Lakers at Home on Road

Apart from the fact that most of the court looks like it was inside a paint factory that exploded, there are worse places for the Lakers to be today than the Summit. Such as a meeting of the referees’ association. Or the Forum.

“Matter of fact,” Magic Johnson said, “sometimes I feel we play better on the road than we do at home. I don’t know why that is.”

Neither do many of the other Lakers, but they agree with the assessment. Maybe it has something to do with tying for the fourth-best road record in the league at 23-18--behind only Chicago (33-8) and Seattle and San Antonio (both 26-15)--or finishing better than .500 away from the Forum for the first time in five seasons, or even the notion that their best victory of 1995-96 may have been as visitors, the 22-point rout at Orlando.

What makes it all the more impressive is that it’s unlikely--this is basically the same team, the one that arrived here Sunday night and will practice today at the Summit in preparation for Game 3 against the Rockets on Tuesday, that the Auto Club once wouldn’t cover. Too many calls for roadside service.

Or don’t you remember the Lakers of November and December? They lost the first four road games, then got a victory. OK, so it was at Sacramento on a night the Kings had the league minimum of eight players after a fight prompted mass suspensions. But at least another victory followed in the next game . . . at Vancouver.

In all, they lost 10 of the first 13 on the road. From the ugly--blowing a nine-point lead in the final 57 seconds at Phoenix--to the uglier--a 28-point defeat at San Antonio.

The reason behind the sudden change is as impossible to explain as the theory that the Lakers are better on the road than at home. It couldn’t be Johnson--the crossroads, so to speak, came before he signed on. But most seem to agree it came on the late-January tour of Lotteryville.

Lakers 124, Celtics 107.

Lakers 100, 76ers 88.

Lakers 100, Nets 98.

Preceded by a victory against the Clippers at the Sports Arena, it formed the front end of a seven-game road winning streak, the league’s third longest and the best such run for the Lakers since 1990-91. Then Johnson returned.

“I’ve been amazed by the turnaround, to tell you the truth,” Coach Del Harris said. “But I can’t pinpoint the why.

“I do know it’s been more mental than physical. When we went on that three-game trip East in January, that was the turnaround. They weren’t great teams, but they were road wins and we got three in a row. It turned our mind-sets around. We thought we could do better, and we did.”

So much better that they had a 15-2 road stretch from Jan. 19 to March 31 and finished the season by winning 20 of the last 28 away from home. By the time it ended--fittingly, with a victory at Portland--the Lakers had actually averaged more turnovers in 1995-96 at home (14.8) than on the road (13.6).

“Maybe because we’re a young team,” Vlade Divac suggested. “When you are at home, you are put under a lot of pressure to satisfy the fans, play well and win. On the road, you just play basketball.”

Added Sedale Threatt: “We like the road. We don’t have to think about too many distractions. We don’t need to worry about friends or getting tickets for everyone. We just focus.”

Good thing, because they spent the last few weeks of the season making home-court advantage in the first round a priority, earned it by finishing fourth in the Western Conference, then immediately lost it when the Rockets won Game 1 at the Forum on Thursday. The Lakers came back to tie the best-of-five series Saturday.

So they come to town needing at least a split. Losing Tuesday and Thursday would end their season. Winning both, against a Houston team that was 27-14 at home, could send the Lakers right to Seattle for the second round. A split forces a Game 5 back in Inglewood.

The Rockets’ history here is mixed: 1-1 in 1992-93, then 0-2, followed by 2-0 last season and then 0-2 again this campaign. The first visit ended in a 112-99 defeat as Clyde Drexler scored 34 points, including 19 in the third period, the most by any Laker opponent in a quarter all season. They hung on until the fourth quarter in the second, but eventually lost, 96-94.

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Taking the Show on the Road

The best regular-season road records in the NBA:

1. Chicago: 33-8

2T. San Antonio: 26-15

2T. Seattle: 26-15

4T. Lakers: 23-18

4T. Orlando: 23-18

6T. Cleveland: 21-10

6T. Houston: 21-20

6T. Utah: 21-20

6T. New York: 21-20

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Longest road winning streaks during 1995-96:

1. Chicago: 9

2. San Antonio: 8

3. Lakers: 7