PORTLAND, Ore. -- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has rediscovered his sky hook as the Los Angeles Lakers forge their way to what they hope will be a third-straight NBA championship and a going-away present for their center.
Abdul-Jabbar, playing one of his best games of the season, scored 22 points Wednesday night to lift the Los Angeles Lakers over the Portland Trail Blazers 116-108 and complete a sweep of their opening playoff series.
Unlike most of the season, Abdul-Jabbar used his famous sky hook to near-perfection in lifting the Lakers to a 3-0 sweep of their opening-round playoff series with Portland.
'Kareem had one of the best games he's had in a long time,' Lakers Coach Pat Riley said. 'They single-covered him and when the opportunity came he had the hook working.'
Abdul-Jabbar has announced his retirment when the season ends.
Byron Scott had 25 points and James Worthy 24 for the Lakers. The two-time defending champions will face the winner of the Seattle-Houston series, which the SuperSonics lead 2-1.
Terry Porter led the Trail Blazers with 29 points, 24 in the first half, and Clyde Drexler added 25.
Asked if there was anything the Blazers could have done to win the series, Portland Coach Rick Adelman said, 'I guess not. They took us three times in a row. They kind of took over the game.'
Early on the Lakers ran their fastbreak to near perfection. Worthy scored the first 8 Laker points and 10 of the first 12 to give Los Angeles a 12-4 lead. But Portland rallied and Terry Porter hit a 3-point basket to cut the Lakers' lead to 23-22.
The Blazers shot 41 percent in the first period then found their touch in the second. They produced one of their best quarters of the season, outscoring the Lakers 32-22.
Portland had its first lead of the game when Porter hit a 20-footer three minutes into the period to give the Blazers a 32-31 advantage. Porter pushed the margin to 40-34 with a layup at 5:53. He finished the half with 24 points on 10 of 12 shooting, tying Lionel Hollins' team playoff record for points in a half.
'I'm probably to blame for the second quarter problem,' Riley said. 'I went a little deeper (on the bench) than I normally do. They got themselves into a hole, but we turned that around pretty well and played our game in the second half.'
The Lakers wasted little time in the third quarter to take command. When Scott hit a 3-pointer at 8:21 of the third quarter, the Lakers had their first lead, 64-62, since early in the second period. Six minutes later, Scott connected on two free throws to push the Los Angeles leadto 80-70.
The Lakers had their largest lead at 99-85 and 107-93. The Blazers did not come closer than 8 thereafter, and the Lakers were assured their sixth consecutive first-round playoff sweep.
