Bryant to Get a Handful in Another Small Guard

Damon Stoudamire probably isn’t the best or the most dangerous penetrating guard the Lakers have faced this season but, because of the team he’s on and the players he’s surrounded by, he’s probably the point guard who presents the most problems.

“There’s a myriad of [quick guards] in the league,” Coach Phil Jackson said Monday of Stoudamire. ‘But he’s one of the tough little ones, I’ll tell you that.”

Recently, 6-foot-7 Kobe Bryant has faced and mostly handled Allen Iverson and Steve Francis, both much shorter, and he will be on Stoudamire tonight after having had a difficult time in the Lakers’ Jan. 22 loss to the Trail Blazers.

What will help Bryant, is aggressive help on screens from Shaquille O’Neal and the other Laker big men.

“Kobe’s doing a wonderful job, he’s staying on the floor, staying in front of these guys,” Jackson said. “But I think our team’s handling screen-rolls . . . and that ultimately is what a little guy has to have, a screen to operate off of. I think Shaq’s doing a better job, Robert Horry and A.C. Green. . . .”

Said Bryant: “He tries to get going early in the basketball game. All we have to do is try to stop his middle penetration, that’s all. He gets a lot of people going.”

TONIGHT

at Portland, 7:30

Channel 9, TNT

* Site--Rose Garden.

* Radio--KLAC (570).

* Records--Lakers 45-11, Trail Blazers 45-11.

* Record vs. Trail Blazers--1-2.

* Update--The Lakers have lost the last seven regular-season games in Portland mostly because they have not been able to survive the Trail Blazers’ big runs of energy and points. “I’m sure they think that we can’t beat them at home,” Bryant said. “I mean, the hardest part is not get caught up in the hype, emotionally. Because you know they’re going to go on their spurts at home, right? I mean, they always do it, go on 9-0 runs, 10-0 runs. But we just have to remain poised.”

HEAD TO HEAD

* November 6 at Portland Trail Blazers, 97-82

* December 3 at Lakers Lakers, 93-80

* January 22 at Lakers Trail Blazers, 95-91