Tired Lakers Play Follow the Leader : Pro basketball: After barely losing at first-place Seattle, L.A. comes back to defeat the first-place Rockets, 101-88.

The Lakers were playing for the second night in a row, going from playing Pacific Division leader Seattle on the road Thursday to Midwest Division co-leader Houston at the Forum. So the game Friday was not supposed to be close. It wasn’t.

Lakers 101, Rockets 88.

Before 15,316, the Lakers dominated the second half. Nick Van Exel had a game-high 31 points, including five three-pointers to tie the team single-season record with 106. The co-holder, Magic Johnson, has moved on to new frontiers.

“He just put it in our heads we could beat them,” Van Exel said after the Lakers improved to 3-1 under Johnson, the lone loss a three-pointer to the SuperSonics.

Said Johnson: “We are making great strides. The defense was fabulous. I mean, to hold a first-place team to that many points, we’re doing a great job.”

Making Sedale Threatt part of the offense again was an early focus for the Lakers.

Always quick on the trigger, Threatt went in with only six, zero and two attempts in the first three games since Johnson replaced Randy Pfund. And, after averaging 18.4 points in 17 consecutive starts, he had scored only eight, zero and two points in those games, an obvious factor in the Lakers going from 110 points against Milwaukee to 89 against Minnesota and then 92 against Seattle on Thursday.

“I’ve got to get Sedale back,” Johnson said. “I kind of lost him. I said no more jump shots, so he’s like, ‘Where do I fit in?’ ”

Johnson never actually prohibited outside shots, only encouraged the Lakers to get the ball inside more. The result has been a windfall for Elden Campbell--a career-high 26 attempts against the Timberwolves--but only a fall for Threatt. That was never more evident than in the first half Friday.

Threatt had three attempts as the offense, with 32.7% shooting, continued to sputter, but what stood out was the one he didn’t take. When he hesitated and then passed up a 15-footer with the shot clock at one, an almost unheard-of development, the result was a 24-second violation. The Lakers, who failed to get a shot in a critical situation in the three-point loss the night before at Seattle, committed the same turnover four possessions later to open the second quarter.

That was part of a stretch in which they went 5:38 without a point, the Rockets taking a 31-23 lead. From there, though, the Lakers regrouped to cut the deficit to 42-40 at halftime. The rally was capped by Vlade Divac banking in a straightaway three-pointer.

The Lakers needed one minute of the third quarter to take the lead, then didn’t fall behind the rest of the period. When Houston pulled into a 53-53 tie, Van Exel answered with back-to-back three-pointers from nearly the exact spot on the left side, in front of the Laker bench.

That was worth a 59-53 lead, before Van Exel handed the chores off to James Worthy. Starting with two free throws with 3:36 remaining, Worthy scored nine of the Lakers’ next 11 points, good for a 70-61 lead. The lead went to double digits on James Edwards’ free throw with 17 seconds left.

Turns out the Lakers, looking to avoid being swept by the Rockets for the first time, were merely warming up. They took the momentum from the third quarter into the fourth to grab a 74-61 lead, when Tony Smith beat the shot clock with a three-pointer. With seven minutes remaining, the lead was 79-69.

The Lakers finished equally strong.

Threatt, however, still wasn’t a factor, finishing with those three shots and no baskets in 19 minutes.

Divac had 16 points and 13 rebounds, Campbell 13 and 12. Hakeem Olajuwon had 28 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks for the Rockets.

Van Exel also joined George Lynch, who had 30 points in Johnson’s coaching debut, as the only Laker rookies to score 30 points since Johnson did it in 1979-80.