Lakers Move On To Face Jazz After Knocking Blazers Out

The Lakers came to the Rose Garden on Friday night with their bags packed and an airplane waiting to whisk them away. The question was: Where would they land?

A victory over Portland in Game 4 of their Western Conference playoff series would put them on the redeye to Salt Lake City, where Karl Malone and the Utah Jazz are waiting for someone to give them a game.

A defeat would send them back to L.A. for an anything-can-happen Game 5 against a Portland team that appeared ready to roll over for them after losing the first two games of the series.

Someone alert the Mailman. Company’s coming.

Outplaying Portland in the fourth quarter for the fourth consecutive game, the Lakers advanced to the conference semifinals with a 95-91 victory over the Blazers in front of a Rose Garden crowd of 21,538.

The win gives the Lakers a 3-1 victory in the series, and sends them into a best-of-seven head-banger with top-seeded Utah. Game 1 is Sunday at 2:30 p.m. PDT.

After shooting just 66.4 percent from the foul line in the first three games of the series, the Lakers made 38 of 44 (86.4 percent), including 10 of 10 in the final 1:55. Elden Campbell made two of the biggest, drawing nothing but net on both with 8.5 seconds left to provide the final margin. Campbell finished the game 11 of 12 from the line, as he and Shaquille O’Neal scored 27 points each.

Jerome Kersey, who spent the first 11 years of his career with the Trail Blazers, had a huge hand in eliminating his former team. It was Kersey’s tip-in of O’Neal’s missed jumper with 1:17 to play that gave the Lakers an 87-85 lead, and forced Portland to foul in the waning moments.

The Lakers eliminated a Portland team that had beaten them three out of four times in the regular season.

“I can’t help but think that the Blazers may have made a mistake by making it so open that they wanted to play us (in the playoffs),” Laker coach Del Harris said. “It’s tough to pull on Superman’s cape, if you get my drift.”

Lakers 95, Blazers 91

L.A. Lakers (95) - Horry 1-6 4-4 6, Campbell 8-16 11-12 27, S.O’Neal 9-19 9-11 27, Jones 3-8 8-10 15, Van Exel 4-13 3-4 11, Knight 1-1 0-0 2, Kersey 2-5 3-3 7, Bryant 0-0 0-0 0, Rooks 0-0 0-0 0, Scott 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-69 38-44 95.

Portland (91) - C.Robinson 5-13 1-2 12, Wallace 10-14 0-0 21, Sabonis 10-16 2-2 23, Anderson 1-8 4-4 6, Rider 4-10 7-7 16, Dudley 0-2 2-2 2, Trent 2-6 5-7 9, R.Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Augmon 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 33-72 21-24 91.

L.A. Lakers 21 23 24 27 - 95

Portland 19 30 25 17 - 91

3-Point goals-Los Angeles 1-11 (Jones 1-4, Scott 0-1, Van Exel 0-3, Horry 0-3), Portland 4-16 (Wallace 1-1, Sabonis 1-3, Rider 1-3, C.Robinson 1-4, Trent 0-1, Anderson 0-4). Fouled out-Wallace. Rebounds-Los Angeles 46 (Horry, S.O’Neal, Van Exel, Kersey 8), Portland 43 (Sabonis 10). Assists-Los Angeles 16 (Jones, Van Exel 5), Portland 20 (Anderson 5). Total fouls-Los Angeles 25, Portland 30. Technicals-Los Angeles illegal defense 4. A-21,538 (21,500).

Hawks 94, Pistons 82

Auburn Hills, Mich.

Steve Smith scored 28 points and Atlanta got 17 points from its much-maligned bench while evening the best-of-5 series at 2.

The fifth and deciding game will be Sunday at Atlanta.

Grant Hill scored nine of his 28 points in the fourth quarter for Detroit, but the game had long been decided by then. The Hawks took a 73-57 lead into the fourth.

The Hawks had the edge in rebounding and held the Pistons to 39.2 percent shooting from the floor. Atlanta’s bench had been outscored 50-8 in the first three games, but Alan Henderson had nine in Game 4.

Mookie Blaylock, Dikembe Mutombo and Christian Laettner all had double-doubles for the Hawks. Blaylock had 10 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Mutombo had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Laettner had 11 points and 12 boards.

Atlanta (94) - Corbin 5-10 1-1 12, Laettner 5-19 1-2 11, Mutombo 5-6 6-6 16, Blaylock 5-14 0-0 10, Smith 7-12 9-10 28, Barry 0-3 0-0 0, Henderson 3-3 3-6 9, Recasner 1-3 0-0 3, Hancock 1-1 0-0 2, Lauderdale 0-2 0-0 0, James 1-2 0-0 3, Newbill 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-75 20-25 94.

Detroit (82) - Hill 11-22 6-8 28, Thorpe 1-3 0-0 2, Mills 5-10 0-0 11, Hunter 3-13 3-4 10, Dumars 3-13 6-6 14, McKie 1-4 0-0 2, Long 0-2 0-2 0, Ratliff 2-3 1-2 5, Curry 1-2 0-1 2, Williams 2-2 0-0 4, Reid 0-0 4-4 4. Totals 29-74 20-27 82.

Atlanta 22 24 27 21 - 94

Detroit 23 15 19 25 - 82

3-Point goals-Atlanta 8-26 (Smith 5-6, James 1-2, Corbin 1-3, Recasner 1-3, Laettner 0-3, Berry 0-3, Blaylock 0-6), Detroit 4-14 (Dumars 2-5, Mills 1-3, Hunter 1-5, McKie 0-1). Fouled out-None. Rebounds-Atlanta 57 (Laettner, Mutombo 12), Detroit 42 (Mills 10). Assists-Atlanta 19 (Blaylock 9), Detroit 13 (Hill, Dumars, McKie 3). Total fouls-Atlanta 21, Detroit 19. Technicals-Henderson. A-21,454 (21,454).