[0] GOTTA HAVE HARP GUARD HITS WINNER; L.A. REGAINS EDGE LAKERS 93, PORTLAND 91.

Byline: Howard Beck Staff Writer

PORTLAND, Ore. - Kobe Bryant needed no prompting. Shaquille O'Neal needed only a nudge or two. And Ron Harper, all he needed was a few feet of space.

And now everything the Lakers need is back within their sights. A series that nearly slipped through their fingers is now situated squarely back in their palms, held in a tight clench.

Bryant's brilliant shooting got the Lakers started Friday night, O'Neal's power pushed them to the finish and Harper's final jumper made it all stand up as the Lakers tipped the Portland Trail Blazers 93-91 before 20,135 at the Rose Garden.

The victory gave the Lakers a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals and restored, for now, their home-court advantage. Game 4 is Sunday at the Rose Garden.

``We came out tonight,'' Harper said, ``with a frame of mind to get the job done.''

They worked the job in shifts. Bryant started with a 14-point first quarter on his way to a 25-point night. O'Neal carried the third by scoring 13 of his game-high 26 points. Then Harper closed the store. Taking a pass from Bryant, Harper swished a 19-foot baseline jumper to break a 91-91 tie with 29.9 seconds left.

It was a fine bit of redemption for the veteran guard, who has been the Blazers' favorite man to leave while double-teaming O'Neal and Bryant.

``That's rewarding for Ron,'' coach Phil Jackson said, ``especially when they've been leaving him in this series with open shots, to hit a shot that counted.''

The Blazers got two chances to tie the game, but Rasheed Wallace lost the ball on the first possession, and the second ended with Bryant swooping in to block Arvydas Sabonis on his drive to the hoop as the clock ran down.

``I just closed the lane,'' Bryant said. ``Shaq did a great job running Sabonis off the 3-(point) line. . . . I wanted to close Sabonis down because he's an excellent passer, but he penetrated, went up for his shot and I was fortunate enough to get a hand on it.''

And now the Lakers are in position to retake control of the series.

``It just tightens things up,'' Jackson said. ``We found a way to get back in this series by reclaiming home-court advantage, and now the pressure's on them in Sunday's ballgame to try and maintain, because we can put another notch in our belt in this next game on Sunday - that spells really death's door for Portland. And they know it. And this is a series that if we can get that kind of momentum, we gotta ride it. And we're gonna have to ride it.''

If Game 2 was characterized by the Lakers' third-quarter crumble, Game 3 might be remembered for their third-quarter resurrection.

Down 10 points at halftime, the Lakers looked primed for another slip. Then O'Neal at last found some room to work and when he didn't, he created some. Behind his 13-point outburst, the Lakers outscored the Blazers 27-16 in the third and took a 72-71 lead into the fourth.

After trailing continuously from tipoff, the Lakers took their first lead, 69-67, on a pair of Ron Harper free throws with 1:44 left in the third. O'Neal then hit 3 of 4 foul shots to sustain the lead, making the last two after Portland's Jermaine O'Neal intentionally fouled him in the ``Hack-a-Shaq'' style.

The first half of Game 3 looked a lot like Game 2: the Blazers taking command from the opening tip, O'Neal denied offensive opportunities, Jackson glaring at officials at every timeout and key Lakers in foul trouble.

In an eerie coincidence, the Blazers even took an 8-0 lead to start the game, just as they did on Monday. In a potentially bad omen, Bryant, O'Neal and Glen Rice all had two fouls by halftime.

There was nothing coincidental about O'Neal's lack of production, however. He was again blanketed by swift double-teams and held scoreless in the first quarter. In a further indignity, he was outscored by his counterpart, Arvydas Sabonis, 9-8 in the first half.

If not for the hot shooting hand of Bryant, the Lakers would have trailed by much more than the 55-45 deficit they took into halftime.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Ron Harper was quite pleased with himself after he hit the game-winner against the Blazers.

(2) Damon Stoudamire and the Blazers were a little flat in their loss to the Lakers. L.A. takes a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Box: GAME RECAP