HARMONY TAKEN FOR GRANTED.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

Shaquille O'Neal used to spend his summers making movies. The Lakers center concentrated last summer on making moves.

The Big Broker's blueprint materialized in front of our very eyes Sunday at Staples Center when Horace Grant led all nominees for outstanding performance by a supporting character in the Lakers' 106-93 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

Grant came to the Lakers last year from Seattle in a trade that O'Neal set into motion when he told general manager Mitch Kupchak in a phone conversation in August, ``If you can, get me a Horace Grant.''

O'Neal had watched Portland reload after the Lakers shot them down in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals, acquiring big men Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis. O'Neal had played alongside Grant in Orlando and respected the power forward's prowess.

He pictured Grant as the perfect replacement for the departed A.C. Green and he wasn't shy about sharing his opinion with Kupchak. Less than a month later, the deal was done. < Grant, 35, averaged 8.5 points and 7.1 rebounds during the regular season, but like any athlete who's a veteran of these marathons, he was pacing himself. The arrival of the playoffs was Grant's signal to make his kick and, sure enough, on Sunday he left the Trail Blazers flat-footed.

The 14th-year pro collected 12 points in the opening 12 minutes on 6-of-6 shooting and contributed five rebounds to boot.

``Horace really had his engine revved up and everybody fed off that,'' said Lakers reserve Brian Shaw, who hit a couple of clutch shots for the Lakers on Sunday.

If not for O'Neal, those two second-quarter shots Shaw hit to jump-start the sputtering Lakers could have been Portland's to feed off. Shaw was mulling an offer from the Trail Blazers last summer when O'Neal stepped in and told Kupchak, ``Without B. Shaw, I'm not wearing a championship ring. We can't have him signing with the enemy.''

The day after that conversation, Shaw signed on for two more years with the Lakers.

``I didn't want to go anywhere else,'' Shaw said, ``so I just told Shaq to put in a good word for me.''

As a mirthful Grant put it, ``When the big fella talks, people should listen.''

More and more often, Grant has to ignore what his body is trying to tell him. Last week, while equipment manager Rudy Gariduenas was fitting him for a new contraption to relieve the pain in his arthritic knees, Grant sighed and said, ``Sometimes I feel 25 again out there. Some days I feel 58.''

Grant picked a heck of a day to play like he was back at Clemson. In his turn-back-the-clock Lakers playoff debut, he converted four offensive rebounds into baskets and carried the Lakers early, until O'Neal could find his MVP legs.

The Trail Blazers' strategy was to contain O'Neal and Kobe Bryant the best they could and make the Grants and Derek Fishers beat them.

No problem. Grant finished with 14 points and eight rebounds despite playing just eight minutes in the second half and Fisher added a career- playoff-high 21 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field.

True to form, Fisher fielded every question about his individual play with a third-person plural response: ``We had a solid week of practice. ... It helped our shooting that we got to practice at Staples Center on Saturday. ... Our offense was really solid.'' < Clearly there is no ``I'' in Derek.

In any event, it's back to the drawing board for the Portland Trail Blazers, who find themselves down 1-0 in the best-of-five series despite holding O'Neal and Bryant to a combined 16 of 41 from the field.

``I'm really proud of guys like Rick (Fox), Fisher and Horace for stepping up,'' said O'Neal, who devoured rebounds as though they were Krispy Kreme donuts, finishing with 20. ``When we give a total team effort like that we are hard to beat.''

Portland, which was custom-designed to steamroll the Lakers with owner Paul Allen sparing no expense, has an impressive engine, it just keeps overheating or backfiring.

The Lakers outscored the Trail Blazers 32-21 in the fourth quarter, stirring memories of Portland's Game 7 collapse in the Western Conference finals, when the Lakers outscored the Trail Blazers 31-13 in the final 12 minutes.

No wonder Portland center Arvydas Sabonis was seen on the bench at one point in the fourth quarter, chewing his nails to the nub. Sabonis is only one year older than Grant, but on Sunday Grant looked decades younger.

``It's a fun time for me,'' Grant said. ``I live for the playoffs.''

Of course it helps immensely when O'Neal has your back and isn't all over it in the paint.

``Shaq is one guy I'd go to the ends of the Earth for,'' said Grant, who knows - and appreciates - that O'Neal worked behind the scenes to reunite them.

``It's a good chemistry we have,'' Grant added.

He was speaking of himself and O'Neal, but he could have been talking about the Lakers as a whole. If they can continue to play as one, the Trail Blazers are done.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) GAME BREAKDOWN: FIRST QTR.

The Lakers could not have asked for a better start, establishing an inside presence with O'Neal (eight points, five rebounds) and forcing Arvydas Sabonis to the bench with two fouls.

LAKERS 30, TRAIL BLAZERS 19

(2 -- color) SECOND QTR.

The momentum the Lakers established in the opening quarter quickly vanished as the Blazers hammered them with a 17-4 run, but the Lakers regrouped to lead by three at halftime.

LAKERS 51, TRAIL BLAZERS 48

(3 -- color) THIRD QTR.

After scoring just three points and missing all seven first-half shots, Bryant got going with five baskets in the third.

LAKERS 74, TRAIL BLAZERS 72

(4 -- color) FOURTH QTR.

The Lakers outscore the Blazers 19-0 from the end of the third to the middle of the fourth. The Blazers sleepwalked through the quarter, perhaps conserving energy for Game 2.

LAKERS 106, TRAIL BLAZERS 93

(5 -- color) Forward Horace Grant, left, had a key 14 points - including 12 in the first 12 minutes - and eight rebounds in his Lakers playoff debut Sunday at Staples Center.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer