Lakers Feel Relaxed When Divac Does Too : Pro basketball: Center has 18 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists in 113-100 victory over Grizzlies.

Vlade Divac, his confidence and his game once disappearing faster than a double-digit Laker lead, was officially welcomed back Friday night at the Forum, site of probably his best game of the season, a 113-100 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies.

The improvement that began, coincidentally or not, the last time the teams met, Nov. 17 in Canada, culminated in 18 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and four steals. Good enough--along with 14 points and 16 assists from Nick Van Exel and 22 points from Cedric Ceballos--to send the Grizzlies to their 14th consecutive defeat.

“I was very aggressive and tried to do a lot of things,” Divac said. “I’m just feeling like my confidence is back and I feel more relaxed now.”

Divac is averaging 16 points, 10 rebounds and 4.6 assists the last five games and shooting 62.3% the last seven games, but that was mostly against the inexperienced (Bryant Reeves) or the converted power forwards (John Williams, Brian Williams). Now, the degree of difficulty goes up.

The physical Indiana Pacers on Sunday, which might include the return of Rik Smits.

David Robinson on Tuesday.

Hakeem Olajuwon on Wednesday.

Three games after that, Patrick Ewing.

Relax with that.

With consecutive games against Phoenix just completed and three in a row against Indiana, San Antonio and Houston up next, this should have been the Lakers’ chance to coast downhill for a change. Not only were the Grizzlies winless for nearly a month--since Nov. 5, the second game of the season--and on the second night of a back-to-back, but they arrived minus both starting forwards.

Chris King was home in North Carolina to be with his wife for the birth of their second child, Kenny Gattison in Vancouver because of tendinitis in his knee. That put former Laker Antonio Harvey and Lawrence Moten in the opening lineup and moved Blue Edwards back to the frontcourt alongside lottery pick Reeves, himself just promoted to the No. 1 spot at center after Benoit Benjamin was traded to Milwaukee.

On the other hand, the Grizzlies had just pushed the red-hot Chicago Bulls into the fourth quarter the night before, leading, 77-69, with 7:01 to play before Michael Jordan took over. Harris hoped that would be enough to become the Laker alarm clock.

“It’s one of those situations where you have to emphasize the respect for a single game,” he said. “It does help, at least, that these guys took the Bulls to the wall.”

For an encore, Vancouver did the same thing to the Lakers.

Using only nine players, with Darrick Martin the lone available Grizzly sitting it out, the visitors trailed by only four points late in the third quarter. Their deficit was a workable eight at the end of the period, and Greg Anthony already had all 20 of his points.

That turned out to be the last the Grizzlies saw of the game. Starting with the final 51 seconds of the third quarter, the Lakers went on an 18-3 run to turn a four-point game into a blowout.

Laker Notes

The Lakers played the fourth quarter without Anthony Peeler, who went to the hospital for X-rays on his right foot that proved negative. An MRI, a more sophisticated exam, will be done today. He had been bothered by soreness in the area for about the last week, had the foot taped before the game in a change of his usual routine, then slipped and fell while backpedaling in the third quarter. The starting shooting guard said he could probably play with the pain, as long as the MRI does not detect any damage. . . . At least the flag wasn’t upside down: The Lakers forget to play “O Canada” before the game, prompting an apology to the Grizzlies and their fans. In a statement, the Lakers said the Canadian anthem was skipped because of a miscommunication between their broadcasting and game operations departments. . . . The 16 assists by Nick Van Exel were one shy of his career high. . . . The Lakers shot 53.8%, the first time this season they’ve broken 50%. . . . The Lakers begin their annual toy drive next Friday, the first of three home games in which they are encouraging fans to bring an unwrapped gift to the Forum. The toys collected Dec. 8 against Toronto, Dec. 10 vs. Detroit and Dec. 22 against Sacramento will be distributed to children by three charities and agencies.