Lakers Bullish in Win

T-minus one game.

Another opponent fell Sunday night, this time the Washington Bullets, 129-99, before 17,505 at the Forum, giving the Lakers six consecutive victories to equal their longest winning streak of the season and one more game to get through, against the Clippers on Wednesday.

Then, you-know-who.

The Chicago Bulls are within the Lakers’ sights in a rematch they have only awaited for about six weeks. The way the Bullets went down--the Lakers scoring their most points in a game this season and recording their largest margin of victory--it seemed an awful lot like a contender plowing through a weak sparring partner.

“It’s hard,” admitted Nick Van Exel, who made four of six three-point shots and finished with 17 points.

“Especially when you’re playing the Clippers,” Van Exel said. “You can pretty much throw out the records, because they play us tough. But everybody’s thinking about Chicago.”

Maybe even Sunday night, because there wasn’t much of a game to think about.

The Lakers used their small lineup of Shaquille O’Neal on Gheorghe Muresan and dominated from the beginning, scoring 46 points in the first quarter, their most in a period since they scored 46 on March 1, 1989. Then there was a 78-point first half, the second-biggest output in the league this season and the best for the Lakers since March 25, 1985.

Coach Del Harris got a chance to rest his regulars before the Tuesday-Wednesday set, although he wasn’t given the luxury of making all the decisions. O’Neal went out after 31 minutes when he bumped into Muresan near the end of the third quarter and suffered a strained right knee.

“I’ll take a Tylenol. I’ll be all right,” O’Neal said.

Just in case, he’ll be reexamined today.

Otherwise, what should have been the Lakers’ first game since Wednesday quickly became their fourth consecutive day off, with another one to come today before heading into the all-star break after the Clippers and Bulls.

With the Lakers staying almost entirely with their opening lineup in the first quarter, except for the two minutes that went to Travis Knight after Elden Campbell got his second foul, the number of defensive stops by Washington about equaled the number of sales of Muresan cologne.

The game was barely 2 1/2 minutes old when the Lakers had an eight-point lead. That went to double figures with 5:15 still remaining; then to 22, at 40-18, with 2:21 left. The Bullet deficit reached 24 points by first period’s end.

“I was really expecting a tough one, hard banging,” Harris said. “And we played the best quarter this season, I’d say, and one of our best in the 2 1/2 years I’ve been here. We’ve had some good quarters, but that was a near-perfect.”

Said his Bullet counterpart, Jim Lynam: “They put us on our heels early and we never recovered. You don’t like when that happens, but, unfortunately, it did.”

The Lakers shot 64% in the quarter, making 16 of 25 shots, with Robert Horry, not yet at 100% after sitting out the previous two games because of a sprained ankle, going four for seven. To show it was really their night--as if more proof was needed--the Lakers made 10 of 12 free throws.

Equally as unusual, the Lakers kept their foot on the gas, not merely holding a lead that might have disappeared in other games, but extending it. Midway through the second quarter, they were up by 28, en route to a 26-point halftime cushion, and then by 36 on three different occasions in the third period.

Lakers, meet the killer instinct. Killer instinct, Lakers.

“We came out in the third quarter and did what we had to do,” Eddie Jones said after following up his impressive second half Wednesday at San Antonio by contributing 18 points on eight-of-10 shooting. “Usually, we slack up on people.”

Or as Van Exel responded when asked if it was nice to finally put a team away for good:

“Yeah. I say that with a sigh of relief.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

A Season of Expectations

The Lakers acquired nine new players before the season, including Shaquille O’Neal and his $120-million contract. In turn, with big acquisitions come big expectations. Throughout the season, The Times will monitor O’Neal’s numbers along with how the team compares to some of the best Laker teams in history.

GAME 46 OF 82

* Record 34-12

* Standing 1st place

Pacific Division

1996-97 LAKERS VS. THE BEST LAKER TEAMS

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Year Gm. 46 Overall 1987-88 37-9 62-20 1986-87 35-11 65-17 1984-85 31-15 62-20 1979-80 31-15 60-22 1971-72 41-5 69-13

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Note: The five teams above all won NBA championships

THE SHAQ SCOREBOARD

Basketball Numbers

* Sunday’s Game:

*--*

Min FG FT Reb Ast Blk Pts 31 11-17 2-6 7 3 4 24

*--*

* 1996-97 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Ast Blk Pts 39.3 .560 .468 13.0 3.2 3.1 26.2

*--*

* 1995-96 Season Averages:

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Min FG% FT% Reb Ast Blk Pts 36.0 .573 .487 11.0 2.9 2.1 26.6

*--*

Money Numbers

* Sunday’s Salary: $130,658.53

* Season Totals: $6,010,292.38

* FACTOID: The Lakers raced out to a 29-0 lead over Sacramento and led, 40-4, after the first quarter of game 46 of the 1986-87 season, a 128-92 Laker victory. The Kings were 0 for 18 from the floor in the first quarter. “It don’t take no Einstein to figure out that when it’s 27-0 and Kurt Rambis is hitting 20-foot jumpers and they’re running plays for him, that you’re in trouble.” Derek Smith of the Kings said.