, rather than try to avoid losing,'' and it's not just a matter of semantics, he said. ``There may have been a little bit where we expected them to fold their own tent (after the first two losses).''

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Color) Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal scores two of his 31 points uncontested by Blazers' Arvydas Sabonis.

Jack Smith/Associated Press

(2) Lakers' Nick Van Exel tries to stop a drive by Portland's Damon Stoudamire in the first quarter. Van Exel rebounded with a 14-point performance in Game 4.

Don Ryan/Associated Press

Box: LAKERS vs. PORTLAND