Ceballos Picks Up Quiet 33 : Pro basketball: Forward continues his hot streak and helps Lakers end four-game slide with 125-111 victory over Mavericks.

He wasn’t the most spectacular Laker, an honor that went to teammate Eddie Jones, who had 26 points, eight rebounds, a couple of monster dunks and the crowd in the palm of his hand.

He wasn’t even the most well-rounded, not compared to the 23 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists and four blocked shots by Vlade Divac.

He was, strangely, somewhat overlooked. Thirty-three points on 13-for-21 shooting and eight rebounds in 35 minutes of the Lakers’ 125-111 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday at the Forum, and Cedric Ceballos got to take a seat in the background.

Ceballos said he didn’t mind that this turned into Jones’ night, what with 17,505 fans chanting “Ed-die! Ed-die!” after the rookie shooting guard had charged in from the right perimeter to grab Nick Van Exel’s rebound and in one motion slam it back through as the exclamation to the end of a four-game losing streak. Maybe because this has been Ceballos’ week and a half.

“I’ve been on fire,” he said.

The resulting smoke has left a trail from the Forum to Salt Lake City, across to Sacramento, down to Phoenix, and back over to Inglewood. Six games in all. Six games in which Ceballos has averaged 27.8 points and 8.3 rebounds while making 62 of 108 shots, or 57.4%.

He is 13 for 23 on three-point attempts the last four outings. He has scored 40 and 33 points on consecutive nights, in the process becoming the first Laker since Magic Johnson in 1986-87 to break 40 twice in the same season. It’s a six-game span that can rival any he had before thumb surgery cost him 22 games and a chance to qualify among the league scoring leaders.

“Really good,” Ceballos said. “When you’re winding down, going to the postseason, everybody says this is when you should be tired and run down. It’s really nice to have a stretch like this. It would be even better to ride it into the playoffs.”

Added Coach Del Harris: “I think his offense speaks for itself. He’s working really hard to try to improve his defense. He always gets some tough assignments and occasionally we have to move him around to different players.

“But he’s trying to do better and he realizes that for us to be the most effective team we can be, he has to be a better defensive player. It’s just the bottom line. Part of being a good player is being good at both ends, and I think he’s accepting that and he’s trying to do that.”

Sunday, Ceballos drew Jamal Mashburn, No. 6 in the league in scoring coming in. Mashburn had 26 points. The Mavericks also got 20 points and 18 rebounds off the bench from Roy Tarpley.

All that got Dallas was a 15-point deficit early in the fourth quarter, a margin that never went to less than 10 the rest of the way and reached 19 a couple of times. That and another step closer to elimination from the playoff race.

“We let them get away from us in the fourth,” said Jason Kidd, who didn’t help his bid for rookie of the year by getting eight points and nine assists against six turnovers. “We couldn’t come back from that lead.”

Laker Notes

Anthony Peeler, bothered for several days by a sore right foot, will have an MRI test taken today to determine the cause of the pain. The reserve guard, struggling since his return to the bench after a successful run as a starter during Eddie Jones’ stay on the injured list because of a sprained shoulder, played only eight minutes against the Mavericks before being forced to the bench by the injury. . . . Sedale Threatt sat out his fourth consecutive game because of a strained abdominal muscle and remains day to day. The Lakers next play Tuesday, at the Forum against Seattle. . . . The Lakers need to win two of their last three games to reach 50 victories.

Jim Jackson shot around before the game and has been taking part in non-contact workouts with the Mavericks since late March, but it doesn’t look like he will return from the injured list before the end of the season. He suffered a badly sprained left ankle March 24 and sat out the next 27 games, although the Mavericks have gone 15-12 without their leading scorer. “We can play without him and we can win without him,” Jason Kidd said. Jackson said Sunday he is still having trouble jumping off the leg.