O’Neal Perfect at Line in Victory

As promised, as feared, and as perfect as anyone could have imagined, Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers within a single stride of the NBA finals.

One free throw at a time.

As if the moment had been summoned by Phil Jackson or some even higher power, as the Rose Garden crowd shattered eardrums and as the game swayed in the balance, O’Neal smiled at the free-throw line and performed his own water torture on the Portland Trail Blazers.

Splash. Splash. Splash. Splash.

This. Game. Is. Over.

(Probably this series too.)

The Trail Blazers unraveled under the drip-drip, and the Lakers raced away with a resounding 103-91 victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals to take a 3-1 lead back home for a potential series-clinching Game 5 at Staples Center.

Other Lakers turned in important performances--Glen Rice broke out with 21 points, including a 12-point spurt in the deciding third quarter; Kobe Bryant fought through a bad shooting spell to score 18 points and pass out seven assists, and Ron Harper once again played hard-nosed defense and made six crucial baskets.

The Lakers swept both games in Portland, a monumental reversal of fortune after the Trail Blazers had beaten the Lakers in Game 2 at Staples.

But the only performance that seemed touched by a higher purpose was O’Neal’s, and every Laker knew it.

O’Neal made all nine of his free throws Sunday--and six for six when he was intentionally fouled in the fourth quarter--the best playoff performance of his career at the foul line.

IN QUOTES

“I had to take him out early so he could keep that stat sheet. We told him, put that on a wall. Frame that one. I mean, the defensive strategy to foul Shaq really backfired on them, and it really sewed the game up.”

PHIL JACKSON,

Laker coach

THE SERIES

Lakers lead, 3-1