Lakers Dodge Rockets : Pro basketball: Ceballos scores season-high 36 points in 97-94 victory over NBA champions in Houston.

It was on enemy turf this time, so the Lakers dug in and readied for Houston to take its best shot at revenge. The Rockets did too. But they missed.

Thirteen days after crushing the Rockets at the Forum, the Lakers delivered another blow to the suddenly staggering NBA champions on Thursday night, winning a close game this time, 97-94, at the Summit as Cedric Ceballos had a season-high 36 points and 10 rebounds.

The good news today in Houston: The Rockets don’t play the Lakers again until late March.

“This was the biggest win we’ve had all year,” said Laker center Sam Bowie, who played a key role. “I was afraid if we weren’t ready, they would come out and try to beat us bad after the way we embarrassed them at our place. But we were ready.”

They were on several fronts.

The big numbers from Ceballos--including 15 of 22 from the field--came after he had 25 points and 16 rebounds in the first meeting, a 107-89 victory Dec. 2. Over the last 11 games, the all-star candidate has averaged 23.2 points and 8.7 rebounds while shooting 56.1%, bringing his season numbers up to 21.6 points and nine rebounds and 50.1%. No small forward in the league is more successful on the boards, and only Jamal Mashburn, Scottie Pippen and Glen Rice are scoring at a better pace.

Ceballos also came up big when the Lakers needed his offense, this two nights after he took pride in his fourth-quarter defense against Mashburn in the victory at Dallas. In one stretch of about five minutes in the final period against the Rockets, he scored eight of the Lakers’ 12 points for a 94-87 lead.

Houston, which lost for the seventh time in 11 games after starting 9-0, stayed close, cutting the deficit to 96-94 on Robert Horry’s short bank with 38 seconds left. After Sedale Threatt’s ill-advised three-point shot on the Laker possession, the Rockets came down the court with a chance to tie or move ahead. That chance ended with a miss--Hakeem Olajuwon’s 17-foot shot with about seven seconds to go hit the heel of the rim and ricocheted to Nick Van Exel in the lane near the line.

Van Exel was fouled immediately and made the first free throw. When he missed the next, the Rockets got the rebound and called time out with 4.8 seconds remaining and down, 97-94, hardly a panic situation for a team that is three-point crazy and would be taking the ball out at midcourt.

They got off a good shot too, an open jumper from behind the arc by Horry with about a second showing--but it barely missed. Fitting on a night when the Rockets made only 38.9% of their attempts.

No more fitting, though, than the fact that Olajuwon got off only four shots in the final nine minutes, with the only basket coming at 8:58. He wasn’t able to get to the line more than that lone visit with six minutes remaining. He got 14 rebounds, but the Lakers limited him to 22 points, about four below than the season average, because of the combined defense of Vlade Divac, Elden Campbell and Bowie.

“Few teams can throw in three seven-footers that are very good players, and our three are,” Coach Del Harris said after the Lakers won for the 10th time in 12 games to improve to 13-7. They are 3-0 on this trip.

Said Divac, who had 11 rebounds, but made only two of 11 shots after early foul trouble: “We did a terrific job.”

Bowie was the unexpected contributor. His last significant role had come Nov. 29 at New Jersey, when he had 10 points and eight rebounds and made a key shot in the double-overtime victory.

Now this. He made only one of four shots, but collected seven rebounds in 26 minutes and was a big piece of the blanket that covered Olajuwon. The last two times the Lakers have needed him most, he has delivered.

“He’s the MVP of the league,” Bowie said. “We needed the 21 feet of defense to slow him down.”

Olajuwon would hear nothing of the gang tackling that slowed him.

“I wasn’t going to worry about their defense,” he said. “It’s about our game, our offense, our defense. We’ve lost chemistry and team spirit. That’s what we’re going through right now. We need to get back.”

This is their chance. The Lakers are gone.