NBA PLAYOFFS : Lakers Get a Gift from St. Nick : Pro basketball: Van Exel makes three-point basket with 0.5 seconds left in overtime for 98-96 victory in Game 5.

Bent on beating the odds, as if they could do it any other way this season, the Lakers turned once more to Nick Van Exel, who has only about seven years of experience at this sort of thing.

Well, not this sort of thing. Tuesday night, in a performance stunning even by his already lofty standards, he rocked the San Antonio Spurs’ world, at the same time probably causing a few more heads to shake in disbelief.

The season was on the line for the Lakers, that’s all. Van Exel responded first by making a three-point shot with 10.2 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. Then, from almost the same spot on the right side, he made another three-point basket with 0.5 seconds left in the extra period that provided a 98-96 victory before 35,888 at the Alamodome.

The Spurs figured that by today they would be practicing for the Western Conference finals. Instead, they’re going back to the Forum for Game 6 of the semifinals Thursday night, still holding a 3-2 lead. Just not as firmly.

“These guys were determined ahead of time they were not going to leave anything in San Antonio,” Laker Coach Del Harris said of his team. “They played that way.”

Never more than at the end.

The Lakers, who had lost in all six previous visits to the Alamodome, went an incredible seven minutes 10 seconds without a point and, after staying on life support thanks to some success at the line, they went 10 minutes 33 seconds without a field goal. They were down, 88-85, and facing what could be their final possession of the season when Cedric Ceballos rebounded Doc Rivers’ miss with about 16 seconds left.

Ignoring Harris’ signal for a timeout on the sidelines--a suggestion, not an order, the coach said--Van Exel stood about two steps behind the arc, with defender Avery Johnson close by. He was four for 17 from the field before the shot, then threw the first dagger into San Antonio. Overtime.

Once there, the Spurs broke to a 96-90 lead with 2:33 remaining. But they didn’t score again.

Vlade Divac, back at the scene of the crime for the first time, made one from the line, and Van Exel followed that by driving down the lane for a layup. One more free throw from Divac, and Ceballos got the Lakers within 96-95 with 1:15 showing.

It came down to a Laker timeout with 18.5 seconds showing. Divac got the ball to Van Exel, who passed to Elden Campbell in the post against David Robinson. Campbell got free around the all-defensive team center with an up-and-under move, but the two-foot shot with about seven seconds left rolled off the rim.

The rebound was knocked outside until Divac controlled it near the three-point line. He kicked it out a little farther to Van Exel. Again, Johnson was there with him.

Van Exel made a quick move to his left, then went right. That created an alley to get past the defender. Now six for 21 from the field, he ran in a few steps and launched.

Swish.

The Spurs called for a timeout. The Lakers celebrated. The crowd went quiet.

“Real quiet,” Van Exel said. “I think I put ‘em to sleep.”

It was the shock.

“A crushing shot,” Robinson said.

“How did I see it?” Spur Coach Bob Hill added. “I saw it as we should have gotten the rebound.”

Instead, their only hope was for a counter-punch miracle. San Antonio called consecutive full timeouts, then, after the Lakers took a delay of game on the in-bound pass, a 20-second timeout.

When the ball finally got into play, Sean Elliott, on a night when he broke out of a slump to get 22 points, had an open straight-away three-point shot. It barely hit the front of the rim.

The Lakers had survived. For the night and, until at least Thursday, for the season.

Laker Notes

Jerry West, widely regarded as one of the best front-office executives in sports, has finally been named NBA executive of the year for the first time, while Del Harris picked up another coach of the year award as the Sporting News announced its annual selections. Additionally, San Antonio’s David Robinson was named player of the year and Detroit’s Grant Hill rookie of the year. Harris already had won the NBA’s coach of the year through media balloting, but the Sporting News’ awards carry special significance because peers do the voting. West received 11 of a possible 27 votes to out-poll Gregg Popovich of San Antonio and Scott Layden of Utah. Harris edged Jerry Sloan of the Jazz. . . . Dennis Rodman, benched Sunday at the Forum, returned to action Tuesday, but Terry Cummings started and J.R. Reid was the first power forward off the bench. Rodman finished with 15 rebounds and 11 points in 35 minutes.