Lakers Save Their Best for the Best : Pro basketball: After victory over Bulls and losses to Kings and Nets, L.A. controls game against Trail Blazers, 98-90. Worthy scores 19.

If hope springs eternal in the human breast, it’s a runaway torrent in the hearts of Blazermaniacs, who were beside themselves about their 8-0 start.

Their first defeat Wednesday was followed by a headline in the Oregonian that read:

“First loss won’t panic Blazers.”

OK, now they can panic.

With shocking ease, the Lakers, 11 1/2-point underdogs, handed the Trail Blazers their second loss, 98-90, Friday night, leading by 15 points in the fourth quarter.

The Lakers have won four of their last five games, are 3-1 on the road and have beaten both of the NBA’s winningest teams, the Bulls and Trail Blazers, who have lost only two other games combined to the rest of the league.

The same Lakers have lost decade-old winning streaks at home to New Jersey and Sacramento and were beaten in the Forum by 26 points by the Clippers.

“It only shows one thing,” said James Worthy, the high Laker scorer with 19 points. “We can play when we get our minds into it.”

The Lakers trailed only at 2-0, leading for the last 44:48, by double figures most of the night.

“This is a veteran team,” Coach Randy Pfund said. “We have a lot of players who aren’t intimidated by a lot of situations. For a long time, we were on top of the whole league. I think we have people who know what it’s about.”

When the Trail Blazers finally lost on Wednesday at Phoenix, nobody was sure how to take it.

“A TV guy asked me, ‘You got beat, what are you going to do now?’ ” Coach Rick Adelman said before Friday night’s game. “I didn’t think we were supposed to change the lineup.”

Adelman’s lineup is already flexible enough, with Rod Strickland spelling Terry Porter at the point, Porter moving to shooting guard, newly acquired Mario Elie playing guard and small forward and Adelman planning to swing Drexler, too, when his knee gets stronger after arthroscopic surgery.

The bottom line: Eight Trail Blazers are averaging eight points a game or more and none of them is averaging 35 minutes.

“The guys have accepted it,” Adelman said. “A different guy leads us in scoring every night. You look at the top 25 in scoring and rebounding and we don’t have anyone in it. But we’re winning games.”

Adelman threw everything he had at the Lakers by halftime Friday, but nothing slowed the visitors down.

The Lakers took a 23-12 lead behind Tony Smith, who scored a fast six points while serving as backup for the injured Byron Scott.

The Elie-Strickland lineup entered to go on an 8-0 run, cutting it to 23-20. But Anthony Peeler, the backup to Smith, arrived to score another nine points, giving the Lakers 15 by halftime from the shooting guard position and a 51-40 lead.

By the middle of the fourth quarter, the Lakers were up, 91-76. They made it interesting by going the next 4:35 without a point--they got off only one wild shot in that time while turning the ball over three times and committing four offensive fouls--but made enough free throws in the last minute to survive.

“We flat got beat,” Adelman said. “We got beat in every aspect of the game. We were not ready to play the game.”

In the home of Blazermania, it was still too early to panic, but it was getting later all the time.

Laker Notes

The Trail Blazer bench had outscored opposing benches by 13.5 points a game, but the Laker reserves scored 36 points in 83 minutes to Portland’s 42 in 96 minutes. . . . Anthony Peeler scored 16 points, A.C. Green had 12 and James Edwards eight off the bench. . . . Randy Pfund on Peeler: “Kid can do some things, there’s no doubt about it. He can make some things happen. He’s done it against (Michael) Jordan and he did it against (Clyde) Drexler.” . . . Byron Scott missed his fourth game with a sprained right foot and will make it at least five, sitting out Sunday’s game at home against Dallas. “Dr. (Steve) Lombardo told me what to expect,” Scott said. “He said it’d be two-three weeks.” Scott hopes to play Tuesday at Sacramento. . . . Local resident Mychal Thompson, retired after playing last year in Europe, visited the Laker dressing room before the game. Said James Worthy: “Here’s a mouth from the past.”