A SOURCE OF TORMENT; LAKERS TAKE 2-0 SERIES LEAD AS BLAZERS FUME : LAKERS 108, PORTLAND 99.Byline: Howard Beck Daily News Staff Writer The Lakers have seen this look before - the desperate glances, the incredulous stares, the clenched clench tr.v. clenched, clench·ing, clench·es 1. To close tightly: clench one's teeth; clenched my fists in anger. 2. jaws and clenched fists, the need to carry on long conversations with anyone attached to a whistle. Uncontrolled frustration. The Lakers know this look because it was them, not long ago. And now the scowl and the howls belong to the opponent, and the Lakers are all too happy to needle and prod and let the Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers are a professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The franchise, based in Portland throughout its existence, entered the league in 1970 and has won the NBA Championship once, in 1977. unravel themselves right out of the NBA playoffs The NBA Playoffs is a four-round best-of-seven elimination tournament between sixteen teams in the Eastern Conference and Western Conferences (called Divisions, pre-1970) of the National Basketball Association, ultimately determining the league champion. . Wearing an L.A.-cool facade throughout, the Lakers calmly, methodically took a 2-0 lead in their first-round series Sunday, putting away the Blazers 108-99 at the Forum. Portland outshot the Lakers but was done in by 31 fouls, and the 52 Lakers free-throw attempts that ensued. With each foul, each free throw, and with three technical fouls, the Blazers lost another grain of composure. The Lakers pounced. ``You never want to show a sign of weakness or a sign of frustration, anger,'' Lakers forward Rick Fox said. ``It kind of lets your opponent know you're losing your cool and breaking down, it's like those animals that smell fear and attack. Like a shark.'' Said Derek Fisher Derek Lamar Fisher (born August 9 1974 in Little Rock, Arkansas) is an American professional basketball player with the Los Angeles Lakers. He was with the Utah Jazz but asked to be released from his contract to care for his 10-month-old daughter, who has cancer. : ``It makes you feel you can take them out at any moment.'' So the Lakers attacked and feasted on the Blazers like sharks on chum. And now the Lakers are in position to take them out, pushing the Blazers to within one game of elimination as the series moves to Portland. By the time Game 3 gets under way Tuesday at the Rose Garden, perhaps the Blazers will figure out a way to stop a Lakers team that put six players in double-figure scoring, led by Fox's 24 and Eddie Jones' 21. At the least, perhaps they will have ceased their self-defeating strategy of baiting referees. Portland coach Mike Dunleavy Mike Dunleavy is the name of two notable persons in basketball, father and son:
Walter (Walt) Ander Williams (born April 16, 1970 in Washington, D.C.) is an American former professional basketball player. in drawing technical fouls. And when it was all over, the complaints were still coming. ``Fifty-two (free-throw attempts) to 21. That's pretty much the tale of this game right there,'' Portland guard Damon Stoudamire Damon Lamon Stoudamire (born September 3 1973 in Portland, Oregon) is an American professional basketball player, currently playing for the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies. He was selected by the Toronto Raptors in the first round (seventh pick overall) of the 1995 NBA Draft. said. ``I don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what it is, but it just ain't right.'' By the time the game was six minutes old, the Blazers already had drawn four fouls, including two on center Arvydas Sabonis Arvydas Romas Sabonis (born December 19, 1964 in Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR, Soviet Union (present Lithuania)) is a retired Lithuanian professional basketball player. The 2.21 m (7 ft 3 in) Sabonis is considered by many to be one of the premier centers in the world from the 1980s . On foul number four, Dunleavy lost it and was hit with the technical foul. Moments later, the Lakers had a 21-10 lead. More fouls led to frustration, and frustration led to more fouls, and after briefly taking the lead midway through the second quarter, the Blazers never could mount a sustained attack. Wallace's technical came in the third quarter, with Portland within seven points. By the end of the quarter, the Lakers had doubled the gap, to 89-75, and had scored 25 points on free throws. ``That's ridiculous,'' Portland's Isaiah Rider Isaiah Rider, Jr., sometimes known as J.R. Rider (born March 12, 1971 in Oakland, California) is an American former NBA basketball player, who played from 1993–2001. The 6'5" (1. said of the officiating. ``That's two games in a row. If we get slapped three