It’s Fun Time for Lakers : Pro basketball: Pfund lets them run away to a 109-102 victory as Bowie and Edwards control O’Neal.

Problems?

What problems?

The Lakers, in the middle of a skid that was leaving black marks through most of the Eastern time zone, had a clear-the-air meeting during practice Monday, then did the unthinkable Tuesday night: They scored 100 points; they outrebounded an opponent, and they beat the Orlando Magic, 109-102, as offensive specialists Sam Bowie and James Edwards played defensive stopper on Shaquille O’Neal when it counted.

The Lakers broke a three-game losing streak, and an even longer not-having-fun streak. How long?

“The last time I saw it like this was probably the Phoenix game,” Doug Christie said.

That was on opening night.

Nearly seven weeks later, they traveled to Orlando having failed to win the battle of the boards nine games in a row and to reach triple digits in scoring for eight consecutive outings, a club record for futility. Coach Randy Pfund considered benching his two leading scorers, and players openly complained about Pfund dragging down the offense by calling too many plays.

By the time the Lakers arrived in Florida, fresh off a 30-point loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Richfield, Ohio, they were feeling bad and playing bad. Monday’s practice went a long way toward taking care of the first part, when Pfund asked for input, and got it. Take the clamps off the offense, he was urged. The meeting/video session/workout was so upbeat and went so well that Pfund was worried his team had left everything on the practice court.

Then came Tuesday. Before 15,291 at Orlando Arena, the Lakers quickly fell behind, 15-2, then regrouped and finally went ahead, 65-64, in the third quarter as Doug Christie made consecutive three-pointers en route to 31 points.

Come the fourth quarter, the Lakers trailed by as many as six points before making a final charge, this time taking a 104-98 lead with 1:22 remaining. That held up even though they had only one field goal in the final four minutes.

“A huge win for us emotionally,” Pfund said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt. It gives us a chance to salvage this road trip, to go down to Miami and get another game.”

O’Neal finished with 33 points on 12-of-17 shooting and 10 rebounds and was working his way through all of the Laker centers by the fourth quarter. Vlade Divac already had five fouls at the start of the period, Bowie four. Edwards, who played a season-high 18 minutes, got his third foul 44 seconds into his stint and picked up two more down the stretch.

But O’Neal, the league’s leading scorer coming in, touched the ball only three times in the final 3 1/2 minutes. He grabbed only one offensive rebound and three in all during the fourth quarter. When he went silent, so did the Magic, scoring only eight points in the last five minutes.

“I thought (Edwards) set the tone tonight that we weren’t going to give Shaq any free ones,” Pfund said. “I think they have a dunk-o-meter in here somewhere, and at least (O’Neal) didn’t set any records.”

Edwards, asked to rate the defense by the center-by-committee, said: “I’d give us an A-plus, since we won the game.”

Laker Notes

Coach Randy Pfund didn’t make any of the starting lineup changes that he had hinted at after Sunday’s loss to Cleveland, but did shake up the rotation. Sort of. Tony Smith, usually given spot duty, played only seven minutes but took over at shooting guard as early as the second quarter when Anthony Peeler was given his first break. Smith, the Lakers’ best defender in the backcourt, also played periodically down the stretch, depending on the matchups. . . . Pfund relied heavily on the two-center alignment. Vlade Divac played 30 minutes, getting 17 points and 11 rebounds, and Sam Bowie went 29 minutes, often both at the same time. Elden Campbell got only 19 minutes, easily a season low.

It wasn’t Showtime, but it was a start. The Lakers liked the opportunity to run, an attack they have all wanted but few have helped by rebounding. “This is an example of how we want to play and how we can play,” Doug Christie said. Added Nick Van Exel: “I think he is a good enough coach that hopefully he will let us keep doing it.” . . . The Magic made only 24 of 40 free throws, with Shaquille O’Neal going nine of 15 from the line.