The Trail Looks Long for Blazers

PORTLAND, Ore. â€”  Al Gore was here Tuesday as well as George W. Bush and the Lakers. Not necessarily in that order, of course.

Life began again Tuesday night for Blazermania Nation, which had a sleepless summer, haunted by the memory of that blown 15-point fourth-quarter lead over the Lakers.

Guess what? It haunts them still.

They got the Lakers back into the Rose Garden for the season opener but this game was even more depressing locally. The Trail Blazers didn’t even have a lead in the fourth quarter to blow and lost, 96-86. Now the Blazermaniacs can start in on a sleepless fall.

How about visions of their new $70 million-for-four-years dancing hippo, Shawn Kemp (12 minutes, four points, four fouls, two for nine from the field), dancing in their heads?

How about visions of Shaquille O’Neal, whom the Trail Blazers contained so effectively in last spring’s Western finals, busting loose on them, making 14 of 20 shots, scoring 36 points?

“Well,� said Portland Coach Mike Dunleavy, “we’ve got a long way to go. We’re not playing as well as we did last year when we played in the conference finals. . . . We were just way, way soft and we paid the price. . . .�

Not that the Trail Blazers had been looking forward to this game. . . .

Not that they took losing that 15-point lead in Game 7 of the Western finals hard, but two weeks after the Lakers finished winning their title, Dunleavy, who once coached the Lakers, called his old Laker p.r. man, John Black.

Without bothering to identify himself, Dunleavy told Black: “That’s my ring you’re wearing,�

Of course, Dunleavy tells every reporter who asks these days that he wasn’t upset by that game, they played their best and what more could he ask, etc.

“You know what, it really didn’t ruin it,� Damon Stoudamire said of his summer. “It just made it hard.

“You know, because everybody’s going to always talk about that game so you know, you’re never going to be able to get rid of it. . . . We’re going to be a part of history, so to speak, because that’s the sports game.�

“Up by 15, playing cool and lose the game?�

Not that the Trail Blazer fans were looking forward to this game. . . .

When Rasheed Wallace made a 10-foot jump shot from the baseline in the first offensive possession of the first exhibition game this fall, a fan sitting near the court in the Rose Garden yelled, “Where was that in the fourth quarter?�

Even the Lakers were wincing beforehand. Coach Phil Jackson was talking of playing in front of this “highly charged� revenge-crazed crowd. Brian Shaw said the Lakers were no longer the hunters but the hunted. Ron Harper said they were underdogs.

But however imposing the Trail Blazers look on paper with their $86-million payroll, they have to defend to be any good. On Tuesday, with Scottie Pippen--their best double-teamer--getting hurt early, and Arvydas Sabonis--their biggest body--already out, they were in trouble.

Jackson seemed to see it coming, too. Asked before the game if he expected Dunleavy to go back to hacking Shaq, he answered, “I don’t see what choice they have actually. It’s not just that they have fouls to give, it’s just who’s going to stop him if they don’t foul him?�

By halftime, O’Neal had 24 points and Dunleavy had used four defenders--Dale Davis, Kemp, Will Perdue and Antonio Harvey--who had committed 10 fouls.

Not that Jackson was riding his horse from wire to wire, but Shaq played 46 minutes. Actually, he was only off the floor for 57.7 seconds all game, coming out of the first half with 40 seconds left; out of the third quarter with 2.5 seconds left and the fourth with 15.2 left.

Thus it was just like last season, when relatively little was expected of the Lakers and they kept going on the road and beating tough teams, starting with the Jazz on opening night in Salt Lake City.

In real life, it’s only one game, even if it’s a breakthrough for the Lakers on the Trail Blazers’ court.

In Blazermania, it’s a lot worse than that. It’s a nightmare, still without end.