Smith’s 41 Are Right Tonic as Rockets Rip Lakers, 118-93

Kenny Smith, playing with a touch of flu, still took apart a Laker backcourt that was already feeling run into the ground, turning “slightly under the weather” into an upbeat prognosis for the Houston Rockets.

The Lakers don’t want to see him healthy. The less-than-100% look was more than enough in a 118-93 victory by the Rockets before 15,393 at the Forum on Sunday night, more than enough for Smith to make 16 of 24 shots and score a career-high 41 points to help Houston end its first two-game losing streak of the season.

“Kenny was just phenomenal,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said after the Rockets improved to 23-3. “We really needed it. He had exploded several games ago when we were at home, and I told him after practice before we went to Phoenix that he had passed up open shots trying to create some better shots. He was great today, coming out and shooting with confidence.”

Smith had averaged only 7.6 points in the previous seven games, including four points on two-of-seven shooting Saturday at Phoenix. By the time he left, he had scored more points against the Lakers than anyone this season.

“I told (teammate) Vernon Maxwell last night, ‘That’s it. That’s the last game you’re going to see me play like that,’ ” Smith said. “If I’m going to go down playing, it’s going to be the way I play.”

As if the Lakers needed to look more sickly, Nick Van Exel and Sedale Threatt also played despite flu. They played 25 and 23 minutes, respectively, leaving the bulk of the offense to Doug Christie (20 points) and James Worthy (16). Vlade Divac added 16 points and 11 rebounds.

“Both Nick and Sedale were under the weather, so I tried to rotate them,” Laker Coach Randy Pfund said. “But Kenny Smith . . . I’ve seen him enough to know you don’t handle him one on one.”

Things obviously weren’t breaking right for the Lakers, who had lost eight of 10 and returned from a 2-4 Eastern trip to play the best of the West in successive games. The Seattle SuperSonics will come in Wednesday.

To make matters worse, the Lakers played the Rockets after they had suffered back-to-back losses and were intent on finding the groove again.

So much for the Lakers being able to sneak up on them.

After the Lakers had stayed within three or five points most of the way, the Rockets opened an 11-point lead at halftime and extended that to 21 in the third quarter.

When the Lakers made a run in the fourth quarter, Smith was waiting. Twice the deficit reached 11 points, and twice he answered with baskets. The second gave the Rockets a 99-75 lead with 8:06 remaining, and the Lakers never threatened again.

Laker Notes

The Lakers again played without Sam Bowie and are concerned enough that his injury is more than the sprained left knee originally reported that he will have an MRI today. “It’s not right,” Bowie said. “We need to find out what’s wrong.” Bowie, who has no history of knee problems, apparently was hurt during Tuesday’s victory at Orlando, although he is not sure how or when. He felt some soreness during the fourth quarter, then it increased after the game, and he sat out Thursday at Miami. “We thought the rest the last couple of days would get him ready to go,” Coach Randy Pfund said. “But he’s not.”

It could have been worse for the Lakers. They could also have been without Nick Van Exel. As it was, they had a starting point guard who didn’t eat anything Friday and had only a can of soup on Saturday and Sunday. . . . Houston has won 45 in a row dating to last season when holding the opposition under 100 points. . . . The Rockets played without reserve guard Scott Brooks, who also had flu. When Brooks sat out Saturday at Phoenix, it ended a streak of 223 appearances.