Blazers trail Lakers

It was a fantastic performance for Rider, whom the Lakers took a chance on despite his numerous off-court problems in eight seasons with Minnesota, Portland and Atlanta.

After the game, Rider was quick to thank the big fella for giving him so many open looks.

"I've never had a center that demands double- and triple-teams," he said. "And then, he still gets big numbers. It's sweet -- just sit out there, set your feet, sit on a 3. I shot the ball real well, but I give myself a 'B' grade for the game. I just wanted to get the ball into Shaq."

O'Neal was 14-of-20 from the field and had 11 rebounds, while Rider was 6-for-8 with five rebounds and three assists.

Rasheed Wallace scored 26 points to lead the Blazers, and Steve Smith had 22.

Portland's Scottie Pippen sprained his left ankle in the first quarter and didn't return.

"It's pretty frustrating," he said. "I was all up for the game."

In the most eagerly anticipated of the 13 opening-night NBA games, the teams failed to live up to the drama of their last meeting, when the Blazers blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals last June and lost 89-84.

The Lakers, who went on to beat Indiana for the championship, committed 20 turnovers, and their sloppy play in the third quarter let the Blazers come back to tie it at 67 heading into the fourth.

"We made a donnybrook out of that game in the third quarter by not taking care of the ball," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. "But we were able to get it back in the fourth quarter. Our bench gave us a big lift. J.R. was great tonight."

Smith's layup got the Blazers within 72-71 with 9:17 remaining, but the Lakers ran off six straight points. Rider, signed by the Lakers for the minimum of $700,000 after being waived by Atlanta last season, elevated on a 13-foot jumper to give Los Angeles a 78-71 lead.

Rider nailed a 3-pointer to make it 85-77 with 3:32 left, and his trash-talking to ex-teammate Bonzi Wells got him a technical. Rider, booed by the sellout crowd before the game, smiled broadly at fans after he stole the ball from Greg Anthony and got an easy dunk.

Kobe Bryant, whose first two jumpers were wild airballs, got into early foul trouble and finished with 14 points on 4-of-11 shooting for the Lakers.

The Blazers, who bulked up by adding Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis specifically with the idea of stopping O'Neal, got little production at either end of the floor from their big men. Kemp had four points on 2-of-9 shooting and committed four fouls in just 12 minutes; Davis had two points on 1-of-4 shooting and had five fouls to go with six rebounds.

"The big guy was his dominant self," Jackson said of O'Neal. "You can dummy through in practice whatever you want to do, but when the real guy shows up, it's an incredibly difficult task."

The Blazers opened the second quarter with a 9-0 run to take a 31-27 lead, but O'Neal went to work, scoring 13 points in the final six. "On paper, we have a fabulous team, the best team I've ever played on," O'Neal said. "We beat a great Portland team. We realize that we are going to be in their way, and they're going to be in our way."