Lakers Take Bad Kidding : Pro basketball: Rookie has triple-double as Mavericks breeze, 130-111.

Into the visitor’s locker room late Wednesday night walked Nickey Maxwell Van Exel III, the 4-year-old son of the Laker point guard. He was tough to miss. He was the one wearing a Jason Kidd jersey.

So much for loyalty. So much for his allowance.

“For the whole month,” his father said, laughing.

The kid as Kidd constituted piling it on, though it was somewhat appropriate. The Lakers were seeing the rookie point guard every time they turned around anyway, from a promotional campaign that wallpapered Reunion Arena with one reminder or another to the first triple-double of his career that sparked the Dallas Mavericks to a 130-111 victory.

The Mavericks, pushing Kidd for rookie of the year, had picked this night to turn two promotional ideas loose on the same night. The first 2,500 people 14 and under through the turnstiles--including the young Van Exel--got replicas of his jersey. On top of that, all 17,502 in attendance got a Kidd mask attached to a stick.

Cedric Ceballos got into the spirit, holding one in front of his face when the captains met at midcourt. That was the last bit of fun the Lakers had with that subject. Forty-eight minutes later, they had surrendered 130 points, the most all season, and Kidd had inflicted much of the damage with 19 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

“Triple-doubles, those are fun little goals,” said Kidd, supported nicely by Jamal Mashburn’s game-high 32 points. “Those are tiny goals. But if I would have had a triple-double and we lost, I would rather have traded that for a W. The most important thing is that we got the W.”

Said Van Exel, who had hoped to use the promotional blitz as motivation to stop Kidd: “I was determined. But they’ve got guys who can get out and run with him and create assists. It’s hard to stop him when he gets going full speed.”

To think this was a night the Lakers had awaited for more than two months. This was supposed to be about their reunion at Reunion, the first time since Jan. 31 that their starting lineup was together again--Elden Campbell and Cedric Ceballos at forward, Vlade Divac at center, Van Exel and Eddie Jones at guard.

And then Ceballos made one of six shots, got two points and two rebounds in 19 minutes and got his defense criticized by Coach Del Harris. And Campbell went five for 13 with two rebounds in 26 minutes. And Divac--though grabbing 10 rebounds on a night when the Lakers got killed on the boards, 58-37--had only 10 points.

At least the guards did their part for the offense. Van Exel scored a team-high 24 points, Jones added 22 on nine-for-13 shooting while in foul trouble, Sedale Threatt had 16 and Anthony Peeler 11, albeit while going three for 12. It was Peeler’s first game as a reserve after 24 productive outings as Jones’ replacement.

“It’s going to take a couple of games before we get in sync,” Jones said of the starting five. “Actually, I don’t think we were out of sync. Tonight we just missed shots.”

They have nine more games before the playoffs. The toughest stretch is up next: Utah on Friday, San Antonio on Sunday, road games at Utah, Sacramento and Phoenix next week, before bracing for the next scary sight at the Forum. Jason Kidd.

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Laker Notes

The Lakers are close to activating George Lynch to see if he can play through the pain of a stress fracture of the foot. Then, based largely on Lynch’s input, they will decide if he should be kept on the roster for the playoffs or finish the season on the injured list. He could come back as soon as next week, and Tony Smith, sidelined because of a strained calf, probably won’t be far behind. . . . Coach Del Harris, when asked if he knew the president of Mexico was staying at the same Dallas hotel as the Lakers: “No. But he probably didn’t know I was there, either.”