Aldridge, Wallace lead Blazers over Lakers 93-86

By ANNE M. PETERSON

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 11 rebounds, and the Portland Trail Blazers prevented the Los Angeles Lakers from locking up the second seed in the Western Conference with a 93-86 victory on Friday night.

Gerald Wallace had 19 points and 13 rebounds for the Blazers, who led by as many as 24 points.

Kobe Bryant had 24 points in the Lakers' fourth straight loss.

Ron Artest hit a pair of 3-pointers that pulled the Lakers to 82-73 late. Aldridge made a jumper but Bryant had a pair of layups that narrowed it to 84-77.

Portland answered with Nicolas Batum's 3-pointer and Gerald Wallace's layup that extended the Blazers' lead to 89-77 and all but sealed the win with 1:14 left.

A victory by the Lakers combined with a loss by the Mavericks on Friday would have secured Los Angeles the West's No. 2 seed.

The Blazers were in a tangle with Memphis and New Orleans for seeding at the bottom of the conference. The team that finishes eighth will face San Antonio in the opening round.

Both the Hornets and Grizzlies won on Friday night, but Portland's victory kept the Blazers in the sixth spot with two games left. The Blazers were coming off a 98-87 victory at Utah the night before.

Portland was without center Marcus Camby, who banged his head on the floor in a collision with David Lee in a loss to the Warriors on Tuesday night. Camby, who strained his neck, has missed two games.

Los Angeles center Andrew Bynum missed shootaround early Friday because of a stomach ailment, but was in the starting lineup at gametime.

Portland took an early 19-14 lead in the first quarter, but the Lakers came back to go up 31-26 on Shannon Brown's long jumper from near the top of the arc.

Portland would respond with 19-2 run that gave the Blazers a 45-33 lead with 3:19 to go before the break.

Bryant almost single-handedly kept the Lakers in it, scoring 18 first-half points, including a 3-pointer that closed the gap to 53-47 at the half.

Matthews' running jumper, off a skillful pass from Andre Miller, put Portland up 59-47. The Blazers extended the lead to 70-50 on Aldridge's dunk.

The Lakers closed the third quarter on a 12-0 run to narrow it to 74-62 on Brown's layup.

There were some tense moments in the final quarter when words were exchanged between Artest and Wallace. The crowd at the Rose Garden responded by chanting Wallace's name.

Artest responded by hitting his back-to-back 3-pointers.

Notes: Bryant had four 3-pointers in the first half. ... Trail Blazers great Terry Porter, now a part of the franchise's broadcast team, celebrated his 48th birthday on Friday. ... The Lakers lost four straight earlier this season from Nov. 28 to Dec. 1. ... Bynum fouled out with 2:46 left. ... The Lakers had 17 turnovers to Portland's nine.

Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

HEAD COACH PHIL JACKSON

On why the Lakers lost the game: “We were lazy and inefficient in the first half. I thought in the second half we just didn’t buckle down and do the right thing offensively in the third quarter. And then, when we had to start playing hard… these guys just don’t want to play hard right now.”

On why the team isn’t playing hard:
“I think it’s a product of knowing where their position is [in the playoffs], and just playing.”

On how he feels about the team heading into the playoffs:
“It matters how you play in the playoffs, it really does. But I hate to have this set-up going into the playoffs where we’re just not playing hard.”

On if he feels the team would be playing differently if this were the playoffs:
“I have no explanation for not getting back on defense… and turnovers. We don’t need to have turnovers, and we haven’t in the past month. Giving up easy baskets is just a recipe for a loss.”

On the team’s four-game losing streak:
“It’s a product of not paying attention, not being focused and not playing the game with the right attitude. As a result, we end up with some losses. Guys are playing limited minutes. They’re not playing forty-minute games to stem the tide, but all-in-all you have to come out and play basketball the right way if you’re going to have the right effect.”

On what he wants to see out of his team to close out the season:
“Just playing the right way. Just stop taking bad shots or looking and the referee when you get fouled and complaining about it. Just play the game.”

On how he feels about the final games of the season:
“We need to win to secure our position in second, so these games are definitely important.”

On what the team has to do to start playing better:
“Go out and play hard from the start. Stop trying to turn it on and come back.”

On if he agrees with Coach Jackson’s assessment that the team is playing lazily:
“I would more so say those qualifications about the Utah game and the Golden State game. Tonight we fought more. We had a terrible start to the third quarter. We put ourselves in a big hole, we did a poor job in the first half on transition defense coming off of bad shots in our offense, and turnovers. But I don’t think it was a lack of effort out there tonight.”

