Maybe Pippen Had His Phil

PORTLAND, Ore. — Now the Portland Trail Blazers have to wonder about Scottie Pippen against Phil Jackson, Pippen against the Lakers, Pippen against Pippen, in the playoffs, assuming that’s the matchup.

He missed 16 of 18 shots in a 12-point loss to the Lakers 21/2 weeks ago, when he kept shooting and the Trail Blazers kept falling farther behind.

On national television Sunday afternoon, as the Trail Blazers desperately sought to unnerve the Lakers here, he threw a basketball 20 rows into the crowd with more than 36 minutes left in a close game the Trail Blazers eventually won in two overtimes, 128-120.

That brought only the first technical. Then Pippen snapped at referee Bennett Salvatore, and Salvatore ejected him with the second technical, which brought a hail of miniature Bill Waltons.

Pippen apparently mistakenly thought a Salvatore whistle with 2:20 left in the second quarter was a foul instead of a defensive three-second call.

Pippen chose poorly. He scored 14 points in 20 first-half minutes and had five assists, every bit the offensive conductor Jackson had talked about before the game.

Several times in the first quarter, Pippen stood at the free-throw lane facing his former coach. The two made eye contact. They grinned and nodded, two old friends who’d been through all of it hundreds of times, most of it together.

It is Jackson, however, whose championship run has continued on the backs of the game’s greatest players.

It is Pippen who carries the greater load, the underachieving franchise that will enter the playoffs as the likely sixth seed, two years after standing a quarter from the NBA Finals.

When the tiny redheads were thrown, Jackson picked up one, holding it aloft.

When the referees cleared the floor of players and sent ball boys to gather up the drinks and dolls and trays, Jackson extricated the miniature Hall of Famer from its plastic container and passed it to Tex Winter, sitting just off his left shoulder.

TONIGHT

vs. Seattle, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

Site--Staples Center.

Radio--KLAC (570).

Records--Lakers 56-24, SuperSonics 44-36.

Record vs. SuperSonics--2-1.

Update--The Lakers won both games in Seattle and lost in Los Angeles, 104-93, on Dec. 11..

Tickets--(800) 462-2849.