Lakers can’t win there

PORTLAND, ORE. —  It’s an amazing glitch, a bizarre hiccup the Lakers can’t seem to purge from their systems.

They arrive in Portland and, not long afterward, they lose.

It wouldn’t be so surprising if they were playing in Detroit or San Antonio, but this was Portland, site of the league’s worst team last season, the same hapless organization that beat the Lakers twice in 2005-06 and again Wednesday, 101-90, at the Rose Garden.

And this was supposed to be an improved Lakers team, perched atop the Pacific Division until the Trail Blazers took them out by pounding them with power forward Zach Randolph, again and again, until he had 36 points on 12-for-23 shooting.

The Lakers, losing in Portland. Don’t stop the presses.

“The rain, making joints hurt,” Kobe Bryant said, trying to find a reason for another loss to the Blazers. “Glad we’re not coming back up here no more.”

It’s hard to find a silver lining in losing to any post-2004 Blazers team, but the Lakers don’t play here again this season. And, more important to the big-picture thinkers, Bryant had his best game since coming back from off-season knee surgery, scoring 32 points on 12-for-19 shooting.

At one point in the third quarter, he collected his teammates and told them to follow his lead. He had that feeling again. But, as he said later, “it just never materialized for us. You’ll have games go that way.”

For reasons greatly unknown, the Lakers have had a rough go with the Trail Blazers. After a 99-93 loss here in March, Lamar Odom was moved to say that Bryant should shoot the ball “40 or 50 times a night.... If I had his talent, I’d do the same thing. We should be embarrassed. I am.”

There was less displeasure Wednesday but only because it was so early in the season.

“Great competitors admit when they get beat,” Odom said. “Tonight they beat us. If the game was five quarters, they probably would still win.”

It would have been advisable for the Lakers to win, the extension of momentum heading into a stretch where they have 13 of their next 14 games at Staples Center.

On top of that, they get Kwame Brown back Friday against Detroit and Aaron McKie a little bit after that, two more injured players returning to a roster that appears to be somewhat thicker and deeper than last season’s unit.

And the Trail Blazers provided their share of questionable moments in the early going, Randolph heaving a half-court shot that missed badly. The problem: There were still several seconds left in the first quarter, and the Lakers pushed the ball up court, Vladimir Radmanovic hitting a three-pointer as time expired.

But the Lakers never led by more than five, and found themselves down 15 before falling by 11.

Odom had 11 points on five-for-nine shooting. A night after compiling 20 points and 14 rebounds against Minnesota, Lakers center Andrew Bynum had more fouls, six, than points, two.

“It was a tough night for him,” Coach Phil Jackson said, adding that Bynum faced Kevin Garnett and Randolph on back-to-back nights.

On the other hand, Luke Walton had 22 points and Bryant looked better than any other game this season.

He hit a reverse in the first quarter that stirred memories of the old, pre-surgery Bryant. He also succeeded on his cross-over dribble on a couple of occasions, including one in the second quarter where he crossed over, hung in the air and dunked a short jumper while drawing a foul. He also hit a driving layup as time expired in the second quarter to bring the Lakers to within 55-49.

“It’s getting better and better every day,” Bryant said. “My knee feels better, my explosion felt really good tonight. It’s coming.”

But there were also plays to forget, even for Bryant, who had the ball picked from behind by Ime Udoka on a partial breakaway with 3:16 left to play.

“Tough turnovers,” Jackson said. “Kobe’s on a fast break and slows down and he doesn’t recognize the fact that they’re chasing him. Instead of getting two points, you end up losing the ball and they score at the other end. Those are tough.”

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