On having a size advantage against Portland:
“They know that we are bigger inside. They were doubling from the baseline quickly, but I think we still had to make more of an effort to get the ball in there, create that double team, kick it out and take advantage of the open man. But we got there maybe once a quarter, if that, so obviously when Andrew and myself caught it we wanted to be productive. I don’t think we put enough emphasis on that as the game went along.”

What does Gerald Wallace bring to the team?
“He’s fearless. We’re sitting there and I’m saying, ‘Somebody take a charge.’ And at that time, I’m thinking Bynum is out of control and there appears Gerald. That’s the type of guy he is. You’ve got a 7-footer coming down the paint, nobody but you and him, and he gives up his body and steps in front of that kid. I would say 90 percent of the league would not have done that. That was a big play – that was a huge play. He just makes plays, both ends of the floor. He plays fearless, he throws his body around, he gives up his body, and that’s how you have to play to win these types of games.”

On using this game to prepare for playoffs:
“We know they’re the defending champions and we’re coming off a back-to-back. We felt like the last two games [against the Lakers] we had a chance to win and we really wanted to prove to ourselves that we could do it. It was going to be a tough challenge tonight without Camby, coming off the back-to-back, they had dropped three and we just felt like if we could get to our tempo tonight, we would have a chance. I tought the difference tonight was we were able to finish. It was starting to look very similar to the last two games, Kobe getting hot. But I thought Wesley did a real nice job of just trying to make Kobe work, staying in front of him.”

On Miller:
“He’s been doing a good job of just leading the team, getting us to the tempo we want tonight, it starts with the point guard getting the ball up the floor. He did a nice job of advancing the ball, making plays. Kobe did a nice job of working him defensively and we went to Gerald bringing the ball up and running some pick and rolls and just making that adjustment to pretty much what they had done in the last two games, pressure Dre and try to wear him down, but Gerald was able to make some plays tonight.”

Did you feel playoff atmosphere/intensity?
“Oh yeah, but whenever we play the Lakers, our fans are into it and the energy is going to be in the building. I thought our guys tonight looked pretty fresh even after coming off a back-to-back. So I thought they were ready tonight to play the game. Yeah, it’s that time. I thought they played the game, they played their players and I think they were trying to break that losing streak, so both teams came out to play.”

On breaking game open in third quarter:
“Just playing hard, playing hard and executing, making plays and getting stops at the same time.”

On not getting swept by Lakers:
“You never want to have a team say that they beat you every time because you never know what’s going to happen, especially in this playoff run. We don’t want, if we do matchup with the Lakers, them to be able to go back and say, ‘well, we took care of them four times during the regular season. So it was big for us to get a win, and actually pull a win out when we felt like we had them twice before.”

On defending Kobe, holding him to 10-of-25 shooting:
“Just play him. You can never shut out a player like that, you just try to make everything as difficult as possible and hope he misses.”

“You never want to get swept by anyone. We felt like we had them twice, but we didn’t execute down the stretch and we gave it away, so tonight, actually executing down the stretch and winning the game felt good for us.

“It was big, a big win. But you can’t put too much on any one game. But whenever you can beat the Lakers, the defending champs, it’s always a good game, a good night for you.”

LAKERS VS. BLAZERS GAME PREVIEW

By KATE HEDLIN, STATS Writer

The Los Angeles Lakers know they won't be the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, but a recent slump has kept them from locking up the No. 2 spot.

The Lakers will try to avoid their fourth straight loss Friday night when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers, looking to complete a season sweep for the first time in 22 years.

With four games remaining, Los Angeles (55-23) has a two-game lead over Dallas for the second seed in the West. Despite their current skid, the Lakers have maintained that lead because the Mavericks have dropped four in a row.

Los Angeles was eliminated from contention for the No. 1 seed after a 95-87 loss to Golden State on Wednesday. The Lakers had 17 turnovers and were held to 90 or fewer points for the third straight game.

"We looked a little heavy, a little sluggish," said Kobe Bryant, who scored 25 points. "We looked a little fatigued. Guys have to really take care of their bodies and get rest when they need to and get re-energized a little bit."

The Lakers have shot 41.2 percent in the last three games while connecting on only 22.8 percent of their 3-pointers. They're also averaging 18.7 turnovers - more than five above their season average.

Those numbers alarm coach Phil Jackson as the poor performances continue to mount with the playoffs approaching.

"I'm really concerned about the way we were shooting the basketball," Jackson said. "We need to start playing in rhythm."

Ron Artest is one player that is in a slump. He's averaging 5.8 points and shooting 27.6 percent in four games this month.

A loss Friday would match Los Angeles' longest losing streak of the season, set Nov. 26-Dec. 1—the team's first since the 2006-07 season.

Depending on the results over the next week, the Lakers could end up facing the Trail Blazers (46-33) in the first round of the playoffs. Portland is in sixth place after a 98-87 win over Utah on Thursday, moving one-half game ahead of New Orleans and 1 1/2 in front of Memphis.

