Rockets Feel at Home, Send Lakers Packing : Pro basketball: Kenny and Larry Smith spark Houston’s 104-95 victory, ending Forum drought.

Once masters of the transition game, the Lakers, one foot at home and another on a plane, got caught in the revolving door.

The Houston Rockets had been in town longer. Of course, that stay began with a loss Thursday at the Sports Arena, but at least they were in town. The Lakers didn’t finish their trip until that night, and will begin another today.

“It caught up with us,” Magic Johnson said after the Rockets beat the Lakers, 104-95, to end a 14-game regular-season losing streak in games at the Forum. “We had no emotion. They played with a lot of emotion and a lot of intensity. They were all over the place.”

Or at least one name was--Smith.

Guard Kenny Smith had 34 points, 27 in the second half, and center Larry Smith had 22 rebounds, eight on the offensive end.

No relation, except for making the Lakers feel like they were crushed by a falling family tree.

Larry Smith had six of his rebounds during the final period. None was bigger than the one in the final minute, when he grabbed Kenny Smith’s miss and allowed the Rockets to retain possession with a 98-92 lead. Kenny Smith eventually made two free throws to to give the Rockets an eight-point lead with 49 seconds remaining.

Kenny Smith had 12 of his points in the fourth quarter, when the Rockets held the Lakers to 20 points to win for the 10th time in 13 outings and improve to 33-24. Six came during the game’s decisive run, when Houston turned an 84-83 advantage into a 94-85 lead with a 10-2 run that ended with 4:09 remaining. That was part of a stretch during which the Lakers went scoreless for 3:22 and of a longer period when they made only two baskets in 12 possessions.

That Kenny Smith had only two turnovers while doing all this damage wasn’t unusual, however. The Houston guards--Vernon Maxwell, Eric Floyd and Smith--had only four all day.

“We really feel our backcourt can match up speed with speed with any backcourt,” said Kenny Smith, who made 12 of 22 shots after going three of 14 for seven points against the Clippers. “We tried to exploit that with matchups and running the pick and roll. All three guards have played point guard before, so they can create their own shots.

“Without that, it makes us stand around too much. The last couple of months, we’ve come up with ways to improvise from that.”

Other adjustments-on-the-fly continue. Akeem Olajuwon was sore the day after playing 35 minutes against the Clippers, so Coach Don Chaney limited him to 24 Sunday. Olajuwon, who had been sidelined for 25 games because of an eye injury, responded with 13 points and eight rebounds compared to 24 and 16 at the Sports Arena, but the Rockets responded with a much better game.

Players say they got caught up in the emotion of his return the other night. But merely playing on national television didn’t distract them at the Forum.

“Akeem was definitely a difference,” Kenny Smith said. “We could have won the game without him, but it would have been a one- or two-point game. They (the Lakers) didn’t get any layups down the stretch. Everything they got was from the outside.”

The Lakers’ only points the last two minutes came on Johnson’s three-pointer. Before that, he had a rebound tip-in.

“We did things today we’re not accustomed to doing lately,” Laker Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “We turned the ball over a lot (16 times) and we let the other team outplay us a lot on the boards and get the offensive rebounds.”

The Lakers would like to think schedules had a lot to do with it.

“It was a well-rested team against a tired team,” Johnson said. “You could tell. And they took advantage of that.”

Laker Notes

Sam Perkins, who was sidelined for seven games because of a broken little toe on his left foot, played 25 minutes, grabbing four rebounds and making two of seven shots for six points. “It felt awkward,” he said. “It felt good, though. I wanted to come back and test it before we went on the road.” . . . The 23 points by Vlade Divac were a season-high. . . . Mychal Thompson made his third start of the season, two of which have come against Houston. . . . This is the earliest the Rockets have reached 33 victories since 1985-86.