There’s Definitely a New Spring in Their Step

PORTLAND, Ore. —  So, it turns out, all this talk about the Lakers not being the same team as last year was right.

They’re better.

Sweeping better. Scary better.

Three games into the playoffs, and the Lakers are already causing an opponent’s fans to pack up and walk out at the end of the first half.

Three games into the playoffs, and they have probably fired a coach and dismantled a rival.

Three games into the playoffs, and already they’re on vacation.

“We knew it was somewhere in there,” Rick Fox said with a smile.

Whatever it is, it’s out now, everywhere, collecting in the NBA sky like a surprise storm, sending the Portland Trail Blazers scurrying away Sunday with their hands over their heads.

An opening playoff series expected to give the Lakers trouble only gave them exercise, ending with brief calisthenics in a 99-86 victory over the Trail Blazers for three-game sweep.

The first Laker series sweep in 10 years.

All the while begging the questions.

Better this spring than last spring?

“Maybe a little better,” admitted Kobe Bryant, eyebrows raised.

Better than last year’s championship team?

“I know this, we’re mentally tougher,” said Derek Fisher with a nod.

Good enough to have an easier time than during last postseason’s two-month ledge walk?

“Hmmm,” Brian Shaw said. “I don’t know if we’re can stand here and say that.”

OK, so put it this way.

“What we did to Portland today, closing this out in their building in a sweep, is not happening last year,” Fox said.

A series that began with fire ended with pity.

It ended not with the Lakers storming down the court, but with Robert Horry dribbling out the clock.

It ended not with the Trail Blazers fighting back, but with Scottie Pippen staring at the floor.

And afterward everybody hugged, even Bryant with his sore ribs, even Rasheed Wallace with his big mouth.

In the end, the Lakers didn’t just beat the Trail Blazers. They felt sorry for them.

Granted, Portland is also not the same team. But by all accounts, even last year’s Trail Blazers couldn’t have hung long with these Lakers.

“It doesn’t matter who is next,” said Horace Grant and, for once, that feels like more than just hyperbole.

If the second-round opponent is Sacramento, can the Kings win one game at Staples Center? If it’s Phoenix, can the Suns win one game, period?

Judging from this series, the respective answers are, “No” and “You’ve got to be Kidding.”

Who can beat a Kobe Bryant team when Bryant has 23 assists and only three turnovers.

Who can beat a Derek Fisher team when Fisher plays 114 minutes with no turnovers?

Who can beat a Shaquille O’Neal team when O’Neal makes 21 of 34 free throws?

When asking why this playoff team is surprisingly better than last year’s, there are your three answers.

“All of the concerns that this team faced earlier this year, it forced us to assess ourselves individually,” Fisher said. “When that happens, you only get better.”

Start with Bryant. Everybody else in a Laker uniform does.

“He is igniting our team,” Fisher said. “He is creating the offense for everybody.”

Not that he has completely forgotten the old Kobe. Early in the second quarter Sunday, the Lakers were trailing, 32-28, and Bryant was two for seven with two turnovers.

While O’Neal shot free throws, Coach Phil Jackson lectured Bryant. Judging from what happened next, the message involved more passes and smarter shots.

It is not a coincidence that the Lakers went on a 26-15 run to finish the half with a lead they never lost.

“I think marriage has been real good for Kobe,” Fox said with a laugh, referring to Bryant’s recent knot-tying with Vanessa Laine. “He is really working on sacrificing, on being responsible to a partner. He’s got 14 partners right here.”

Including Fisher, whose impact became apparent again Sunday after the Trail Blazers came back to pull within 67-66 with 4:47 left in the third quarter. There was a timeout. It seemed to last forever.

Most of the 20,580 Rose Garden fans were dancing and hollering. The music was blaring. The momentum was changing.

Then Fisher walked out and sank a three-pointer and the place went silent.

Won’t rock for basketball again until next October.

The entire series was like that for Fisher, who softened the absence of Ron Harper and strengthened the Laker resolve with effort as bright as that seemingly needless headband.

“I’m getting a lot more chances now than I did last year,” Fisher said. “I’m more confident when I get them.”

Speaking of which, remember how one of the themes of last year’s Trail Blazer series was Hack-a-Shaq? Right now, that seems like 10 years ago.

O’Neal’s improved free-throw shooting is about more than one point here or there. It’s about flow. One of the reasons the Lakers are working the ball so well and seem so constantly in motion is that O’Neal doesn’t keep clanking the action to a halt.

“I think my free-throw shooting is able to speed the game up,” O’Neal said. “For us, that’s an advantage.”

So, too, will be their one-week rest before beginning the second round at Staples Center Sunday.

They will enter that game with 11 consecutive wins. They are playing as if they want to ultimately stretch that streak to 23.

A sweeping idea. A scary idea.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].