The Lakers have won three meetings against the Blazers and are trying for their first season sweep since 1988-89. They've won their last two visits to the Rose Garden after losing 22 of 26.

Despite his team's lack of success there, Bryant has scored at least 32 points in his last three visits to Portland and is averaging 34.1 points his last 14 games there.

The Blazers picked up their third win in four games with Thursday's victory.Gerald Wallace scored 20 of his 29 points in the second half as he continues to get more acclimated to the offense, and Nicolas Batum added 21.

Wallace has scored in double figures in nine consecutive games, averaging 20.1 points on 54.4 percent shooting. The Blazers are 13-8 with him in the lineup since he was acquired from Charlotte on Feb. 24.

"Gerald was big for us. Gerald knows his role and he knows where his shots are going to come from and he's ready to knock them down," LaMarcus Aldridge said.

The Lakers were the last team to hold Wallace to single figures, limiting him to nine points in an 84-80 victory March 20.

Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited

SEED CLINCHING SCENARIO
Entering their game at Portland on April 8th, the Lakers have an opportunity to clinch the Western Conference's #2 seed with a victory over the Trail Blazers AND a Dallas loss at home to the LA Clippers. A Lakers victory AND Dallas victory would eliminate Oklahoma City from #2 seed contention while reducing the Lakers magic number for the #2 seed to one (a Lakers victory OR a Mavericks loss).

BUMP IN THE ROAD
Coming off an historic 17-1 record in their first 18 games after the All-Star break, the Lakers have now dropped three straight with their most recent loss April 6 at Golden State. The loss marks the fourth 3+ game losing streak of the season for the Lakers, an exceptionally rare occurrence during Phil Jackson's tenure as Lakers head coach. Only one other year has a Jackson-led Lakers team had four 3+ game losing streaks in the same season (2006-07: one 7-game streak, 6-game streak, 4-game streak and 3- game streak). Jackson's teams in 2005-06 and 2002-3 each had three 3+ game losing streaks in the same season. The 2007-08 and 2003-04 Finals bound teams had two 3+ game losing streaks each while the NBA Championship teams of 2009-10 and 2001-02 each had one 3-game losing streak. The 2008-09, 2000-01 and 1999-00 NBA Championship teams never had a 3-game losing streak during their runs to the title.

STRONG POST ALL-STAR BREAK PUSH
With their victory at Utah on April 1, the Lakers became just the 4th team since the league introduced the All-Star game in 1951 to post a 17-1 record (or better) out of the break. The 1999-2000 Lakers won their first 16 straight games after the All-Star break, eventually moving to 27-1 before recording their second loss. The only other two teams to win 17 games before recording their second loss after the All-Star Break were the 1990-91 Chicago Bulls (19-1) and 1997-98 Utah Jazz (17-1).

BRYANT NAMED KIA NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE PLAYER OF THE MONTH
On April 1st, Kobe Bryant was named Western Conference Player of the Month for March 2011. The award is Bryant's 13th Western Conf. Player of the Month honor and 14th Player of the Month award overall. Bryant was also named NBA Player of the Month for December of 2000, a year before the award was divided into Eastern and Western Conferences for the 2001-02 season. The award is the first of the season for Bryant, who has won multiple Player of the Month awards in a single season four times (2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08, 2008-09). Bryant's previous Western Conference Player of the Month awards came in December 2009, January 2009, December 2008, April 2008, February 2008, March of 2007, December 2006, April 2006, January 2006, March 2004, January 2003 and November 2001.
Bryant averaged 25.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists while leading the Lakers to a league-best 12-1 record in March and bringing them to within 2 1⁄2 games of San Antonio for first place in the Western Conference. Bryant achieved several milestones in March: passing Moses Malone for 6th on the NBA's all-time scoring list during a 26- point performance in a win 3/8 at Atlanta as well as passing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the Lakers all-time leader in games played in a win over New Orleans 3/27. Bryant also tallied a season-high 42 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists in a 3 OT win over Phoenix 3/22 en route to the Western Conference Player of the Week award on 3/27.

JACKSON NAMED WESTERN CONFERENCE COACH OF THE MONTH
On April 1st, Phil Jackson was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for March 2011. The award is Jackson's fifth Western Conference Coach of the Month honor. Jackson most recently won back-to-back Western Conference Coach of the Month awards for games played in October/November 2008 and April 2008. Jackson also won back-to-back awards for April 2003 and October/November 2003. In March, Jackson led the Lakers to a league-best 12-1 (.923) mark. Prior to these honors, Jackson was last named Coach of the Month in November of 2001 before the award was divided by Conference.