Ceballos Near His Peak in the Valley of the Sun : Lakers: He scores 37 points to help end Phoenix’s 25-game home streak.

The America West Arena crowd that greeted him so warmly at the start soon became disenchanted. A wide-open three-point shot in the third quarter earned a groan of disappointment, a layup early the next period some boos. All music to his ears, of course.

The anger and frustration was not directed at Cedric Ceballos, but his former employer, the Phoenix Suns. Ceballos, however, was the one prompting most of the 19,023 in attendance Friday night to rebel against the home team, scoring a game-high 37 points in an impressive 127-112 Laker victory.

The Suns’ first regular-season home loss since March 18, a streak of 25 games, ended at the hands of one of their own. Ceballos, after all, had spent the first four years of his pro career here before being traded from his adopted town to his hometown in late September for a first-round draft choice.

Friday marked his first game back, and the locals were ready. One paper heralded him “CEDRIC of Hollywood” on the front page. The fans offered a loud ovation during the pregame introductions, before they grew to dislike him, or at least what he was doing.

In short, no one even tried to pretend this was just another game.

“He really didn’t say anything to the players,” said Nick Van Exel, a major factor himself with 21 points and a career-high 16 assists. “But we knew deep down he wanted to beat this team.”

Ceballos didn’t deny it. But he did point out his motivation may have been different than what most people would think. This wasn’t about revenge, it was about respect. And not for him, for the Lakers.

“The first thing is that we beat the team with the best record in the Western Conference,” he said. “That was the important thing. The second is that I played well.

“I think I really wanted to win badly to prove that we are a team that can compete with the high-rankings of the NBA.”

The great personal showing--13 of 25 from the field, three more three-pointers, seven rebounds, 45 minutes--didn’t exactly hurt.

“It was a little different,” Ceballos said afterward amid a throng of cameras, part of the media frenzy that hypes every Sun-involved happening to the point that Dan Majerle’s secret wedding was front-page news this week. “I was looking forward to playing this. After the trash-talking when Charles (Barkley) called me up at home, and then we kept it up during the game. It was a fun time.”

OK, then they can share the good feelings. The Lakers have victories over the Seattle SuperSonics and Suns on successive nights, have won seven of their last nine, 14 of 18, and, at 17-9 overall, are eight games over .500 for the first time since Feb. 16, 1992. For his part, Ceballos is averaging 27.8 points and nine rebounds the last 12 games while shooting 53.2%.

Barkley did more than play the foil through all this. Though again having problems defending the Laker big men inside, he kept the Suns in the game with 31 points and 23 rebounds, both season highs. Two teammates also contributed big games--Majerle with 31 points and Kevin Johnson with 14 points and 12 assists--and still it wasn’t enough.

The Lakers countered with weapons of their own. They set a franchise record by making 13 three-pointers, also the most Phoenix has ever given up, and committed only 11 turnovers. If that wasn’t enough, they also beat one of the best rebounding teams on the boards, 50-49, with Elden Campbell getting 12, Vlade Divac 11 and Sam Bowie seven in 19 minutes off the bench.

“The guys in Vegas had us as the underdogs by 10 points,” Van Exel said. “There must be a bunch of people jumping out of windows about now. I think everyone is more surprised than we are. We knew what we could do. It was just a matter of going out and doing it.”

Said Laker Coach Del Harris: “This is the best game we’ve played so far. The best game we can play today.”

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