times in a row on the arm, and they get slapped once, and they call a foul (on us), that's ridiculous.'' Countered Jones, ``Everybody thinks they're getting a raw deal if you're down 2-0.'' The Lakers took that advantage by exploiting Portland's concentration on Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (pronounced "shak-KEEL") (born March 6, 1972 in Newark, New Jersey), frequently referred to simply as Shaq, is an American professional basketball player, generally regarded as one of the most dominant in the National Basketball Association (NBA). . After leading the team with 30 points in Game 1, O'Neal scored only 19 on Sunday, but the Lakers didn't need much more, as Fox, Jones and Fisher (10 points) all recorded postseason career highs in scoring, with Robert Horry Robert Horry (born August 25, 1970 in Harford County, Maryland) is an American National Basketball Association basketball player. Currently playing for the San Antonio Spurs, Horry is is known for his ability to make clutch shots in big games. (15 points) and Elden Campbell Elden Jerome Campbell (born July 23, 1968 in Los Angeles, California) is an American former professional basketball player who played center in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Campbell played college basketball at Clemson University. (10) also picking up the slack. ``I love it when you've got six guys in double figures,'' coach Del Harris said. ``It's good for everybody, and it's good for Shaq when he doesn't have to be the leading scorer every game.'' After starting slowly Friday night, the Lakers emerged a more aggressive bunch at Sunday's opening tip and had a 10-point lead early in the second quarter. Their only rough spell of the night followed, as the Blazers mounted a 14-0 run and took a 41-36 lead with 5:35 left in the half. But the Lakers quickly recovered, outscoring Portland 18-11 to finish the half with a 54-52 lead. After that, they just sat back and watched the Blazers self-destruct. Not that they expect any breaks back in Portland, where the Lakers' ledger is 0-2 this season. But the conference semifinals are in sight, and the Lakers own the psychological edge that momentum provides. ``It's something of an advantage,'' Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant (born July 23 1978) is an American All-Star shooting guard in the National Basketball Association (NBA) who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. said, ``but they're a young team and they're a hungry team. So 2-0 to them doesn't mean anything . . . . They're not going to quit, they're not going to roll over.'' GAME 2: A CLOSER LOOK RATING THE LAKERS OFFENSE: Excellent Six Lakers scored in double figures and the team shot 49.3 percent (33 for 67), including 8 for 17 from 3-point range. Only fault was poor free-throw shooting - 65.4 percent (34 for 52). DEFENSE: Good The Lakers had 11 steals and scored 29 points off 18 Portland turnovers. But they also allowed the Blazers to shoot 51.4 percent (55.6 in the first half), and they got soft in the second quarter, when Portland outscored them 31-25 to cut the lead to two points. REBOUNDING: Fair For the second straight game, the Blazers outrebounded the Lakers, 34-29. Portland is averaging 37.5 per game, while the Lakers' average of 32.5 in two games is 10.8 boards below their regular season average. They ranked fifth in the NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= with 43.3 per game. HERO Rick Fox He tied for the game high in scoring with 24 points, hitting 8 of 14 shots, 2 of 6 from 3-point range, 6 of 7 from the foul line foul line n. 1. Baseball Either of two straight lines extending from the rear of home plate to the outer edge of the playing field and indicating the area in which a fair ball can be hit. 2. . He also had five rebounds, three assists and two steals in 34 minutes as he rebounded from Friday's disappointing outing, when early foul trouble limited him to 20 minutes. GOAT Arvydas Sabonis Once again, he was done in by early fouls, picking up his third personal less than five minutes into the second quarter. He managed just six points and seven rebounds in 14 minutes, again leaving the task of guarding Shaq primarily to rookie Kelvin Cato. --- Howard Beck CAPTION(S): 3 Photos, Box PHOTO (1--Cover--Color) STUFFED! Robert Horry's tough defense and accurate shooting lead Lakers to 2-0 advantage over Portland in the first round of the NBA playoffs. (2) The Lakers' Eddie Jones zeroes in on ball after knocking it away from Portland's Isaiah Rider. L.A. leads series 2-0. Tom Mendoza/Daily News (3--Color) The Lakers' Kobe Bryant, right, gets rough with the Trail Blazers' Isaiah Rider in Game 2. John Lazar/Special to the Daily News BOX: GAME 2: A CLOSER LOOK (see text) |
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