The Associated Press

A weekend sweep of the Trail Blazers in Portland restored the shine to the Lakers’ reputation and left them one victory away from their first trip to the finals since 1991.

Monday, May 29, 2000

A weekend sweep of the Trail Blazers in Portland restored the shine to the Lakers’ reputation and left them one victory away from their first trip to the finals since 1991.

”I think it shows a lot of character,” Kobe Bryant said, ”and we gained a lot of confidence coming in here and winning two on the road in a tough environment.”

Give Shaquille O’Neal’s 3-year-old daughter Taahirah an assist.

O’Neal, a 52 percent free throw shooter in the regular season and 45 percent in the playoffs, was 9-for-9 at the line in the Lakers’ 103-91 victory on Sunday.

”Today I called her and said ‘Daddy loves you,”’ O’Neal said, ”and she said ‘Good luck Daddy, and bend your knees,’ so that game is for her.”

O’Neal was 6-for-6 at the line in the fourth quarter.

”I felt like Pete Maravich – that guy from LSU,” O’Neal said, grinning at the mention of his old school.

Glen Rice celebrated his 33rd birthday with a 21-point performance, his biggest scoring game of the playoffs and Ron Harper, who made the game-winning jumper in Friday night’s 93-91 victory, had 18 points on Sunday. Bryant scored 18, despite 5-for-15 shooting.

With a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals, Los Angeles can clinch it with a homecourt victory Tuesday night.

”We know we have an option now of playing at home to put the series away,” Los Angeles coach Phil Jackson said. ”We’ll give it the best effort to finish it off on our home floor. We don’t want to come back to this place and play them before this crowd.”

Only six teams have come back from a 3-1 deficit to win a series.

”We have the ability to go to LA and win,” Portland coach Mike Dunleavy said. ”We have to get one win and bring it back here. We’ve started every game treat – all four games. But we keep falling into lapses.”

Rice, who had averaged just 9.7 points in the first three games of the series, scored 12 points in the decisive third quarter. Since his arrival in Los Angeles last season, Rice has had a hard time fitting in. Not so Sunday, when the Lakers gave Rice a bunch of screens as a birthday gift.

”That’s a great birthday present,” he said. ”That was a lot of fun out there and we played together. … If I can get people to set screens like that for me, I can have a field day.”

O’Neal had 25 points and 11 rebounds, but his most remarkable statistic came from the foul line.

”I told him he needs to frame that little stat sheet,” Bryant said.

O’Neal has had big games at the free throw line before, but never in such a crucial situation.

”When he’s making free throws, he gets more aggressive,” Portland’s Scottie Pippen said. ”When he finds his rhythm, he gets the other guys going.”

O’Neal made Dunleavy’s Hack-a-Shaq tactic look silly.

”The defensive strategy to foul Shaq really backfired today on them,” Jackson said, ”and it really sewed the game up for us.”

The Lakers were 31-for-34 at the foul line and could have set a franchise record had John Salley not missed two free throws late in the game.

Rasheed Wallace had career playoff-highs of 34 points and 13 rebounds, including 18 points in the fourth quarter, but he didn’t get much help when the Blazers needed it most.

Steve Smith scored 20 points, Arvydas Sabonis had 14 and Pippen 11. However, Pippen, defended by Bryant most of the game, was just 4-for-12 from the field and committed five turnovers.

The Lakers shot 70 percent (14-for-20) in the third quarter, outscoring Portland 34-19 to take a 76-66 lead entering the fourth. The Blazers shot 29 percent (5-for-17) in the third.

Los Angeles trailed 47-42 at halftime. But Rice hit a 3-pointer and a 21-footer to trigger a 9-1 spurt that put Los Angeles up 55-52 with 7:01 left in the third.

The Lakers scored nine in a row at the end of the third and start of the fourth to take an 80-66 lead on Robert Horry’s layup with 7:01 to play.

With Rice on the bench with four fouls, Wallace scored six consecutive points to cut it to 80-72 with 8:37 to play, but Portland never got any closer.