THE MOST AMAZING NUMBER OF THE YOUNG LAKER SEASON IS NOTHING LESS THAN . . . : They Won’t Go Undefeated, But It’s Going to Take a Lot to Stop This Improved Team

What may eventually emerge as one of the defining moments of the Laker season came from one of the worst.

Charles Barkley had just made a fallaway from the left corner, a clutch shot that completed the Houston Rockets’ comeback from a 17-point third-quarter deficit and forced a second overtime Nov. 14. And Nick Van Exel applauded. Clapped his hands and nodded in acknowledgment, at the instant of potential devastation.

Strange. Van Exel had this look of confidence when it should have been more in the vicinity of confounded, as if giving Barkley his due while also saying no big deal, the Lakers would climb off the canvas.

Then, as Eddie Jones headed to the huddle to prepare for another extra period at the Compaq Center, Van Exel extended a hand for a five of encouragement. Same with Rick Fox. It was as though Van Exel wanted to be sure none of his teammates got too down because the game still belonged to the Lakers.

It did. They won, 113-103.

Last season, for all the grit that carried them through a second half that included long stretches without Shaquille O’Neal and Robert Horry, there’s a good chance they go under in the same situation. This season, it’s victory No. 7 in what has become an 11-0 start, tied for the sixth-best opening in NBA history.

New season. Different Lakers.

New Lakers.

THE NEW ATTITUDE

“It’s night and day compared to last year,” assistant coach Larry Drew said. “It started with Nick. His attitude has set the tone for the rest of the guys, playing with an abundance of confidence. We just feel like we’re never out of a game. I don’t care what the deficit may be.

“You can just tell, right off the bat, looking at the games when we went down to Texas. The San Antonio game, there was a point in the fourth quarter when we would have rolled over. The Houston game, the shot Charles hit probably would have really deflated us completely last year. I don’t know mentally and emotionally if we would have got up from that last year.”

Composure? The Lakers have overcome a final-period deficit three times--all on the road. Even while going heavy with the reserves in the numerous blowouts, they have been outscored over those final 12 minutes only twice.

Dominance? Six of the 11 victories have come by at least 17 points.

“I can go all the way back to the exhibition season,” said backup point guard Derek Fisher, a major player in the success. “The game against Washington in Las Vegas, when we were down seven or eight with something like a minute 10 seconds left. The Utah game in Utah, probably. We would have let those slip last year. The Houston game.

“Last year, it was just different. All that attitude. We’re just taking this more serious now. More professional, worrying about details in preparing for each game.”

THE NEW POINT GUARDS

“The point guards have really been the catalyst for the defense,” Coach Del Harris said. “Nick has really accepted the defensive challenge this year, from the beginning. He has stimulated the defense out front. Last year, he wasn’t as consistent defensively as he has been this year.”

With Van Exel and Fisher picking up opposing point guards sooner, it slows teams trying to get into their offense, just enough to cause some disruption. Their work on defending a staple, the pick and roll, has been better. Meanwhile, they have a combined assist-to-turnover ratio of 4.26-1, the starter with only 12 turnovers in 345 minutes.

“As soon as we look at the stat sheet after a game,” Fisher said, “we look to ‘A’ and slide our finger down to our name. We see how many we had and how many we should have had. Then we look at ‘TO.’ ”

THE NEW FORWARDS

Horry arrived in a trade Jan. 10, played six games, sat out two because of a sprained ankle, played six, missed the next 22 because of a sprained knee ligament, played the final 10 of the regular season, then the playoffs. So much for the chance to feel comfortable.

This season, he has a new position, power forward. But more importantly, he had a training camp.

“It has been very important,” Horry said. “You’ve got to put a big star by that.”

Fox, he’s all new. His summertime decision to accept far below market value and forsake long-term financial security for a one-year, $1-million deal has returned everything the Lakers had hoped.

It’s not so much the personal statistics, which aren’t impressive. It’s that he does so many of the small things that make a big difference--deflections that may not create turnovers but still disrupt an opponent’s offense, screens.

All this has allowed Harris to switch from the power game of last season, with O’Neal and Elden Campbell playing together, to more of a speed and finesse game with Horry in Campbell’s place and Fox in Horry’s former spot at small forward. From that came the offensive philosophy they call Rush, as in running, and the defensive approach the coach likes to call Ratchet, as in tightening on the other team.

After 11 games, the Lakers are averaging a league-best 111.9 points and giving up 96.1.

THE NEW TEENAGER

Kobe Bryant has made noticeable strides, not only since last season but even since summer league, when he would still force shots, still dribble into traps.

He still does that. But not as much, so the improvement is obvious, in the way he reads the court and how he is more accomplished at driving, drawing a double team and dishing off.

Said Clipper Coach Bill Fitch after Sunday’s game, which included 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals from Bryant: “Kobe made some moves out there to show that he has come of age.”

What it means for the big picture is that he’s still on pace to be terrorizing defenses in another season or two, when he’s a veteran of 20 or 21 and will have a basketball mind that can keep up with his basketball skills. What it means for the short term is that the Lakers have a consistent scoring punch off the bench, something that did not exist even with the 56-win team of last season.

And for the present? Bryant already has broken the 20-point barrier four times this season--as many as he did all of last season.

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RALLYING POINTS

A look at some of the obstacles the Lakers have overcome en route to a franchise-best 11-0 start:

SUSPENSION

Shaquille O’Neal sits out the opener against Utah because of the now-familiar strained abdominal muscle but got in plenty of action anyway. He is suspended after slapping Jazz center Greg Ostertag during a morning shootaround and sits out the game against Sacramento, in which the Lakers get late free throws from Elden Campbell and Nick Van Exel to win, 101-98.

INJURIES

O’Neal has sat out three games, two because of the abdominal injury that will sideline him at least another 10 days. Robert Horry, a key to the defensive scheme, sat out two because of a strained left hamstring. Kobe Bryant sat out three because of a sprained right ankle, and Campbell sat out the opener because of neck spasms. Corie Blount sat out a game because of a sprained right ankle. Van Exel hasn’t missed any games, but has a chronic sore knee and played with back spasms during the three-game swing through Texas.

TRADE TALK

At the beginning of all this, there was speculation--from the outside, the Lakers insist--that all-star guard Eddie Jones might be traded to Sacramento for Mitch Richmond. When the teams met in Game 2, Jones dropped 35 points on the Kings, and trade winds gave way to an 11-0 run that has been anything but a breeze.

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* SHAQ

O’Neal will be out at least 10 more days, and will return no sooner than Dec. 5 against San Antonio. C8

* PIPPEN

He says he wants to be traded to the Lakers or Suns, but Jackson says he’s putting everyone on. C8